In the late 19th and early
20th centuries, young women received the same high school
education that young men did, but while many young men went off to
college, opportunities for further education for young women were
extremely limited. Even female college graduates found few
opportunities to continue academic interests after receiving a
degree. Women's literary clubs became an avenue for women to engage
in intellectual pursuits after they graduated from school.
Women's clubs were popular in the
Upper Valley. Every sizable town on both sides of the river had at
least one women's club, and the larger towns had more than one. The
1922 Edition of “The Official Directory of Women's Clubs in
America” listed ten women's clubs throughout the Upper Valley.
Hanover had a Fortnightly with 31 members and the Hanover Woman's
Club had 165 members. In Lebanon, the Vega Club had 101 members. On
the Vermont side of the River, White River Junction had two clubs,
the Loyal Club had 146 members and the Literary Club had 35. In
Windsor, the Friends in Council Club had 126 members. Smaller
Vermont towns had smaller clubs. The Bradford Fortnightly had 63
members, the Royalton Woman's Club had 26, South Royalton's had 16
and the Norwich Literary Club had 64.
Tuesday Club 1890's
The pictures came from the book "Lebanon, NH in Pictures" by Robert Hayes Leavitt, published for the Lebanon Historical Society in 1997. You can find the book in the West Lebanon Library. I must admit that the "Smart Set" picture was a little surprising. You have to wonder about the activities at the meetings. I looked up "The Smart Set" in Lebanon, and didn't find any information. I did find a literary magazine by the same name, however, published around the same time as the above picture, often featuring the writing of H.L. Mencken.
West Lebanon had a Fortnightly and in
1918, Clara Stearns, representing the West Leb fortnightly, composed
a song that was performed at the New Hampshire Federation of Women's
Clubs annual conference. Clara was the wife of Frederick Stearns. The
“Granite Monthly”, in 1909, had this to say about Frederick
Stearns. “The village of West Lebanon is remarkable for its
sterling citizenship, a fine type of which is found in the person of
Frederick Oliver Stearns”. Frederick was a member of the state
legislature in 1909. The article went on to say that he was a
graduate of Kimball Union Academy and Plymouth Normal School (now
Plymouth State University) and a deacon of the West Lebanon
Congregational Church. It tells us that his wife Clara was from
Maine. Clara and Frederick had a daughter and a son. The article
also mentions that their daughter Susan was the head of the Manual
School in Taunton, Massachusetts, although she was only 21 years old.
A manual school, in those days, was a school for intellectually
impaired people, called a manual school because the residents there
would learn to do some types of manual labor.
In 1900, Clara Stearns lived on the
Stearns farm, which was apparently on the Connecticut River, probably
somewhere in the vicinity of where the plazas are now. At age 41, she
still lived with her in-laws, Nathan, age 80, and Jane, age 78.
Nathan was listed as the head of the household. Frederick was listed
too, of course, and the two children. Two farm laborers and a
housekeeper were other members of the household.
Clara is probably a pretty good
example of the kind of woman who was the member of a literary club.
She belonged to one of the leading families of the town. Her house
was nice enough for her to be comfortable as a hostess for the other
leading ladies of the town, as members took turns hosting the
meetings and providing refreshments. She could afford the ingredients
to prepare a fancy luncheon or tea, and she even had a housekeeper to
help her.
The Vega Club, which eventually became
the Lebanon Women's Club, still active today, was another Woman's
club in Lebanon. The President of the Vega Club was Lillian Haskell.
Lillian and her husband Frederick lived on Mechanic Street, right
next to Frederick's parents. They did not have any
children.
Frederick and his father ran a florist shop. It is interesting that
both Clara and Lillian's husbands names were Frederick. Both women
lived in close proximity to their mother-in-laws, while both husbands
worked for their fathers.
The Vega Club
As college became more attainable for
young women, the clubs focused more on social and charitable
activities. As the 20th century progressed, women's clubs
stayed involved in the social problems of the day. Women's clubs
were at the forefront of the temperance movement and the suffragette
movement, as women fought to get the right to vote. One project that
seems to have been a favorite of many of the women's clubs on the New
Hampshire side of the Upper Valley was the New Hampshire Orphan's
Home in Franklin, New Hampshire.
In the 1915 report of the New
Hampshire Orphan's Home, you can read how much women's clubs provided
for 177 orphans who lived there. Women's clubs provided birthday
gifts, Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, and
clothing and toys for the orphans throughout the year. The report
lists every women's club throughout the state who gave donations,
money, and actually came to the home to cook and serve holiday
dinners for the children. Lebanon's Vega and Fortnightly Clubs, and
Hanover's clubs are all included on the list, over and over again.
The Lebanon Women's Club is still
active today. Follow this link to an article about the club in 2014.
