Missouri Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Records, 1932-1986 (C3801)
32 folders
INTRODUCTION
Records of the state organization and member clubs of an association to improve the status of black women in the home and community. The records include correspondence, financial records, conference files and programs, and information on the history of the organization and member clubs.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Missouri Association of Colored Women's Clubs Records were donated to the University of Missouri by the association through Frances Jones-Sneed on 14 July 1988 (Accession No. 4859).
HISTORICAL SKETCH
The Missouri Association of Colored Women's Clubs was organized in St. Louis in 1900. Adopting the motto of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, "Lifting As We Climb," the state organization had as its goals to raise the social status and promote the family life of black women. From an original core of seven clubs in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Jefferson City, the association grew to include 2000 women in ninety clubs throughout the state by the 1930s. The focus of the federated clubs has been on arts and crafts, scholarships and charity, and women in industry, business, education, and politics.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Because the Missouri Association of Colored Women's Clubs was a federation of local clubs, the correspondence and other papers in this collection deal mainly with organizational matters such as setting the agenda and making arrangements for the annual state conferences. A project to write the history of the organization and its member clubs and to solicit club records was initiated in the 1980s with incomplete results. The material in this collection does not provide a comprehensive picture of the work of the state organization or of the activities of the member clubs. The papers, however, depict the personal relationships of the leaders of the association and their work to instill pride in the accomplishments of black women in Missouri.
The records are arranged in three sections: correspondence, association files, and member clubs. Both original correspondence and handwritten transcripts of correspondence prepared by Marcia Hammons, past president and historian of MACWC, are in the records. The bulk of the correspondence deals with programs, agendas, and arrangements for MACWC conventions. Most of the correspondence is with Marcia Hammons, Christina Richards, president of both MACWC and the Central Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and other presidents of the association.
The association files include financial records, a history of MACWC, a directory of clubs and members, and lists of presidents. A biographical sketch and information re establishment of an historical marker on the campus of Lincoln University in memory of Josephine Silone Yates (1859-1912), professor at Lincoln and president of National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1900-1904, and of MACWC, 1907-1910, can also be found in this section. Miscellaneous material in this section includes notebooks, calendars, speeches, notes, and information about the history of MACWC, its member clubs, and members, sample letterhead, and photographs.
The member clubs section consists of newsletters, correspondence, reports, programs, and other material from the clubs associated with MACWC.
FOLDER LIST
Correspondence
| f. 1 | 1954-1968 |
| f. 2 | 1969-1970 |
| f. 3 | 1971 |
| f. 4 | 1972-1973 |
| f. 5 | 1973 |
| f. 6 | 1974 |
| f. 7 | 1974-1975 |
| f. 8 | 1975 |
| f. 9 | 1976 |
| f. 10 | 1977 |
| f. 11 | 1978-1979 |
| f. 12 | 1979 |
| f. 13 | 1980-1982 |
| f. 14 | 1983 |
| f. 15 | 1986 |
Association Files, 1956-1986
| f. 16 | Financial Records, 1956-1986. |
| f. 17 | History. |
| f. 18 | Josephine Silone Yates Historical Marker |
| f. 19-21 | Miscellany |
| f. 22 | Sample Letterhead |
| f. 23 | Photographs |
Member Clubs
| f. 24 | Lists of clubs and their officers. |
| f. 25 | Alpha Kappa Alpha, Gamma Epsilon Omega Chapter. |
| f. 26 | Alexandria Study and Art Club, Anna C. Minor Study Club, Annie Malone Literary Club, Arsania M. Williams Reading Club, and Athenaeum Club. |
| f. 27 | Central Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Central Literary and Art Club, Christina D. Richards Charity Club, Civic Pride Charity Club, Cole County Council of Clubs, College Women's Club (1932-1935), and Cosmopolitan Study Club. |
| f. 28 | Energetic Adventurers Study Club, Exclusive Twelve, Fannie Griffin Art Club, Fern Leaf Study Club, Hannibal Branch, MACWC, Harriet Tubman Literary Club, Help-A-Lot Club, Jefferson City-Cole County Council of Clubs, Jessie Swanson Ivy Club, Josephine Silone Yates Art and Charity Club, Junior Athenaeum Club, and Kansas City Association of Colored Women's Clubs. |
| f. 29 | Ladies Art Club, Les Bonne Amies Club, Lucille T. Flowers Pearlett Study Club, Metropolitan Excelsior Art Club, and Modern Priscilla Art and Charity Club. |
| f. 30 | National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. |
| f. 31 | National Association of Negro Musicians, Needlecraft Art and Charity Club, Progressive Art and Study Club, Prudance Crandall Study Club, and St. Louis Association of Colored Women's Clubs. |
| f. 32 | St. Louis Housewives of America, Inc., Sallie W. Stewart Study Club, Semper Fidelis Study Club, Wednesday Ladies Charity Club, Willa P. Allen Study Club, and Women's League. |
INDEX TERMS
These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.
- Allen, Alma Gertrude Reid
- Black women--Missouri
- Blacks--Missouri
- Blacks--Societies
- Central Association of Colored Women's Clubs
- Child development, 1900s
- Damel, Phyllis H.
- Free love, 1890s
- Grandstaff family
- Hammons, Marcia E.
- Jones-Sneed, Frances
- Missouri State Association of Colored Women
- National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
- Rhoda, Bertha Black (1898-1976)
- Richards, Christina
- Women--Societies