AWC Records Finding Aid

The origins of the Athens Woman's Club may also be traced to the fall of 1896 when Mary Ann Lipscomb and Rosa Woodberry, principal and instructor at the Lucy Cobb Institute, informally organized the Athens Ladies Club to address the meager conditions of rural schools in the Athens and Clarke County area. The women of the Athens Ladies Club worked with local schools to provide textbooks and supplies and awarded students with prizes and parties for their scholastic achievements.

The Athens Woman's Club came into existence in January of 1899 when the Athens Ladies Club adopted a formal charter under the name Athens Woman's Club. Members of the club were typically well-educated, upper-middle-class women whose husbands, fathers, and brothers were prominent figures in local business and government and held important positions in the university system. Many members of the Athens Woman's Club were already part of a proud tradition of women who had established voluntary associations for women in the city. Athens was already home to the Ladies Garden Club, the first garden club in the United States, established by twelve Athens women in 1891. Founding members of the Athens Woman's Club also played an active role in organizing local branches of both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Originally organized as a literary club, the Athens Woman's Club was divided into five major departments: Music, Letters and Arts, Current Topics, Folklore and Fiction, and Historical Research and Biography. Members regularly prepared and listened to presentations on a vast array of topics that ranged from a discussion of the Nicaraguan Canal, to the study of Spanish literature and Assyrian art history. These presentations gave members the opportunity to research topics, compose essays, present their work to fellow members and engage in thought-provoking discussions. As the twentieth century progressed, however, the Athens Woman's Club gradually turned its efforts away from the pursuit of the humanities, and directed them towards social reform, community development and municipal improvements instead.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection of records for the Athens Woman’s Club includes minute books (1899-1980), treasurer’s reports (1952-1969), scrapbooks (1949-1979), yearbooks (1957-2002), guest registers and various other types of ephemera such as programs, clippings and a plaque. The bulk of the materials in this collection exist in the following ranges: 1899-1920 and 1957-1980. Beginning with the club’s founding in 1899 and continuing through 2002, the records chronicle the organizational history of the Athens Woman’s Club and document the club’s impact within the Athens and Clarke County communities, as well as the state of Georgia, through the club’s social reform and civic improvement activities; specifically, those activities relating to the Athens Woman’s Club’s continued involvement with local public health initiatives and the improvement of schools and educational standards in the state. Many of the records including the minutes, scrapbooks and yearbooks detail the relationship between the Athens Woman’s Club and various other organizations of regional and national significance such as the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Of particular interest in the collection are the scrapbooks and poster relating to the club’s purchase and renovation of the Joseph Henry Lumpkin House.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Organized into eight series:

I. Minutes

II. Treasurer’s Records

VII. Ephemera and miscellaneous

VIII. Poster

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Topics Covered

Athens Woman's Club (Athens, Ga.)

Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs

Athens (Ga.)

Athens (Ga.)--Local history

Athens (Ga.)--Social life and customs--20th century

Clarke County (Ga.)

Women--Societies and clubs

Women social reformers--Georgia--Athens

Women social reformers--Georgia

Women--Education--Georgia--Athens

Coeducation--Georgia--Athens

Education, Compulsory--Georgia

Education, Rural--Georgia

Public health--Georgia--Athens

Child welfare--Georgia--Athens

Child labor--Georgia

Women in war--Georgia--Athens

World War, 1914-1918--Women

World War, 1914-1918--War work

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Container List

Series I: Minutes, 1899-1980

1899-1911
View online version

1912-1919 [i.e., 1920]
View online version

1925-1926-1927

24 May 1966 – 22 May 1973

Jan. 1969–Sept. 1971, 1972

Sept. 1973 – Dec. 1976

24 May 1976 – 25 March 1980

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Series II: Treasurer’s Records, 1952-1969

1952-May 1962 (ledger)

1960 (ledger)

Sept. 1962-May 1964 (ledger)

June 1964-Feb. 1969 (ledger)

1966-1967 (check stubs)

Members’ dues records, 1948-1961

Monthly Treasurer’s Reports, 1963-1968

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Series III: Scrapbooks, 1949-1979

	1949-1951

	1957

	1964-1966

	1966-1967

	Mrs. Cone’s Scrapbook, approx. 1960-1979
		Covers, at first glance, the activities of the club during her membership.

	Scrapbook
		Information about the period of the Joseph Henry Lumpkin House renovation.

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Series IV: Yearbooks, 1957-2002

	1957-1958

	1966-1968

	1968-1970

	1974-1976

	1980-1982

	1982-1984
		With supplement Sept. 1985, covering 1984-1986

	1986-1988
		With supplement Sept. 1987, covering 1986-1988

	1988-1990
		With supplement Sept. 1989, covering 1989-1990

	1990-1992
		With supplement Sept. 1991, covering 1991-1992

	1992-1994
		With supplement Sept. 1993 covering 1993-1994

	1994-1996
		With supplement Sept. 1985, covering 1994-1996

	1996-1998
		With supplement Sept. 1997, covering 1996-1998

	1998-2000
		With supplement Sept. 1999, covering 1998-2000

	2000-2002

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Athens-Clarke County Library
Heritage Room
2025 Baxter Street, Athens, Georgia 30606