Women's Clubs
Women's clubs blossomed in New Jersey during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, beginning with the Woman's Club of Orange in 1872. In 1894, the State Federation of Women's Clubs brought together existing women's clubs under a single umbrella. By 1920, the Federation, with 20,000 members, was by far the largest women's organization in New Jersey. Through its committees, the Federation worked for many of the same legislative objectives as the League of Women Voters and the Consumers League. The Federation differed from these organizations, however, in its emphasis on cultural programming, preservation of the environment, and social events, as well as its focus on women's unique perspective as mothers and home makers. A parallel organization, the State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.
New Jersey possessed many women's organizations not affiliated with the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Two statewide organizations, the New Jersey Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and the Soroptimists, represented professional women, especially women working in commerce and merchants. Some women belonged to patriotic societies like the Daughters of the American Revolution, or to auxiliaries of men's clubs, like the Order of the Eastern Star for the wives of Masons. It was not uncommon for women to belong to five or six organizations at once. During the 1920s and 1930s, women's clubs had a largely white, middle-class, native-born membership. Catholic and Jewish women, sometimes excluded from local organizations, tended to found their own religious or ethnically-based clubs.
Photograph, Soroptimist International Dinner, Atlantic City, 1938
Hazel Hackett Papers
In 1921, eighty professional and business women founded the first Soroptimist Club in Oakland, California. The name of the group was coined from the Latin terms “soror” and “optima,” (the best for women), as the underlying goal of the club was to improve the status of women through community, national and international service. The first New Jersey Soroptimist Club was organized in 1930. The Soroptimists' main commitments are to economic and social development, health, education, the environment, international goodwill and the status of women. They continuously sponsor local, regional and national programs for children, women and the elderly. They have also shown interest in the world community, with an emphasis on China and the United Nations.
Photograph, Hazel Hackett with Monument, undated
Hazel Hackett Papers
Hazel Hackett (1892-1995) of Merchantville was a businesswoman and club woman. Beginning as president of the Soroptimist Club of Camden, she rose to be Governor of the North Atlantic Region, and eventually served as president of the American Federation of Soroptimist Clubs between 1946 and 1948, during which time 109 new clubs were founded. Professionally, Hackett was part-owner and manager of the Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken.
Photograph, Jersey Junior aids children, 1941
New Brunswick Business and Professional Women's Club Records
The New Jersey Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs was founded in Trenton in 1919 to improve the status of women in business and the professions. The Federation undertook research projects and advocacy as well as more traditional fund-raising activities. Many of its members were in the work force full-time. In the 1930s, the Federation opposed the protective legislation which was favored by Consumers League and the League of Women Voters, and was an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. In this photograph, members of the New Brunswick Club and needlework students from South River Vocational School cooperated to donate dolls to children in the Kiddie Keep Well program.
Women's League of Rutgers, Program, 1953
Rutgers University Archives
The Women's League of Rutgers was established in 1932 as a service organization for the university community. Although originally composed primarily of faculty wives, it is open to all women faculty members and relatives of faculty. The League's activities have included raising money for scholarships, providing hospitality, co-sponsoring lectures and public programs, and assisting female graduate students find housing. During World War II, the League's Civic Welfare Committee made a complete housing survey of the city of New Brunswick, which it presented to the mayor.
We Women: The Women's Magazine of Bridgeton , New Jersey, 7 (May 1945)
Sinclair New Jersey Collection
We Women: The Women's Magazine of Bridgeton represents the civic-minded, middle-class woman of the time. Article topics include local history, profiles of local organizations and events, agriculture, industry, the arts, antiques, and household tips. Its Club Directory of 1947-1948 listed 26 women's organizations, including the American Association of University Women, the Bridgeton Civic Club, the Junior Civic Club, two chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Hadassah, the Cumberland Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, the Research Club, the Soroptimist Club, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Women's Republican Club, the Women's Guild of the First Presbyterian Church, as well as Parent-Teacher Associations for the district's schools.
Photograph, Yearbook Staff, 1954, Douglass College Records
Rutgers University Archives
Throughout this century, New Jersey women's clubs and organizations have actively supported education at all levels. In 1918, the State Federation of Women's Clubs was the primary force behind the founding of Douglass College, with which it still maintains close ties. Women learned the club ethic early on; as well joining the student clubs present on every campus, women students had the opportunity to participate in the League of Women Voters and other organizations which sometimes set up collegiate divisions.
Photograph in glass frame, Hebrew Ladies Benevolent and Free Loan Society, New Brunswick
Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey
The Hebrew Ladies Benevolent and Free Loan Society was founded in 1910 by members of New Brunswick's thriving German-Jewish community. The Society maintained a home for transients, the Roger Smith Hotel, for which they raised money, as well as for other old age homes in the state. The Society endured into the 1950s, fund-raising for a variety of charities including a Hebrew School book fund, the Jewish Federation United Fund, the Middlesex Tuberculosis League, Hadassah, and Saint Peter's Hospital, as well as collecting clothes for the needy, until it finally closed its books in 1967. Today the Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service have taken over the role of many of these small charities.
Daughters of Miriam Home for the Aged: Our First Fifty Years (Daughters of Miriam of Clifton-Passaic, 1971)
New Jersey Synagogue Archives
Between 1920 and 1970, millions of New Jersey women have worked as volunteers in charitable organizations, both religious and secular. The Daughters of Miriam Home for the Aged was founded in 1921 in a converted house in Paterson to give care and shelter to the aged and orphaned children. Initially run by volunteers, the Home developed into a Center for the Aged operated by nurses and professional caseworkers. Women were the primary force behind local charities, uniting themselves into the community chests and councils which became what is today the United Way.
The Civic Pilot (June 1926)
Sinclair New Jersey Collection
Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting: New Jersey State Division. American Association of University Women. State Teachers College. Trenton, N.J. (May 3, 1952)
AAUW New Jersey Division Records