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1889 — 1907, in Howard; the Pilot Club documented 1970
The Literary Club of 1889: Howard gives the clubwomen's institutions their own full passage. The Woman's Literary Club was organized in April 1889 by twenty-seven named women — Anna Thrush Fassett, Louise Taylor, Ellen Wade Colfax, Ada M. Studebaker, Harriet C. Studebaker, Catherine E. Esmay among them — and Howard judges that it was "exceedingly popular and useful, and for many years promoted in a high degree the literary and artistic culture of its members and of the community at large."
The Progress Club of 1895: The larger house followed. "The principal woman's literary association existing at present and for many years past is the Progress Club, organized in May, 1895" — first president Catherine C. Esmay, Mary Stull Studebaker among its vice-presidents, its subjects "history, literature, current events, art, philanthropy and civics, domestic science and music." Howard's judgment stands as the period's measure: "one of the largest and most influential organizations of its class in the state," affiliated with the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Around them Howard names the circle at roster size: the Impromptu Club, the Mothers' Club, the Thursday Club, the Wednesday Club. The later courses of the Literary and Progress clubs were not reached and are not asserted in either direction; the women's service-club line reaches the modern record once, in the city's own minutes — the Pilot Club of South Bend, a women's service club, taking a candy-sale permit from the Board of Public Works for October 17, 1970.
Sources:
- Timothy E. Howard, A History of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Vol. I (1907), pp. 459–460 — the Woman's Literary Club (April 1889) and its founders; the Progress Club (May 1895), its officers, and its standing; the Impromptu, Mothers', Thursday, and Wednesday clubs.
- City of South Bend, Board of Public Works minutes, 1970 — the Pilot Club of South Bend's candy-sale permit for October 17, 1970.