Thursday Club (Worcester, Mass.), Records, 1893-2000
Contents List
Octavo Volume 1: Record book, 1893 November-1904 June
Octavo Volume 2: Record book, 1904 December-1923 November
Octavo Volume 3: Record book, 1923 November-1937 June
--includes photographs, a typewritten poems, a thank you note from Lois Leverett Kinnicutt, and a pamphlet and announcement regarding its semi-centennial celebration
Octavo Volume 4: Record book, 1937 November-1951 May
--includes typewritten and handwritten poems and meeting notes (some on personal stationery)
Octavo Volume 5: Record book, 1951 November-1968 February
--includes newsclippings including an obituary notice for Josephine Rose [Mrs. Frank F.] Dresser ( -1965), typewritten and handwritten poems and meeting notes, illustrations, a Western Union telegram, and photographs
Octavo Volume 6: Record book, 1967 November-1981 April
--includes typewritten and handwritten meeting notes, memorials of deceased members, newsclippings, a marriage announcement, and photographs
Octavo Volume 7: Record book, 1981 May-1990 November
--includes typewritten and handwritten meeting notes, newsclippings, and photographs
Octavo Volume 8: Lyell, Anne Morse, The Thursday Club at One Hundred
Years 1885-1984 (Worcester, Mass., 2000)
Folder: Miscellaneous items
--includes correspondence, notes, a printed copy and a typewritten copy of "Rules for the Thursday Club", newsclippings, and a typewritten copy of a poem entitled "The Vacant Chair" by Henry S. Washburn
The Thursday Club is a women's luncheon club founded in 1885 by a group of socially prominent women in Worcester, Mass. According to Anne Morse Lyell's history of the club, the charter members were: Mrs. William Everett Cutter; Mary L. (Putnam) [Mrs. John Davis] Washburn (1837- ); Annie Wright [Mrs. Joseph P.] Mason; Mary Waldo (Lincoln) [Mrs. Joseph Estabrook] Davis ( -1929); Mary (Chandler) [Mrs. Augustus George] Bullock (1845-1934); Miss Ida Welles Vinton; Mrs. James Howe; and Edith (Perley) [Mrs. Lincoln Newton] Kinnicutt (1856-1923). No records were kept until 1893 but during those first years the membership expanded to more than twenty. Over the years the number of members fluctuated but the club always retained its homogeneity and never became too large to be entertained in the home of the club member.
The purpose of the club was always social but in its infancy fund-raising events were held to benefit worthy causes such as the Temporary Home and Day Nursery, the Society for District Nursing, and the Employment Society. The format of the meetings soon changed to emphasize sociability, the luncheon, and eventually the short program planned and executed by the designated hostess.
This collection contains seven record books and a copy of Lyell's history of the club, as well as a folder of miscellaneous items. The Thursday Club records become more expansive over time. In the early years, when the club met every other week, only the names of the hostess and the number of members present were noted. Later, when the club met less frequently, the secretary set down summaries of the talks and details of the luncheon fare--often rendered in verse. Many of the talks were concerned with some aspect of Worcester history. Newspaper clippings, snapshots of the members and other ephemera were sometimes pasted in with the minutes.
Landmark anniversaries of the club were occasions to reflect upon its past. In 2000, Anne Morse Lyell wrote a short but comprehensive history based on her research and on her reading of the minutes from 1893 to 1984.
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