Staff Organizations. Thursday Club (University Of Maine) Records

Record Group

Identifier: UA RG 0008-006

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The record group includes material related to the University of Maine Thursday Club. Includes newspaper clippings, programs, member lists, expense accounts and meeting minutes. The history of the club is related from 1910 to 1969, and there is information dating from the 1910s to the 1960s.

The bulk of the record group centers around the Club’s events from the 1970s. Committees from that era included: Program, Hospitality, Social, History, Publicity, Nominating, and Interest Groups (such as Antiques, Books, Bridge, Gardening, and Handicrafts). The events sponsored by the Thursday Club in the 1970s included the Fall Tea, Folk Dancing, Economical Ways of Meat-Cutting, Maine-ly Christmas, American Antique Clocks, Fashion Show, Husband and Guest Night, Our Talented Women, Spring Luncheon, Steamboating on the Penobscot, and Potluck Suppers.

An album with articles entitled “Home Fires Brighten College Work,” written by Nelle C. Penley in 1937 and donated by Mrs. C. Harry White in 1961, features photographs and profiles of University of Maine women.

There is also material on the International Lunch that the Thursday Club began organizing circa 1991 and the annual Thursday Club Tea.

Dates

Creation: 1910-2022

Creator

Thursday Club (Organization)

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.

Use Restrictions

Information on literary rights available in the repository.

Historical Note

The Thursday Club was founded in 1910 at the University of Maine, it was made up of female faculty, wives of faculty members at the University, and wives of state and federal employees whose offices were located on campus. Its object was "to promote acquaintance and mutual helpfulness among its members."

The first official president was Mrs. James W. Bartlett, its vice president, Mrs. Royden L. Hammond, and its secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Herman H. Hansen.

The record group also includes records of the Newcomers’ Club, which was founded in October, 1951, and became part of the Thursday Club in May, 1953. Members were required to be a part of the Newcomers’ Club for two years before becoming eligible for full Thursday Club membership.

Meetings of the Thursday Club were at first held weekly, then biweekly. Later the club met every third Thursday and, later still, convened on a monthly basis.

In 2003, the Thursday Club began awarding scholarships through the Thursday Club Scholarship Fund at the University of Maine Foundation for non-traditional students who have completed twenty-four credit hours.

Extent

3 boxes

Additional Description

Abstract

Records of the University of Maine Thursday Club include by-laws, meeting minutes, member lists, programs from Club activities, and newspaper clippings. Also, includes material from Thursday Club's Newcomers' Group.

Arrangement

The material is physically arranged chronologically by date created. Material was rehoused into archival quality storage.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The contents of boxes 2 and 3 were transferred to Special Collections on February 8, 2023 by Mary Anne Eason as Accession #2023-0208.

Appraisal

Duplicate copies of items were not retained.

Accruals

Accruals from the Thursday Club are not anticipated because as of 2023 the Club appears to no longer operate.

Separated Materials

Digital copies of photographs are stored in SharePoint.

General

Formerly SpC MS 0500.

Processing Information

Processed by Matthew Revitt, December 2018 and May 2023, Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department. Processing involved a collection survey and the creation of this finding aid. Some file names were changed to make them more meaningful and to correct errors and dates were added.