History of the University of Minnesota Women’s Club

Aiding students in need

Imagine professors’ wives parading through downtown Minneapolis in costumes they’d made for their latest play. That was in the early days of the University of Minnesota Women’s Club. It was about 1913 and the women were marching to advertise a play written by the wife of the University’s president, George Edgar Vincent. Titled “A Cowboy in a Kurhaus,” the play was staged at the Schubert Theaters in Minneapolis and St. Paul and made a profit of $3,623.17! With these funds, the club established a student loan program for U of M women students. Not until 1944 did the club change from granting loans of $25 to $200 to granting scholarships.

The club’s philanthropic bent required that they look for other ways to provide scholarship funds. In 1969, 96 club volunteers worked 1,419 hours at Dayton’s Jubilee Sale, earning $2,270 which was donated for scholarships. For 23 more years this was a major source of funding for scholarships.

That early ambitious group of 140 women would be surprised to know that by 2018 their club would have given over a million dollars in scholarships to University of Minnesota students to help them achieve their academic goals. They also couldn’t know that 105 years later each scholarship would amount to $3,500.

Humanitarians

Always interested in humanitarian efforts, when World War I was declared in 1914, club members began giving one day a week of their time to Red Cross work. Then during World War II, the women formed a production line in Coffman Union to make surgical dressings and rolled bandages. Each month from 40 to 70 members toiled in the effort.

Early on, the club members formed smaller groups—interest sections—for social, philanthropic, and recreational purposes. The first was the Mothers’ Section in 1914, which was organized to support the war effort; they even adopted two orphans. This section was soon followed by the Student Section and a Social Service Section. Today members have 17 sections from which to choose. The programs range from book discussions to art to hiking and nature groups.

Membership opens to Community

At its inception in 1911, the club was known as the Faculty Women’s Club, and membership comprised faculty wives as well as women faculty members. In 1991 the name of the club was changed to the University of Minnesota Women’s Club to reflect that membership was opened to the community at large. Since that time, membership has been open to all women, regardless of University affiliation.

Fellowship

On a lighter side, club members have always enjoyed gathering for social events. Probably the most popular is a fall luncheon to introduce the current years’ scholarship recipients. There is also the “Conversation with Women Leaders” series. Begun in 1992, each year the programming brings to three luncheons, distinguished local women to speak to club members. Recent speakers have included the Hon. Lori Swanson, Minnesota Attorney General; Bernadeia Johnson, then Superintendent of Minneapolis schools; and Catherine Watson, former travel writer for the Minneapolis Tribune. There is also an annual Holiday Celebration and Children's Hospital Benefit, for the benefit of patients hospitalized over the holidays at the University’s hospital. Beginning in the 1990s and continuing to the present, it has become a favorite social event.