Information Sheet

 

 

R         Flat River Woman’s Club (Mo.).

206                  Records, 1913-1953.

                                    One folder and seven volumes.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

These are record books, minutes of meetings, a scrapbook, and miscellaneous papers of a woman’s club in St. Francois County, Missouri.  The charitable and civic group was begun in 1907 as the Mothers and Patrons Club of Flat River (See WHMC-R collection #R70).  The club dis­banded in 1953.

 

The Mothers and Patrons Club of Flat River was formally organized in March 1907 by women from Flat River and the mining towns surrounding it in St. Francois County.  The name of the club was changed several times during its existence, reflecting the membership of the group.  It became the Flat River Woman’s Club in 1910, the Lead Belt Woman’s Club in 1914, and the Flat River Woman’s Club, again, in 1923.  There were around thirty active mem­bers, al­though the rolls indicate a larger inactive membership.  The group met monthly to hear programs on social topics presented by educators, physicians, and faculty members of the Flat River Junior College.  The club was affiliated with the St. Francois County Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Missouri Federation of Women’s Clubs.

 

The club was formed to sponsor social and civic improvements in the Flat River min­ing dis­trict.  Its first efforts were toward upgrading classrooms and playgrounds.  Library books and play­ground equipment were purchased for the schools, and a full-time playground director was hired in 1908.  The group also provided free milk and hot lunches for undernour­ished children.  The group became more and more involved in charitable cases, concentrating on caring for tu­berculosis pa­tients in the Lead Belt.  Work by members was augmented by employing a profes­sional nurse for the community in 1912-1914.  The club was active in Red Cross work, particu­larly in clothing drives during World Wars one and two.

 

The records of the Flat River Woman’s Club complement the earliest records of the Moth­ers and Patrons Club, cataloged as Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rolla col­lection #R70.  The final document in the records is a letter to the president of the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs explaining the Flat River Woman’s Club's amicable disbanding in the face of de­clining membership.

 

This collection was filmed in two separate installments.  Volumes 5, 6, and 7 were filmed last, and therefore are not in proper chronological sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

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