ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
COLLECTION: OGL #416
DATES: 1919-1975
SIZE: 5.25 linear feet
ACQUISITION: The Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club Records were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Linda Evans on July 26, 1977 (Acc.#77-433).
ACCESS: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.
RELATED COLLECTIONS: OGL#495, North Dakota Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs
RELATED PUBLICATIONS: A Tribute to the North Dakota Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, 1989
RELATED PERIODICALS:Gist of It, 1922-1932 andNorth Dakota Flickertales, 1940s
On June 7, 1919, a group of North Dakota women met in Grand Forks to discuss joining the National Federation of Business and Professional Women. This nationwide organization had seen its genesis in the Woman’s War Work Council, a body created in the wake of the United States' entry into World War I. The National Federation held its first meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, in July 1919. Agnes Rex of Grand Forks was present and was given the task of organizing clubs in North Dakota.
A state convention was called for July 21, 1920, to take place in Fargo. Five clubs were formed at this meeting: Grand Forks, Fargo, Valley City, Jamestown and Bismarck. Agnes Rex was elected the first state BPW president. Within the following five years, clubs were also organized in Minot, Williston, Mandan, Dickinson and Lisbon. The objectives of the group were: 1.) to elevate the standards for women in business and in professional positions; 2.) to promote the interests of business and professional women; 3.) to bring about a spirit of cooperation among business women in the United States and other countries; 4.) to extend educational opportunities to business and professional women along the lines of industrial, scientific and vocational activities. The North Dakota Federation also oversaw the publication of a monthly newsletter, The Gist of It, which ran from 1922-1932. The Department's North Dakota Book Collection holdings for this periodical run from 1922-1928. Another monthly newsletter, North Dakota Flickertales, began in the late 1940s. Holdings for the Department of Special Collections are incomplete, but run from 1951-1962, 1964-1976, and 1978-1979.
The Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club was chartered on August 18, 1919, and is the oldest club in the state. During its history, the club has sponsored numerous programs, conferences and events. In the 1920s, the club operated a placement service for women seeking jobs, while also sponsoring dances in 1923 to raise funds for a new snowplow for the city of Grand Forks. In the 1950s, the club sponsored a scholarship for third year medical students. The club was active in supporting the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s, as were both the state and national levels of the organization.
The Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club has also been active in sponsoring other local chapters. The club was instrumental in forming chapters in Devils Lake and Grafton, as well as Crookston, Minnesota. The most recent club to be sponsored by the Grand Forks Club was the Grand Forks Air Force Base Business and Professional Women’s Club, founded on March 20, 1968.
The Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club Records consist of meeting minutes, scrapbooks, financial information, by-laws and periodicals. Minute meetings are included for the years 1919-1975, while correspondence is for the years 1955-1963. The constitution and by- laws for the organization from 1960 is included, as well as a financial ledger book used from 1940 until 1964, and a program from the 1968 National Convention.
The scrapbooks depict the club’s history from 1919 until 1975. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence and programs. There are seven total scrapbooks in the collection. Two of them, dealing with the history of the club from 1926-1943, as well as a scrapbook dealing with the 1948 National Convention, are located in Box One. The other five were placed in Boxes Two and Three.
Two photographs were separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.
Folder 1. Constitution and by-laws: 1960
2. Correspondence: 1955-1963
3. Ledger Book: 1940-1964
4. Minutes and meeting notes: 1919-1923
5. Minutes and meeting notes: 1923-1926
6. Minutes and meeting notes: 1947-1951
7. Minutes and meeting notes: 1951-1954
8. Minutes and meeting notes: 1954-1955
9. Minutes and meeting notes: 1956-1959
10. Minutes and meeting notes: 1959-1960
11. Minutes and meeting notes: 1967-1975
12. National Convention program: 1968
13. Scrapbook: 1926-1943
14. Scrapbook of National Convention: 1948
Oversize scrapbooks 1. 1919-1936, 1946
2. 1943-1960
3. 1961-1970
Oversize scrapbooks 1. 1919-1974 (includes E.R.A. Supplement)
2. 1971-1975
OGL#416-1 Nita Fox
OGL#416-2 Nita Fox
| Original Donation | First Addition: 1933-1985 |
| Second Addition: 1919 | Third Addition: 1975-1989 |
| Fourth Addition: 1966-1979 |
Return to: Women's Organizational Records
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