Guide to the Inquiry Club Records
1894-2008

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Table of Contents
  Overview of the Collection
   
  Historical Note
   
  Content Description
   
Use of the Collection
   
Administrative Information
   
Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Meeting Minutes and Constitution

 

Information About Meetings

 

Membership Records

 

Correspondence

 

Papers presented to club

  Subjects

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Inquiry Club
Title: Inquiry Club Records
Dates: 1894-2008 ( inclusive )
Quantity: 3.0 linear feet (7 boxes)
Collection Number: HTM_WCMss51
Summary: Record books, speeches given, constitution, by-laws and membership information related to a social club in Walla Walla.
Repository: Whitman College and Northwest Archives

345 Boyer Avenue
Walla Walla, WA 99362
(509) 527-5922
archives@whitman.edu
http://www.whitman.edu/archives

Languages: Materials are in English 

Historical Note

On December 26, 1894, a group of business and professional men met and agreed to form the Inquiry Club, which was to serve two purposes. One, to promote the cause of higher education; two, to encourage each other in intellectual pursuits. The group then drafted a consititution and by-laws and agreed to meet weekly at the home of one of the members. Membership was initially limited to twelve and later expanded to fifteen.

There were no prescribed qualifications for membership, but the club was typically composed of clergymen, lawyers, doctors, college professors, public school administrators, public officials, and businessmen.

The original by-laws stated that at each meeting at least one member “shall read a prayer, or deliver an address, not less than ten, nor more than sixty minutes in length, upon a subject chosen by himself.” Dr. Chester C. Maxey, former president of Whitman College, who was a member for 58 years, stated that he presented “no fewer than forty papers” to the club.

Mr. W.H. Upton, a Superior Court judge, was elected the first president and Mr. H.S. Blandford, an attorney, the secretary. Other prominent original members, were Rev. Stephen B.L. Penrose, president of Whitman College from 1894 to 1934, and Whitman College professor Louis F. Anderson, who served on the faculty for over sixty years.

Content Description

The collection contains papers delivered at some meetings, club record books, research materials, and biographical information on club members.

There is also the minute books of an organization for women called the Thursday Inquiry Club that was in existence between 1916 and 1930.

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Access :  

None.

Restrictions on Use :  

Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. for copyright not held by Whitman College.

Preferred Citation :  

Inquiry Club Records, Whitman College and Northwest Archives.

Administrative Information

Arrangement :

Item.

Acquisition Information :  

Donated to the Whitman College and Northwest Archives by John M. Reese, September 9, 1974 and 2008; Dr. Ralph Stevens, May 9, 1979; Lawrence P. Murphy, July 10, 2002.

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Meeting Minutes and Constitution, 1894-2008
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box
4/1 Meeting Minutes-- Secretary C.E. Tuke October 1913- April 1914
4/2 Record Book: Constitution and Meeting Minutes 1894-February 22, 1905
4/3 Record Book: Constitution and Meeting Minutes 1906-April 26, 1950
4/4 Record Book: Constitution and Meeting Minutes Mary 17, 1950-September 11, 1997
4/5 Record Book: Constitution and Meeting Minutes October 9, 1997-February 14, 2008
5 Minutes of the Thursday Inquiry Club 1916-1930
6-7 Transactions of the Club 1894-1897

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Information About Meetings
Container(s)
Description
Box/Folder
3/12 Speakers and Subjects for 1895-1904 1895-1904
3/13 Summary 1927-28: Meeting date, host, speaker, subject October 5, 1927- April 4, 1928
3/14 Inquiry Club Meetings Undated
3/21 List of papers and authors October 1896-March 1897
3/15 List of Papers and Place of Meetings Undated
3/16 20th Anniversary Meeting 1914

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Membership Records
Container(s)
Description
Box/Folder
3/17 Roster of Members Undated
3/18 Club Forms for Club Member Information Undated
3/19 Roster of Members Undated
3/20 List of past and present members (possibly 1905 or later) Undated
3/22 Judge Upton's Lucky Seven Undated
3/32 Membership List 2008

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Correspondence, 1894-2008
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
3/23 Draft of sympathy letter from the Inquiry Club to Mrs. Upton 31-Jan-1906
3/24 Letter from Everett J. Smith 7-Feb-1929
3/25 Letter from Allen Reynolds to Dr. Chester Maxey Sept. 1929
3/26 Note of appreciation from Mrs. Rowland Smith, Frances Smith and Edward Smith April 1929
3/27 Letter from Ben H. Kizer to Chester C. Maxey 1931-1932
3/28 Letter of resignation from James Gail Sheldon to Inquiry Club 23-Oct-1950
3/29 Note of appreciation from the Lyman family Undated
3/30 Note of appreciation from Mrs. John W. Langdon Undated

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Papers presented to club
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
1/1 "Introduction" by Chester C. Maxey Undated
1/2 Includes: "Atomic Energy and Heredity", "The Problem of Radiation", "American Education" by John C. Lyman Undated
1/3 "Mind: A Physical Force (synopsis)" by H.S. Blandford 9-Jan-1895
1/4 "The All- Knowledge: Or the Reason for Progressive Evolution" by H.S. Blandford 30-Jan-1895
1/5 "The Future of Socialism (synopsis)" by W.D. Lyman 20-Feb-1895
1/6 "Alexander Hamilton, The Lawgiver" by W.D. Lyman 13-March-1895
1/7 "The Homeric Question" by L.F. Anderson 18-March-1895
1/8 "The Necessity of Subordinating Reason to Faith" by H.S. Blandford 2-Oct-1895
1/9 "Hawaii" by L.F. Anderson 27-Nov-1895
1/10 "Development of Special Senses from a General Sense" by Benj. H. Brown 11-Dec-1895
1/11 "Some Thoughts on Education" by H.L. Blandford 22-Jan-1896
1/12 "The Hope Dynamics of Nature" by Benj. H. Brown 4-March-1896
1/13 "Our Alchemist" by H.S. Blandford 1-April-1896
1/14 "The Ultimate Object of the Social Organism" by H.S. Blandford 22-April-1896
1/15 "Profit: Weighed on a New Pair of Scales" by Prof. W.A. Bratton 29-April-1896
1/16 "The Evolution of Christian Ethics, Versus Natural Evolution" by H.S. Blandford 30-Dec-1898
1/16a "A memorial paper to C.B. Upton and Dr. J.E. Bingham" by L.F. Anderson 7-March-1906
1/17 "Some Grounds for Hope in the Immortality of Man" by Rev. Austin Rice 16-Oct-1908
1/18 "How Much is the Consitution in Danger?" by Chester C. Maxey 1935
1/19 "Shall We Amend the Court or the Consitution" by Chester C. Maxey 1937
1/20 "The Third Term Comes Home to Roost" by Chester C. Maxey 1943
1/21 "A Plea for the Politician" by Chester C. Maxey 1944
1/22 "Throttlebottom Makes Good" by Chester C. Maxey 1946
1/23 "The Mystery of the Cycle" by Chester C. Maxey 1949
1/24 "A Review of the Inquiry Club of Walla Walla" by Almos K. Reynolds 4-Apr-1951
1/25 "A resume of the Race Question" by Chester C. Maxey 1951
1/26 "Careers of Henry Villard" by Almos K. Reynolds 2-April-1952
1/27 "The Oldest Profession" by Chester C. Maxey 3-Dec-1952
1/28 "Rabbits or Human Beings?" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 1954
1/29 "Right and Wrong" by Chester C. Maxey 1954-1955
1/30 "The Atomic Revolution" by Dr. Ralph Stevens Dec. 1955
1/31 "The Custer Tragedy" by Dr. Ralph Stevens Dec. 1956
1/32 "Mormonism: An All-American Phenomenon" by Chester C. Maxey 2-October-1957
1/33 "Smoking and Lung Cancer" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 1957-1958
1/34 "Religious Education in the Public Schools" by Chester C. Maxey 3-Sept-1958
2/1 "Medical Quackery" by Dr. Ralph Stevens October 1958
2/2 "The Enduring Western" by Bill Gulick 1-April-1959
2/3 "Pusses and Pooches" by Chester C. Maxey 2-Sept-1959
2/4 "Pandora's Box and the American Economy" by Dr. Ralph Stevens October 1959
2/5 "What About the Jews?" by Chester C. Maxey 7-Sept-1960
2/6 "Dissection of a Genius: Frank Lloyd Wright" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 15-March-1961
2/7 "Our Daily Bread: A Little History of Fleshpots, Stewpots, and Crackpots" by Chester C. Maxey 6-Sept-1961
2/8 "The History of Cataracts" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 7-March-1962
2/9 "Spices and Modern Civilization" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 3-April-1963
2/10 "Something About Humor" by Chester C. Maxey 7-Oct-1964
2/11 "Duf or Duffer?" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 2-Dec-1964
2/12 "Horses in North America" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 1965-1966
2/13 "A Young Man Named Garfield" by Chester C. Maxey 5-Oct-1966
2/14 "Understanding Aggression" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 1966-1967
2/15 "Natural Superiority of Women" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 3-March-1971
2/16 "Some Random Observations" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 6-Dec-1972
2/17 "Walla Walla Since 1937" by Dr. Ralph Stevens April 1974
3/1 "A Man Named Stevens" by Bill Gulick 5-Feb-1975
3/2 "My Special Report to the Building Facilities Review Committee of 1970" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 7-May-1975
3/3 "The Evolution of Christianity, Part One" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 4-May-1977
3/4 "The Evolution of Christianity, Part Two" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 3-June-1978
3/5 "Hell's Canyon National Recreation Area" by Bill Gulick 1-Feb-1978
3/6 "On Ben Holladay" by Dr. Ralph Stevens 2-May-1979
3/7 "Dr. Clifford M. Drury" by Bill Gulick 6-Feb-1985
3/8 "Forty-Six Years as a Writer" by Bill Gulick 5-Feb-1986
3/9 "A Brief History of the Inquiry Club 1894-1985" by Chester C. Maxey 20-Nov-1986
3/10 "An Old Ballad Told to a Different Counterpoint" by Craig C. Esary 6-May-1987
3/11 "A Search for Peace" by Dr. Richard D. Simon 1992

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Subjects

  • Inquiry Club-- Archives.

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Subjects

    • Other Creators :
    • Inquiry Club

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    Subjects

    • Men - Washington (state) - Societies and Clubs
    • Clubs - Washington (state) - Walla Walla

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    Subjects

    Finding aid prepared by William Huntington
    © 2008