Historical Note
The Bellingham Woman’s Music Club was organized February 22, 1916. It
provided a forum for its members to perform musical selections and it organized
performances by its members and professionals from elsewhere for the benefit of
the public. The club was composed of both active members, who performed, and
associate members, who were permitted to attend the meetings. By 1924 it was
federated with the Washington State Federation of Music Clubs and the National
Federation of Music Clubs. The club endeavored to involve itself in the
community. Some of these efforts included providing concerts, offering
scholarships for membership, and a large donation of record albums to the
public library with station KVOS and Western Washington College of Education.
Content Description
The records of the Bellingham Woman’s Music Club, spanning 1917-1972,
document its members’ contribution to Bellingham’s cultural development. The
collection includes minute books, yearbooks, scrapbooks, and the club’s
constitution.
Minute books contain summaries of meetings, musical selections
performed by the active members at the meetings, newspaper clippings,
correspondence, and printed programs of the performances and activities the
club sponsored. The minute books begin in 1917 and end in 1968. The yearbooks
record the officers of the club and include the events planned for the year.
Some of the yearbooks are missing, but can be found pasted into either the
minute books or the scrapbooks. The scrapbooks include printed programs of
musical performances and social activities, photographs, newspaper clippings,
and correspondence. The scrapbooks date from 1941 to 1972; however, the
scrapbook that covers the 1950s was never organized.