The rise of women’s volunteer organizations can be linked to the social changes that the United States was undergoing during the Progressive Era. The movement from an agrarian society to an industrial one, massive migration of Americans from rural areas to the cities, and increased immigration all contributed to social challenges in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Recently historians have begun to explore how women’s contributions helped to combat these challenges and this study shows how women’s clubs in Georgia were able to exercise their philanthropic power through their involvement in education. By 1860, the women’s club movement was well underway in the United States, with most of the activity in the Northeast, Midwest, and the West. The South, due to the devastation of the Civil War, did not see an emergence of women’s clubs until 1890. Southern middle class white women felt compelled to help those they perceived as less fortunate at a time when they themselves were trying to establish their own placement within the social structure of the Progressive Era South. Women, due to changing societal roles, were beginning to move beyond the home. They began to use the expertise they acquired through managing a household and applied this knowledge to social programs that would help those in need. Often times these social programs were focused on the education of young children and women. Women’s clubs in Georgia provide a lens for exploring how women were able to influence educational developments during the Progressive Era. Archival data show that the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Atlanta Woman’s Club, and the Athens Woman’s Club played in important role in educational advancements in Georgia during the Progressive Era. Archival and primary source materials were used to support an analysis of gender, social class, and geographic differences on women’s roles in educational changes. This study analyzes how women were able to affect education in Georgia at a time when men dominated educational decision-making.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2008. / Title from screen (viewed on July 8, 2008). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Robert G. Barrows, Nancy Marie Robertson, Marianne S. Wokeck. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-172).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Springing up in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Indiana women's study clubs provided generations of women with the opportunity to improve their educations in a friendly environment. They also brought culture to their communities by hosting art exhibits, musical entertainments, and lectures, building libraries and museums, and participating in community improvement endeavors. The activities of urban clubs in big cities have been documented in histories of the women's club movement, but small towns have recieved little attention even through they were vital parts of their communities. This study considers the characteristics, organization, study practices, and civic improvement work of three small-town Indiana women's clubs in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The Zerelda Reading Club (Warsaw) studied a wide variety of subjects, while the Ladies' Piano Club (Salem) and Florentine Club (Lebanon) limited their studies to art and music, respectively. All three clubs participated in community improvement efforts that helped their towns achieve urban amenities. The Zerelda Reading Club helped to establish a ladies' rest room, the Ladies' Piano Club worked with other community organizations to build a Carnegie public library, and the Florentine Club raised money to beautify Oak Hill Cemetery. Forming in decades of tremendous growth in popularity of club activity, the organization of all three clubs shows influences of those associations already in existence. This study argues that the individual circumstances of members and their communities resulted in the organization of three women's clubs that prospered under the guidance of extant clubs, but served their members and their communities by adapting activities to suit local needs.