For the Ebell Women's Club of Los Angeles' Charter Day, I presented some of my research, tying in their historic costume collection.

1. LADIES WHO LAUNCH!
CELEBRATING EBELL WOMEN OF THE
PAST
HOW THE CLUBWOMEN OF LOS ANGELES STARTED A
REVOLUTION
(AND LOOKED GREAT DOING IT)
Maggie Wineland

2. WHY WE SAY CLUBWOMEN OF THE
PROGRESSIVE ERA STARTED A
REVOLUTION….
FIRST, A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN’S
CLUBS

3. 1790s - 1860
‘True Woman’
and
‘The Cult of
Domesticity’

4. Early America was Rural;
Man and Wife both worked
(on farm)…

5. 1790s – 1860—
Industrialization,
‘True Woman’
and
‘Woman’s Sphere’

6. ‘Benevolence’
❖Read Bible and sew, etc.
❖Charity work
❖Led by men (Pastor)
❖Place to use their skills
and talents (sewing, baking,
fundraising, etc.)
1. BEFORE WOMEN’S CLUBS: CHURCH GROUPS
Suffrage protest, before 1920. Humboldt University History 111 Discussion
Guide. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/reform.html
Image courtesy of Creative Commons

7. ‘Benevolence’
❖Read Bible and Sew
❖Charity work
❖Led by men (Pastor)
❖Place to use their skills
and talents (sewing,
baking, fundraising, etc.)
❖Stealth: use what
you already know to
widen any crack in
the system
1. BEFORE WOMEN’S CLUBS: CHURCH GROUPS
Image courtesy of Creative Commons

8. ❖Slightly more radical form
of ‘Benevolence’
❖Women learned to organize,
promote, speak in public
❖Broadened their horizons,
socially. The only ‘mixed’
groups at the time
EARLY WOMEN’S CLUBS: ABOLITION GROUPS
Suffrage protest, before 1920. Humboldt University History 111 Discussion
Guide. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/reform.html
“Abolition Pincushion” Courtesy of the Quaker Friends’ Museum

9.  Used True Woman
skills to create
value in the
outside world
 The War and
Emancipation lead
women to consider
their own status
EARLY WOMEN’S CLUBS: ABOLITION GROUPS
“Abolition Pincushion” Courtesy of the Quaker Friends’ Museum

10. PRE- AND POST-CIVIL WAR—STUDY
GROUPS
FOR WOMEN

11. ❖Who is a Radical
Feminist? What
does a Radical
Feminist look like?
REBELS!!
Photo of Mary Daly courtesy of
http://endingmaleviolence.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-become-radical-feminist-
for.html

12. REBELS!!
❖Who is a Radical
Feminist? What
does a Radical
Feminist look like?
Courtesy of Creative Commons

13. REBELS!!
❖Who is a Radical
Feminist? What does a
Radical Feminist look like?

14. REBEL—FOR A NEW KIND OF REBELLION
Jane “Jennie June” Croly, Founder of Sorosis
❖Who is a Radical
Feminist? What does
a Radical Feminist
look like?

15. SOROSIS, FOUNDED 1868
From Harper’s Weekly, Ma of 1869.

16. CLUBS OF THE 1860S –1920S—WHY?
Ostensible
❖“We want to be charitable”
❖“Camaraderie among women”
❖“We clean up the town for
children’s sake”
❖“Municipal Mothering”
Hidden/Stealth
❖(Self-esteem, use/build skills)
❖(Organize for power &
influence)
❖(Learn how the town works;
participate in local politics)
❖(Show our capability in public
arena)

17. ❖Ebell, Hollywood, and Woman’s University
Clubs
❖President of the Hollywood Bowl
Association
❖Raised money all over to get the Bowl built
❖Called “The Mother of the Hollywood
Bowl”
ARTIE MASON CARTER—1920S
Image courtesy of the Hollywood Bowl Museum.
http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/philpedia/history-and-
architecture/first-organizers

18. ❖Successfully protested
the street-paving
disruption of the Bowl’s
season by knitting in the
street, in a rocking chair.
The city moved the
paving to the off-season
ARTIE MASON CARTER
Suffrage protest, before 1920. Humboldt University History 111 Discussion
Guide. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/reform.html
Photo Courtesy DWP Collection,
http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views
_of_the_Hollywood_Bowl.html

19. FLORENCE
COLLINS
PORTER
DETAIL
DETAIL
DETAIL

20. ❖Major force in the
Progressive Faction of
Republican Party
❖Lobbied for pure food,
child welfare…etc
FLORENCE COLLINS PORTER
Suffrage protest, before 1920. Humboldt University History 111 Discussion
Guide. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/reform.html
Photo Courtesy DWP Collection,
http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views
_of_the_Hollywood_Bowl.html

21. IN AN ERA HOSTILE TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS, THE WOMEN’S
CLUB WAY ENABLED US TO EFFECTIVELY DEVELOP AND
IMPROVE OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD.

22. About Maggie Wineland
 USC Architecture Historic Preservation
 Master’s Candidate
 SoCal Native
 Ebell Member since 2012
 Member Ebell House Committee
 Call me - 323-286-2798
 Write me – maggiewineland@gmail.com