Woman's Club of Hattiesburg

The Woman's Club of Hattiesburg was orgainized in September, 1909 by a group of prominent Hattiesburg women. The club was admitted to the State Federation of Women's Clubs in October of that year, and to the General Federation of Women's Clubs in April of 1914.

The General Federation of Women's Clubs inspired many elite urban southern women:

"Club experience has been the university in which they have learned about themselves and other women and have seen men as one of the species and not as individual husbands and fathers. They have gained respect for their own opinions, toleration for the opinions of others and the necessity of cooperation for the successful accomplishment of all aims. They have discovered the needs and weaknesses of themselves and their homes and have learned how to improve both. Their knowledge has been increased....Gossip has decreased because clubs have given women better things to think about, and having seen the need of the world, they have become interested in striving to make their own part of it a little better" (Ann Firor Scott, The Southern Lady Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970, p. 115). Scott, Anne Firor (1970) .

The women's club movement occurred among wealthy and middle-class women as a result of the extension of the woman's domestic sphere. The initial impulse was a hunger for education and involvement in civic issues. The earliest clubs were almost all literary and self-help, which generated concern for understanding history and politics. The emphasis then shifted to civic and social concerns, such as better education for children and better conditions for working-class women, and social concerns led them to become interested in politics. Overall, the Hattiesburg Woman's Club seems to fits into this general description of women's clubs.

Membership in the Woman's Club of Hattiesburg did not exceed thirty persons. Funds of the organization were derived from membership dues and special contributions, and the objective of the group was to "provide social and literary entertainment for its members and to aid in community betterment." The club encouraged its members to "bind together...spare hours by the cord of some definite purpose...[and to] think quietly, talk gently, and ever in confict obey the nobler impulse."

Club presidents during the 1920'S included Rebecca O'Neal Tatum, Mary Pierce Folkes Cameron, Elizabeth B. Hightower, and Mary Ella Bishop Marriner. Presidents between the years 1960-67 include Mrs. W.D. McCain, Mrs. Ray Musgrave, and Mrs. Frank Mathews.

As of this writing, the last known club historian is Lida Rogers of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.