Records of the Women's Research Club include minutes, 1902-1999; correspondence, 1903-1939 and 1952-1994; membership lists 1904-1999; financial records 1903-1999; correspondence and reports of club officers and committees, including Loan Fund materials; papers concerning the 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th and 90th anniversaries; relationships with the men's research club; histories, memorials, photographs, and clippings.
The Women's Research Club of the University of Michigan was founded in 1902 by a group of eight women who had been excluded from the other recently established all-male faculty research clubs (Senior Research Club and Junior Research Club). The first constitution defined the organization's purpose as an association of women for the promotion and encouragement of original research. Active dues paying members were required to present a report about their research at least once a year during one of the monthly meetings. Initially membership was limited to women working in the sciences but was soon widened to include women researchers in all fields. Ultimately membership was expanded to include women staff members, visiting professors or scholars, faculty wives, graduate students, and distinguished scholars who published research or significant critical studies, or who carried on active research in the arts, sciences or humanities. In 1921 the Women's Research Club created a loan fund to provide interest-free loans to women researchers.
Transformations such as the opening of the once all-male Research Club and Science Research Club (known as Junior Research Club until 1945) to women members in the 1970s brought about changes within the Women's Research Club. In 1973 men were made eligible for membership and the first male member joined in 1975. The two groups began holding annual joint meetings and occasionally discussed merging although the Women's Research Club repeatedly voted to remain autonomous.
By the 1990s both the Research Club and Women's Research Club faced decreasing attendance at meetings and difficulties in finding new leadership. Both clubs operated jointly in a loose confederation in the late 1990s before the Women's Research Club members voted for dissolution in 1999. Regular activities ceased on May 31, 1999. Funds from the club's bank accounts were turned over to the university administered Women's Research Club Loan Fund.
For additional history and background, including a list of all known presentation topics and selected reprints researchers may wish to consult the 1992 publication: Ninety Years with the Women's Research Club, University of Michigan: A Retrospective, edited by Marilyn Rosenthal and Ruth Brend. Researchers may also be interested in the records of the University of Michigan Research Club and Science Research Club (originally known as the Junior Research Club) which are also available in the Bentley Library.
The Women's Research Club record group is arranged in eight series. The first seven series are formed partially based on club functions and activities: Historical, Minutes, Correspondence, Membership, Executive Board, Activities, and Anniversaries. The final series, 1995-1997 Records, includes materials received within the 2015 accession.
