by Barb, first post of 2024 from Maine, where there is snow on the ground and the temperature went down to 32 degrees last night. Quite a change from Key West. Here in Portland, we’re in the “Path of Partiality” for the eclipse today, and I am interested to find out what that means.
It is appropriate that with Torn Asunder, the 12th book in the Maine Clambake Mystery series, coming in 15 days that this should be (almost certainly) the last post about book 11, Hidden Beneath.
In Hidden Beneath an old friend of my protagonist Julia’s mother disappears while out for an afternoon swim. She lives in a summer colony on an island in Busman’s Harbor and is a member of the Wednesday Club. At the beginning of the book, five years after her disappearance, the woman has been declared dead. The remaining members of the Wednesday Club host her memorial service, which Julia and her mother attend.
Later in the book, one of the daughters explains the club to Julia.
“What exactly is the Wednesday Club?”
She smiled. She had pleasantly round cheeks and a dimple near her mouth. “The Wednesday Club is nothing more and nothing less than a group of women who pick a topic, say Pompeii, or Elizabethan England, or the Bloomsbury group. Then each member chooses an aspect of that topic and writes a research paper about it.”
“A research paper?” Of all the things I imagined April was going to tell me the club did, writing research papers wasn’t one of them. “Writing a research paper for summer fun?”
April chuckled. “With footnotes and everything. The writing takes place over the winter, when they have access to libraries and such. The papers get presented in the summer, one every Wednesday. The paper’s author hosts the meeting in her home. They have the same little sandwiches, cookies, and fruit squares for every single meeting.”
In the Acknowledgments for Hidden Beneath I wrote:
My mother belonged to a group called the Thursday Club, which is more or less as described in the book. It was a chance for college-educated women to exercise their brains. Also to pull out the silver tea service and china cups once a year. It was already an anachronism when my mother joined in the 1960s, but it went on into the 2000s, and for all I know, it may be going still. I have the little notebook where Mom kept the lists of research topics and menus. Nothing was better than coming home from school the day your mother hosted. There were always finger sandwiches and petit fours left over.
From the time my mother was asked to join, when I was in junior high or high school, I have been fascinated with the idea of the club. It seemed like a delightful anachronism, not to mention a great way to gather a pool of suspects together.
When it came time to use the club in a book, I renamed it the Wednesday Club, due to Richard Osmond’s completely delightful Thursday Murder Club series. I emphasize I didn’t know much about the club. The meetings, including the one held every year in our home, took place while I was at school. My mother died in 2013 and any knowledge or source thereof ended there. I didn’t do any research about the club for Hidden Beneath. When I wind people or things I vaguely know about into fiction, I am better off not learning too much. That way the “truth” of the matter doesn’t trip up my imagination. I can get the person or entity to be what it needs to be for the sake of the fiction. For example in this case I had to twist the schedule and practices of the club around to work in a summer colony. Also, if I don’t know much, I can be sure whatever I’ve created isn’t too like the real thing.
Hidden Beneath went out into the world last June and I thought that was the end of it. Then I happened to come upon the little book with the topics and authors from my mother’s last year and noticed a friend of hers had delivered a paper on the history of the club. Sure enough the friend was on Facebook. Desperate for a blog topic last August, I reached out. Long story short, a month or so ago a package containing not one but three histories of the Thursday Club arrived in my mailbox. All three histories are so charming and amazing and illuminating I wish I could offer you the chance to read them in their entirety but here are some excerpts for you to enjoy.
The first was written in September 1929 by Mrs. Eben Greenough Scott.
One day in early September, 1885, it happened that several ladies met at the house of one of them.
In looking forward to the coming winter, plans were discussed for study to occupy their leisure hours. The Shakespeare Club, to which they had belonged, had died a natural death the preceding year.
A number of the group had been studying Dante for three years past, and now the others wished to join in something more general. Mrs. Stanley Woodward, one of those present, turned to me and said, “Cannot you plan something that would interest us all?”
I asked for time to consider, and after thinking it over, proposed a study of the History of Art. A few days later, eight ladies met at my house, I being the ninth (the number of the Muses).
I had no experience in this co-operative kind of study, but thought it was worth trying. We formed no organization, but agreed to meet once a week to see what we could do. There was no Public Library at the time, and our books were few, consisting chiefly of the Encyclopedia Britannica and a few antiquated books on archeology.
As I look back I see the courage of ignorance in our undertaking, but we plunged boldly into Egypt…
The second history was written in 1980 in celebration of the club’s 95th birthday. The author, Phyllis McCausland River, catches us up and fills in some details about the original founder and history writer, Mrs. Eben Greenough Scott.
When she was eighty-five she broke her hip. Knowing she would be laid up for a long time she sent her nurse uptown to buy her a Spanish grammar. All her life she had spoken French and Italian fluently. She lived 15 more years, until within 5 months of her hundredth birthday. Two days before her death she wrote out checks paying all her bills. Once when a friend 20 years her junior complained that she feared her mind was slipping, Mrs. Scott leaned forward in her chair, looking earnestly at her friend and asked, “With what are you feeding it, my dear?”
To me this is such a wonderful portrait of a grande dame, a ferocious lady of a certain time and disposition.
The subject of art eventually became confining. In 1933 the club members branched out into the world. That year the subject was Mexico, later Sweden and Norway, eventually covering the greater part of the globe. Members pursued their own interests. One wrote often of flora and fauna, another architecture, another costumes.
We have no Constitution and By-laws, no expenses and no rules. Our underlying principles have been two: cooperation and loyalty.
Yet we are still the same Thursday Club, but like all manners and morals today we follow a more flexible code…We still enjoy each other’s company and brain-children (papers); no one strains to lay a lavish tea table; we never gossip…we have a deadline and a goal once a year to have the house in ship-shape order and condition; and best of all, we learn so much we never knew before about all sorts of places and people.
Am I allowed one more observation? It has to do with the question of why the Thursday Club has vitality to this day. It seems anachronistic. Perhaps the answer is that it is refreshing. We lay aside a few hours of time to do serious reading, time to think, time to renew a somewhat leisurely way of life. Thursday Club does something for us.
The most recent history was written in 2019 by Kathy Montz Miller as the club approached its 135th anniversary The author puts the history in context, placing the accomplishments of women like Margaret Sanger, Jeannette Rankin, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Earhart, Shirley Chisholm, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sally Ride, Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, and Hilary Clinton alongside the evolving story of the club to illustrate how women’s roles have changed.
The 2019 history describes the evolution from women arriving in carriages or sleighs, and then in cars with drivers and then driving themselves. Hats were worn until the 60s, slacks were possible in the 70s.
We are now comprised of more professionals than we ever have been. We no longer dress up for Thursday Club, but that too is a sign of the times as many members come directly from work or other meetings.
I notice the names in the annual booklet are ever more diverse. I wonder of the wives if the coal barons who were present at the founding of the club imagined that one day their descendants would be sitting discussing scholarly papers with the descendants of the men who worked in those mines and the shopkeepers who sold them goods. This change over multiple generations is what Hidden Beneath is about.
The paper ends by returning to the words of Mrs. Eben Greenough Scott, whose given name we learn from a later history (not the one she wrote) was Elizabeth.
All our newcomers are most welcome. We look for growth and renewed energy from their presence. May they and all, long continue to enjoy the work and companionship of the Thursday Club.
The club continues to this day, 139 years in September. It seems truly remarkable in this age of binge-watching and internet and bowling alone. I know how much the group meant to my mother over decades, both intellectually and for the camaraderie, and I’m glad it’s still out there. (And I’m sorry about all the secrets and the murders.)
Readers: Can you think of an example of an organization with this kind of longevity in your town?
What a treasure to have those histories, Barb, and to be in touch with your mother’s friend!
In my town, the Whittier Home Association was founded in the late 1800s by a few local stalwart women, and it’s been a largely women’s organization since. It owns and manages John Greenleaf Whittier’s house as a museum (open only for a few hours on Saturdays and only in the summer and fall), but used to be more of a social and good deeds club. Readings of Whittier’s poetry also happens twice a year. Different from the Thursday Club, but definitely long-lived!
The late 1800s seem to be a simmering time for good works and intellectual pursuits.
Wonderful! I very much enjoyed this article. It’s interesting that many groups form for one reason or another and find purpose in being together. I wonder if AAUW started somewhat like that. I do know that many Historical Societies that are small work that way for a time. High school classes often create scholarships or school gift projects. Any group of people who gather regularly, whether for purpose or fun, often find a common goal whether it is donating to aa food bank or local entity, some other service, or an internal purpose in friendship. Think of the groups you may be associated with. We may open our own eyes to a few more reasons why we join and remain. And put our best selves forward.
What interesting thoughts. When people write to me for advice about writing or getting published, I always tell them to join Sisters in Crime as well as any geographically-based writers organizations around them. I did that yesterday in fact. It is true that even in this age when people join a lot less, we still find reasons to gang together.
What an interesting idea. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!
Now that’s a LONG time! Never heard of any type of club that lasted that long.
What an amazing thing to be able to find and connect with someone that had a history with your mom in such a fabulous way. Awesome that she sent you such a treasure too. Thank you for sharing a few tidbits from it.
Congratulations on the upcoming release of TORN ASUNDER!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Thank you, Kay. It was awesome. And the histories are awesome and so well-written. One of those serendipitous things that makes me glad social media exists.
WOW!!! I can answer the question “What am I feeding my mind with” today!!! You are always sharing such incredibly wonderful and such fun and educational facts, dear Barbara! I loved reading your “behind the scenes” history of your mom’s Thursday Club. I wish I knew of a similar club that has prevailed for almost 139 years…my book club is 9 years old, and I am blessed that it has endured, despite the pandemic…will it last 139 years? Time will tell (someone else, because I surely won’t be here to count the years 🙂 ). Thank you for enlightening us with such a fun blog, and may you continue to feed us fun knowledge. JOY! Luis at ole dot travel
Your book group is a wonder, Luis. You’ve survived changes in geography, technology, and a pandemic so far, which speaks very well of it.
Wonderful! I cannot imagine a club lasting all that long. This history makes the book all the more meaningful.
Thank you, Kait! Strangely, retroactively, it made it more meaningful for me.
What an interesting and fun history to explore. So glad you were able to learn more. I’m writing a historical mystery based in Newburyport, MA in 1882 and am including information about the Society to Encourage Studies at Home (SH) which lasted from 1873-1897. It was founded in Cambridge by Anna Eliot Ticknor when she was 50 and had thousands of students from all over the country and even some international. Individuals signed up to study a variety of topics but eventually, groups of women also formed study circles which sounds quite similar to what you described. SH is considered the first correspondence school in the US and was started by women for (all) women. In the present day, I know there is a men’s group in the Newburyport area that holds similar types of meetings of presenting papers and have heard mention of one for women but not sure if it still exists. Now I want to learn more!
Sally Milliken
Hi Sally–since my former life waa in distance learning, in the age of the internet, I know a fair amount about the history of correspondence schools, but I didn’t know this bit. Thanks so much!
Sally, I live in Amesbury, the next town over, and never heard of this society. If I had, I might have included mention in one of my Quaker Midwife Mysteries, which are set in the same time period!
What a very cool history, Barb. I can’t think of anything – in Pittsburgh or Buffalo – that is the same. Certinaly not that my mother, a working woman with four children, had time to participate in!
Yes. I am sure the women prior to 1930 had “leisure time” due to servants. The group has evolved since and most of the women either actively work or have retired, but in the early days it certainly was for the privileged few. (One of the themes of Hidden Beneath.)
This is so amazing, Barb. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I remember reading a book in the 80s that I think was about a club of women who did something similar. I wish I could think of the name of it.
If the title floats back into your head, please let me know. I would love to read a book about a similar group.
I remembered the partial title and Google got me the rest. But it was about a book club not a group like this. It was called And Ladies of the Club. I remember loving it back then.
I loved Hidden Beneath and much of that is because of my fascination with the Wednesday Club. What a great thing to be a part of. I don’t know if any still going groups like that. Wish I did.
I’m guessing they are very rare, especially one that continues for 139 years.
Your history of the Thursday Club reminds me of a club I belonged to in my home town. It began as a monthly investment club with 20 women members. An investment club takes time to prepare a report on a stock and present it at each meeting. After 20 years, most of our children were grown and off on their own and members were traveling more and missing meetings. Without their report, it was hard to conduct business so we decided to liquidate our investments. We enjoyed each others company so decided to continue meeting monthly. It took a year to settle on our new purpose. We tried playing cards and other games, then decided to morph into a book club which lasted another 10 years until covid shut everything down. After that several members had retired or moved away and I’m not sure if some are still meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed my 30+ years as a member of the Blue Chip Women.
The Blue Chip Women sound absolutely delightful.
And Ladies of the Club -one of my very favorite books, had a club like this. In real life, I know of some books clubs but nothing like this. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com