History of the Sippican Woman’s Club

In 1904 the Sippican Woman’s Club was formed by merging two local ladies’ societies. One was a discussion group originally organized by Mrs. John Allen in 1895. The other, begun by Mrs. C. O. Rundell, focused on intellectual and social improvement. The ladies devoted themselves to their personal goals and to  activities that benefited the Town of Marion. Their slogan was

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Coming together is a beginning;

Keeping together is progress;

Working together is success.

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In its second year, the Club joined the State Federation of Woman’s Clubs. With membership up to 38, meetings were moved from the Elizabeth Taber Library to the Music Hall. In 1914, Member Ida Reed persuaded the Club to sponsor a nursing association. Funds were raised with a summer fair and a fall rummage sale. In 1915, the Club hosted the State Federation’s Annual Meeting at the Marion Congregational Church.  The main topic of the day was Women’s Suffrage, with the meeting voting 203 in favor and 99 against.

Early in 1923, the Sippican Woman’s Club received a Certificate of Organization from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, constituted “… for the purpose of maintaining a club house and grounds for Social Meetings, for promoting Local Benevolent Work for Educational, Musical, Literary and Artistic Purposes, for Letting of Rooms, Furnishing Lunches and Dealing in Articles of Historical, Antiquarian or Artistic value.”

The Certificate of Organization was likely a prerequisite to the purchase of Handy’s Tavern, which occurred in May of that year. The Tavern, originally built by Caleb Handy in 1812 and subsequently known as “The Thompson House,” had been a private dwelling for several decades. Two SWC members, Alice A. Ryder and Clara M. Lewis, purchased the Tavern and sold it to the Woman’s Club. They spent $7800 for the building and grounds and another $4200 on essential repairs. The $12,000 debt was quickly paid by donations from the membership.

Additional funds came from renting two upstairs apartments, one to the Town nurse, the other to local teachers, and a storefront to the clothier Marty Sullivan.

The SWC was recognized by awards for outstanding community service for a great variety of activities. They sponsored ballroom dance lessons for local young people in middle and junior high school, promoted a club for boys ages 16 to 18, served hot cocoa to school children in the winter, sponsored dental clinics and obtained safety vests for local newsboys. During war years, the Club lent the Tavern for the Red Cross to meet and roll bandages.

In 1947, the Club began offering college scholarships to local students. To raise funds, the ladies continued to engage in numerous activities, including food sales, yard sales, Valentine’s Day lunches, children’s movies and fairs. In 1986, Members Jeanne Collison, Judy Harrison, Shirlee Thomas and Betsy Parks organized the first Holiday House Tour, to occur on the Saturday before the Sunday of the Marion Christmas Stroll. Since that time, the House Tour has made possible many scholarships to Marion students.

The Club continues to contribute to many worthy causes in our area, including the Council on Aging, Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops, the Boy Scouts, the Community Resources Network, the Greater New Bedford Women’s Center, the Sippican School, to name but a few.

 
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In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt was President, an electric trolley ran up Main Street to Spring, Tabor Academy was still on Spring Street – and the Sippican Woman’s Club was formed.
This is the budget from that first year.

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Veterans Day is a time to remember all whose endeavors contributed to secure our freedom. The Sippican Woman’s Club, began in 1904, and in the ensuing years sponsored Marion Visiting Nurses (1914), fed lunch to school children during the depression, and held dental clinics for children. In 1942, during World War 2, the club opened their club house, Handy’s Tavern, for the Marion Red Cross.
Pictured standing left to right, Mrs. Clayton Keith, canteen, Mrs. Alton H. Ryder, Chairman of the Marion Branch of the Red Cross, Miss Isabelle Cumming, Lieutenant, Motor Corps, Mrs. George Angier, Chairman of Surgical Dressing Unit, and, seated, Miss Alice A. Ryder, President of the SWC (1942).

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      On August 18th it will have been 100 years since the ratification of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. However, women weren’t “given” the right to vote, they campaigned for over 50 years for equality and the right to vote. The 19th Amendment declared “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Suffrage, the right to vote, is the fundamental right of citizenship. 

     On June 24th and 25th, 1915, the Sippican Woman’s Club hosted the State Federation of Women’s Clubs for their annual meeting and to vote on women’s suffrage. Over 400 women, from around the state gathered in Marion for two days, it was their annual meeting and an opportunity to add their voice to the suffrage movement.

     The General Federation of Women’s Clubs was founded in 1890.  It was an important vehicle for women to gather consensus among themselves, on political issues, such as suffrage. The Federation had a notable record of activity on issues of historical importance. In a time when women’s rights were limited the State Federation chapters held grass roots efforts to make sure the woman’s voice was heard.

    By the turn of the century, women had abandoned the hope of a Federal decree, and they had begun a state by state ratification campaign. By 1910, 11 states, all in the West, had given women the right to vote. Still, since southern and eastern states resisted, the Suffragettes decided that a “blitz campaign” to mobilize state and local organizations was needed. As of 1914, only 17 of the state federations had voted to support suffrage, even though it ha been affirmed that suffrage had become a mainstream cause for middle-class women from every part of the country. 

     The question has always been, “why would members of the Federation of Women’s Club vote NOT to give women the right to vote?” In 1915, the woman’s suffrage movement was not universally popular. There were almost as many women against the suffrage movement as there were suffragettes. They opined that a woman should be first and foremost the homemaker, caring for children, husband and home. They also believed that women would be best in a bipartisan role, impartial, no opinion, protecting themselves from the sordid world of politics. These women were called “anti-suffragettes”, or “antis” for short. The New York Times editorialized that “ giving the vote to women is repugnant”.  Mrs. Grover Cleveland, a famous Marion summer visitor, wrote “men’s and women’s roles had been assigned long ago by a higher intelligence.”

     So, women from around the state took trains, (had to transfer from Tremont in Wareham to Marion Depot), stayed at the Sippican Hotel for $4.00 a night, and convened at the First Congregational Church in Marion to participate in a two day conference. Both sides of the suffrage movement were ready to fight for their cause.  Newspaper articles of the event, state that the “antis” were upset when they saw a  suffrage ribbon tied to a decorative palm in the church. With 400 or more women, it was “standing room only”.

     The first day was amicable, being that they only dealt with usual annual club issues. That evening there was a reception at the Sippican Hotel and a production of “Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

                   

   On the second day it was written in a newspaper account  an undercurrent of excitement over the pending question of woman suffrage prevailed. Anti-suffrage and suffrage leaders were marshalling their forces for the test of strength which is expected to come when the suffrage question is brought before the convention for the adoption of resolutions.”

    In the face of such division, the President of the State Federation began the session by stating, “Let us maintain unity in diversity. Let us not be broken by factions. Let us keep the peace in the organization we have always enjoyed.”

 Vote was taken, 203 to 99 in favor of ratification of Massachusett’s referendum to grant suffrage to women in the November ballot. It is recorded “Whereas the question of political equality of men and women is a very vital problem under discussion throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, therefore, be it resolved, that the Massachusetts state federation of Women’s Clubs give the cause of political equality the moral support by recording its beliefs in the principle of political equality regardless of sex.”

    In November, the referendum failed. The strong political machine did not want an electorate they didn’t know. New York had the same referendum, and that lost also.

     It took 5 more years of continued pressure, with rallies, political polling, jailing, and hunger strikes.  However, it was World War 1, when women picked up the gauntlet to drive ambulances, die at the front lines while nursing the wounded, worked assembly lines to keep production of the country’s needs, that women finally were finally given citizenship, namely the vote. 

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