Mrs. Field's Literary Club records
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Abstract
This collection contains materials generated by the Mrs. Field's Literary Club, a club for women founded in 1884. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, programs, essays, photographs, and audio cassettes from meetings and events.
Historical Note
The Mrs. Field's Literary Club was founded in 1884 by Mrs. Mary J. Field (Mrs. George White Field) as a social club for her students and other women in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The purpose of the Club is to bring "together members of Mrs. Field's Club for literary culture and for social discourse." The social meetings of the Club generally took place monthly at members' residences during which members presented essays on literature, art and music, or performed plays. Writers and educators who were not members of the Club have also been invited to present at meetings, such as Pandita Ramabai, William Butler Yeats, and Arthur S. Hardy. The Mrs. Field's Literary Club inspired the formation of the Twentieth Century Club, another Brooklyn-based club devoted to appreciation of the arts and open to both men and women. The Mrs. Field's Literary Club is still active as of 2021.
Arrangement
The collection is in chronological order.
Scope and Contents
This collection is made up of materials generated by the Mrs. Field's Literary Club from its founding in 1884 until the mid-1990s. The collection includes meeting minutes and financial records, as well as correspondence related to meeting attendance and invitations to guest speakers. Among those materials is a book of handwritten minutes and financial records related to meetings between the Mrs. Field's Literary Club and the Twentieth Century Club, dated 1893-1899.
Much of the collection is made up of materials from social meetings and anniversary events, including programs, menus, essays, play and presentation scripts, photographic prints and slides, audiocassettes with recordings of plays in the early 1980s, and a corsage from the centennial celebration.
The yearbooks, which span from 1884 to 1995, are booklets released annually and provide the constitution and by-laws, member directory, and listing of programs that took place that year.
Also included in the collection are a photographic portrait of Mrs. Mary J. Field and two copies of A History of Mrs. Field's Literary Club (1909), a book published on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the club.
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Conditions Governing Access
Per donor agreement, materials dated through 1950 are currently open to researchers without restriction, but access restrictions apply for later materials in the collection. Materials dating from the 1950s will be open to researchers in 2025, materials dating from the 1960s will be open to researchers in 2035, materials dating from the 1970s will be open to researchers in 2045, and materials dating from the 1980s will be open to researchers in 2055.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection may only be used in the library and is not available through interlibrary loan.
Due to preservation concerns, the audiocassettes in Box 12 are not open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Mrs. Field's Literary Club Records, 1995.004, Box and Folder number; Center for Brooklyn History.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Field's Literary Club, 1996.
Separated Materials
A copy of A history of Mrs. Field's Literary Club (1909) was transferred to the Center for Brooklyn History's Library Main Collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The records were initially processed and arranged by restriction date by Nicholas Pavlik in 2011. This arrangement was maintained and the records were described by Alice Griffin in 2021. The archivist also created preservation photocopies of newspaper clippings.
