Excerpt from Annals of the Chicago Woman's Club: For the First Forty Years of Its Organization, 1876-1916 The forty years which have witnessed the birth and development of our Club, have seen a wonderful growth of women's organizations, devoted to mutual counsel and to the fostering of community ideals. The growth of leisure and the desire to use it well, the extension of modern means of lengthening the days, lessening distance apparently, have helped the cause of united action, the planning of unselfish work. The forty years of our club-life have not been penitential years in the wilderness, though we have been fed with the heavenly manna of inspiration and instruction, and prepared to enter the broader land of civic life with all its privileges and responsibilities. It was said of a lady recently that her activities in club circles have not been extensive because of more serious interests. Can there be anything more serious than trying to improve the universe? The spirit of '76 animated our pioneers. It seemed as advanced in '76 to belong to a Club in the eyes of many good house-mothers, as it would in this day to run for State Senator. Our leaders were conscious of their aims, and it was a joy to follow where they led. The spirit of the Club was a desire to enlarge our vision, to enable us to share in the wider interests of the community, to do our share of the worlds work; we wished to prevent wrong and harm to those unable to help themselves, to bind up wounds, to create that which was lovely, to take the place of the unsightly. Many of our leaders were trained women; some had been teachers, others were following the profession of medicine, some joined us who were lawyers, others had reared sons and daughters, and had devoted themselves to the home and church exclusively. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Hardcover reprint of the original 1916 edition - beautifully bound in brown cloth covers featuring titles stamped in gold, 8vo - 6x9". No adjustments have been made to the original text, giving readers the full antiquarian experience. For quality purposes, all text and images are printed as black and white. This item is printed on demand. Book Information: Chicago Woman's Club. Annals Of The Chicago Woman's Club For The First Forty Years Of Its Organization, 1876-1916. Indiana: Repressed Publishing LLC, 2012. Original Publishing: Chicago Woman's Club. Annals Of The Chicago Woman's Club For The First Forty Years Of Its Organization, 1876-1916, . Chicago, Chicago Woman's Club, 1916.

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This group biography explores the lives, work, and personal relations of nine white, middle- and upper-middle-class women who were involved in the first decade of Chicago's premier social settlement. This "galaxy of stars"--as they were called in their own day--were active in innumerable political, social, and religious reform efforts. The Women of Hull House refutes the humanistic interpretation of the social settlement movement. Its spiritual base is highlighted as the author describes it as the practical/ethical side of the social gospel movement and as an attempt to transform late nineteenth-century evangelical and doctrinal Christian religion. While the women of Hull House differed from one another in their theological beliefs and were often critical of orthodox Christianity, they were motivated by Christian ideals. By showing the interconnections of spirituality, vocation, and friendship, the author argues that individual actions for social changes must take place within communities which provide a level of uniting vision yet allow for diverse actions and viewpoints.

Although many observers have assumed that pluralism prevailed in American political life from the start, inherited ideals of civic virtue and moral unity proved stubbornly persistent and influential. The tension between these conceptions of public life was especially evident in the young nation's burgeoning cities. Exploiting a wide range of sources, including novels, cartoons, memoirs, and journalistic accounts, James J. Connolly traces efforts to reconcile democracy and diversity in the industrializing cities of the United States from the antebellum period through the Progressive Era. The necessity of redesigning civic institutions and practices to suit city life triggered enduring disagreements centered on what came to be called machine politics. Featuring plebian leadership, a sharp masculinity, party discipline, and frank acknowledgment of social differences, this new political formula first arose in eastern cities during the mid-nineteenth century and became a subject of national discussion after the Civil War. During the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, business leaders, workers, and women proposed alternative understandings of how urban democracy might work. Some tried to create venues for deliberation that built common ground among citizens of all classes, faiths, ethnicities, and political persuasions. But accommodating such differences proved difficult, and a vision of politics as the businesslike management of a contentious modern society took precedence. As Connolly makes clear, machine politics offered at best a quasi-democratic way to organize urban public life. Where unity proved elusive, machine politics provided a viable, if imperfect, alternative.