What They Wrote: The Virtual Library

Elizabeth Turner Graham, Holly and Mistletoe cover (1885).

The Woman's Literary Club of Baltmore produced thousands--and thousands-- of pages of writings. In their Club documents alone, they filled thousands of pages of minutes which detailed the activities and discussion of each meating. And they shared essays, poetry, fiction, translations, and tributes to writers from the Club, from Baltimore, from Maryland, and from around the world.

All of this activity was geared for the crowning glory of publication in print, and an astounding number of them were successful. They published novels, short stories, and poetry in volumes from the nation's most respected presses and in popular magazines and daily newspapers (where some worked as reporters and editors). Their plays were performed locally and on Broadway. Still others wrote histories, philosophical and religious tracts, and literary criticism.

A Room of their Own: The Club Library

The Library of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore played an important role from the Club’s earliest days. It may owe its beginning to Elizabeth Turner Graham’s hopeful suggestion recorded in the December 15, 1890 meeting minutes that “one day we may have a magazine and a room of our own,” a harbinger of Virginia Wolfe’s more famous manifesto A Room of One’s Own, which would not be published until almost four decades later. A room of one’s own implies not only ownership, but also the freedom of creativity and expression that comes with it. Inspired by Graham’s longing, perhaps, the Club library was established sometime before 1892, and quickly became a valued extension of the Club.

In just a few short months between November 1892 and May 1893, the Club library grew from a collection of 63 to 200 volumes. The Club librarian, Virginia Woodward Cloud, reported this exciting news at the 25th Salon on May 20, 1893, when she read the entire list of volumes that had been acquired and expressed sincere “gratitude to our members, and to our other friends” who had donated books. From the very beginning of the Club’s existence, having a library was a victory. They had acquired a room of their own.

Meeting after meeting, news of their swelling library thrilled members of the Club. Members donated copies of their own publications, as would honorary members. At their Feb. 12, 1901 meeting, the Club decided to expand its library further by including “all the books (as far as we can obtain them) that have been written by the best authors of our own state of Maryland.”  Ultimately, it seems that their library combined their own works with those of their local favorites, putting them on par with writers including Sidney Lanier and Edgar Allan Poe.

Maintaining the library was truly a labor of love. At one point the work became so demanding that it was suggested that Cloud enlist the aid of an assistant. Each woman in the Club appeared to play a role in the library, whether she donated books of her own to it or encouraged friends to add to it. The library required diligence and persistence, and like everything in the Club, it was taken very, very seriously. At one point, the Club considered commissioning a “regularly designed” bookplate or engraving “for the identification and preservation of our literary property” (May 21, 1901 minutes). Though we do not know if the women carried out this effort, this concern over their “literary property” suggests that what may seem like just a collection of books stood for way more than that for the Club: their library demonstrated a sense of pride and ownership in an age where even the wealthiest women (like the ones in this Club) did not have much they could really, truly call their own.