Posted on by Ellen Roussel

Club and their associations

I have completed transcribing the minutes from the first year and a half of the Woman’s Literary Club, and have been given a detailed view of the inner workings of the Club as they try to establish themselves and their methods of operating as a unit. What I do not have a good perspective on, however, is the Club as an external piece; as in, how does the Club operate within Baltimore, and how does it compare to other women’s groups during this time.

In the March 31st Board Meeting minutes, the President made the suggestion that the Club rent a house, and open it up to lodgers and the neighborhood when Club meetings were not in session. To this thought, some of the women thought that other women’s groups in Baltimore could unite with them in establishing a house that would benefit them all. This seems to suggest the Club wished to associate with other women’s societies in Baltimore.

Looking at other minutes, some of the ladies suggested that women college graduates in the city might be lonely, and that a list of their names should be kept for individuals within the Club to contact them should they feel so inclined. This seems to be an example of when the Club does not want to associate with women who are not linked to another society. I don’t know if this is because it could be risky for the reputation of the Club to associate with these non-Club women, or what, but I am interested to see the development of how the Club asserts themselves within Baltimore and how they interact with other women not in the Club.

Posted on by Jean Lee Cole

Fires, Science, Maps, & Pride

I was thinking about our conversation yesterday about the Great Fire of 1904 and thought I’d do some digging.

Enter our friend Wikipedia, which actually has quite a lot of good info about the fire (probably cross-checked by at least a few historians). The fire apparently started right about where Royal Farms Arena stands now, and spread east and south. I was incorrect about whether firefighters from other cities and states were called in– they were, and came by train! But many could not actually assist because their fire trucks (which were loaded on the trains, amazingly) could not hook up to the Baltimore fire hydrants– no national standards for couplings existed at the time.

Also, here’s a bit of history from the Baltimore Sun’s RetroBaltimore Tumblr of the Academy of Sciences building (105 W. Franklin St.), where the Club met for several years. In its present iteration, the Academy is known as the Maryland Science Center. Here’s a picture of the old building, which is no longer standing:

Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences building, 105 W. Franklin St.

And finally, as we put some of our walking tours together over the next few weeks, I’ve uploaded an 1890 map of Baltimore to our Google folder. You can use this in conjunction with a present-day Google map to see where things are … I was able to find Garden St.– it’s since been renamed Linden Ave., and 861 is no longer standing. But a street very much like it, Tyson St., a block over, still has its original houses, so we can include that on our walk next week. Or, you all can see if you can find it on a walk during your lunch break today or tomorrow. Here’s a snippet of the map showing Garden St.’s location (in the top left quadrant):

Incidentally, since most of you will be working in the archive tomorrow, you might want to pop over to the Baltimore Pride festival which will be taking place all afternoon & evening Saturday. The parade starts at 2 pm at Madison St. at Charles, just 2 1/2 blocks from MDHS. Or, you can come back for the block party from 4:30-9 at Charles & North. This is a true Baltimore event & tradition– don’t miss it!