A good time was had by all, I think, when this group from the Chariton Woman's Club came to the Lucas County Historical Society Museum for lunch yesterday.
Or I should say, the club ordered lunch --- fried chicken and the trimmings --- delivered by Hy-Vee and then we all sat down to enjoy it.
The Woman's Club, organized March 26, 1921, is one of Chariton's oldest organizations and its records are kept in the museum archives. My program dealt with the club, of course, but also with the rich history of women's organizations that preceded it.
And that's a fascinating story that I'm going to focus on here one of these days.
The Woman's Club was the first major organization to rise in Lucas County after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, finally giving women the right to vote.
That does not mean that women had not shaped the community before 1920, because they had, but new strategies were available now. The Lucas County Equal Suffrage Association, organized during 1884, completed its work in 1920 with ratification.
But the work begun during the 1890s by the Chariton Improvement Association --- a group of women who were experts (because they had to be) at forming alliances with useful males to improve Chariton --- continued in the new Woman's Club.
Anyhow, the museum now is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays --- and at other times by appointment. Admission is free.
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