MINNESOTA FEDERATION OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S CLUBS:

An Inventory of Its Federation Records

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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA FEDERATION OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S CLUBS

The Minnesota Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs was formed on July 26, 1920, one year after the organization of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and one day before the second annual convention of the National Federation held in St. Paul on July 27, 1920. Fifteen statewide and local organizations with a total of 2,500 individual members were represented at the founding of the Minnesota Federation. The founding groups included the Minnesota Educational Association, the Minnesota Library Association, the Minnesota Society of Medical Women, the Minnesota State Organization of Nurses, the Minnesota Society of Women Lawyers, the Sixth District Registered Nurses Association, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, the Minneapolis Teacher's League, the Minneapolis Froebel Club, the Minneapolis Women's Rotary Club, the Minneapolis Grade Teacher's Association, and the Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Austin, Minneapolis, Owatonna, and St. Paul. Ten years later, the Federation's membership numbered 18 local clubs, a number which had grown to 48 clubs at the Federation's seventieth anniversary in 1990.

Since its founding the objectives of the Minnesota Federation, and subsequently the objectives of its local clubs, have paralleled the mission of the National Federation: "to elevate the standards and promote the interests of business and professional women." To achieve these ends, the Minnesota Federation has actively supported anti-discriminatory legislation at both the state and national levels. The commitment of the Minnesota Federation paralleled the National Federation's affirmation of July 1939 "to work for legislation directed toward the establishment and preservation of the following principle: 'The right to work for compensation, being a property right, shall not be abridged or denied by reason of race, religion, sex, economic, or marital status.'" Issues which have caught the attention of the Minnesota Federation have included the ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the adoption of an equal rights policy by the League of Nations, and the passage of laws regarding child labor, age discrimination, marital status discrimination, equal opportunity, and pay equity.

Historical information was taken from the collection.

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SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION

The collection includes organizational and administrative documents, meeting minutes, reports, membership statistics, financial data, subject files, legislative correspondence, memoranda, printed material, photographs, and news clippings documenting the formation, internal administration, civic activities, legislative advocacy, educational programs, and social events of the federation.

The bulk of the collection focuses on the federation's internal operations, its annual conventions, the histories of its local club members, and its support of anti-discriminatory legislation, in particular, the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

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