Woman's Club of Woodbury Evening Membership Department Records

The records of the Evening Membership Department of the Woman's Club of Woodbury, hereafter referred to as the Woodbury EMD, cover the years 1949-1993. The heaviest concentration of records exists for the 1970s and 1980s. The records prior to the 1970s are represented primarily by minutes and yearbooks. The minutes provide a continuous history of the Woodbury EMD's activities from its establishment in 1949 to its dissolution in 1990. No other series provides a continuous record of the Woodbury EMD's activities. The annual reports, newsletters and scrapbooks provide the best overview of the club's activities in its later years.

The collection represents the work of the Woodbury EMD within the overall structure of the Woman's Club of Woodbury. The object of the Woodbury EMD, as outlined at the beginning of most of its annual yearbooks, was: "To aid in community welfare and charities; to further the New Jersey State Federation and Evening Membership Department projects and to promote interest in the advancement of women." The records include documentation of the Woodbury EMD's involvement with various charities and community improvement projects and its participation in the initiatives of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs, hereafter referred to as the NJSFWC. Documentation of the Woodbury EMD's involvement in community improvement projects and charitable organizations can be found mainly in the annual reports, minutes, newsletters, financial documents, general files and scrapbooks. Information on the extent of its involvement with the NJSFWC can be found mainly in the district and state files. Like the daytime club, the Woodbury EMD arranged a wide variety of programs as a part of its regular meeting schedule. These programs included outside speakers, demonstrations, film screenings and special trips. The subject matter for these programs varied widely, ranging from family planning to New Jersey history. Evidence for this promotion of interest in the advancement of women by the Woodbury EMD can be found in the minutes, yearbooks, newsletters, general files, financial documents and scrapbooks. The level of detail provided regarding the community improvement projects and meeting programs varies from brief descriptions in the minutes to lengthy reports.

The collection also documents the Woodbury EMD's regular operational business and administrative structure. Because the Woodbury EMD was a branch of the Woman's Club of Woodbury, it did not have its own constitution; however, the Woodbury EMD did have a set of standing rules (also referred to as by-laws, but infrequently) that correspond to the by-laws of the daytime club. The title of the head of any evening membership department within the NJSFWC was Chairman. Because there are so few gaps in the records of the Woodbury EMD, it is possible to chart most of the changes in standing rules, committees and meeting schedules. However, many of the alterations simply appear with no further documentation to offer an explanation for the change.

The records are arranged in record series by type of document or file. Where possible, each series is arranged chronologically by club year, from October to June of the following year. Most of the records are either handwritten or typed on individual sheets of paper. Other formats include handwritten bound volumes, printed booklets, programs, scrapbooks, press clippings and certificates.

The records consist of annual reports, minutes (of Executive Board and Membership meetings), yearbooks, membership rosters, attendance registers, newsletters, general files, the files of Adelaide Hetrick, financial documents, certificates and awards, photographs, district files, state files and scrapbooks.

The Woodbury EMD's Executive Board is a separate entity from the daytime club's Advisory Board (often referred to as the Executive Board or the Board). Evening Membership Department meetings are referred to in the records as Executive Board, regular or annual. Annual meetings are referred to as such mainly in the Standing Rules; however, in the minutes, the annual meetings are recorded in the same volumes as regular meetings. It appears that the annual meetings ceased to be separate from the regular meetings after 1963, as they are no longer differentiated from one another in the minutes.

There are two instances of records dating from after the Woodbury EMD's dissolution in 1990. The materials contained in the last folder of the FILES OF ADELAIDE HETRICK appear to pertain to her continued participation in the daytime meetings of the Woman's Club of Woodbury. A program for the 1993 Spring Conference and Achievement Day is also included in the DISTRICT FILES, as it was found amongst similar documents for prior years.