Georgia Tech Faculty Women's Club Records

At the urging of Belle Matheson, wife of then-president Kenneth G. Matheson, the Georgia Tech Woman's Club was founded on February 18, 1921 as a social and service organization for the wives of faculty members and administrators. By the late 1920s, membership had broadened to include women employees of Tech, although there were comparatively few at that time. The Club soon became affiliated with the City Federation of Women's Clubs, as well as the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Membership in the Club grew quickly in its first years, beginning with twenty-seven members at the Club's founding, and increasing to fifty within a year. The meetings were generally held in a member's home, and would include a business meeting, followed by either entertainment or an educational component.

Although the Club was primarily a social organization in its early years, the members undertook a number of service projects. They supported campus activities, such as selling tickets for performances by the Marionettes. They sponsored an annual reception in the fall, held at the home of Georgia Tech's president, to welcome new faculty members and their spouses. The annual spring party often served as a fundraiser for the Club's special projects. In the mid-1920s, they adopted the practice of helping a needy family at Christmastime. In 1933, they began assisting Georgia Tech students instead, providing meal tickets or streetcar tickets for students who could not afford them. This practice became more formalized in later years as the Student Aid Fund, which provided loans to students. Later activities included support of international students at Tech with the Foreign Student Fund during the 1960s, and when women began to be admitted to the campus, the group provided scholarships to women students.

Other Club activities included preparing meals monthly at the Tech Y.M.C.A. and various members entertaining groups of freshmen on Sunday evenings. They also answered special calls for assistance from the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the Red Cross; however, they generally stuck to their mission of supporting Tech and its students. Some of their projects benefited themselves; for example, in the early 1940s, the Club worked to get hospitalization insurance for the spouses and children of faculty members and negotiated reduced rates for use of Tech's swimming pool.

Originally known as the Georgia Tech Woman's Club until at least 1969, the group altered its name to the Georgia Tech Women's Club during the 1970-1971 academic year, and the next year made the change to the Georgia Tech Faculty Women's Club. In later years, the Club met in the Green Room of the Y.M.C.A. and still later, in the Wilby Room of the library. The Club also occasionally held joint meetings with the Emory Woman's Club. As the campus has grown in population and size, the Club continues to foster and maintain communications and associations among the faculty and their families in social settings.

Among the group's active members were the wives of the Georgia Tech Presidents, including Belle Matheson, Ella Wall van Leer, Margaret Hansen, and Florence Pettit, among others. Other active members have been members of the faculty, including Georgia Tech librarian Dorothy Crosland, and wives of faculty members, including Nell Trotter, who became Dean of Women at Georgia State University.