Administrative/Biographical History
Sponsored by the Rockford Business and Professional Women’s Club, seventeen women gathered to organize the Belvidere B.P.W. in 1932. On March 5, 1935 the group received their charter. The members elected Rita McMillan, Margaret Whalen, Elizabeth Shattuck, Jennie Barringer, and Lenora Woodburn the first club officers. Each member worked for the club’s objectives--as business and professional women they should fit themselves to assume real leadership in thinking on economic problems, with a view toward helping in the establishment, through scientific methods, of conditions which assure to women, and to men as well, the fullest possibilities, opportunities, and rewards tor the development of their capacities.
Throughout its history, the club actively involved itself in civic affairs. In 1936-1937 members sponsored a Brownie Girl Scout Troop and in 1938-1939 supported the building of a swimming pool in Belvidere. The group initiated an educational loan fund for female high school graduates in 1938. In 1942-1943 the club sewed for Red Cross, attended a nursing class, owned $l2,800.49 worth of war bonds, and sponsored a silk and nylon salvage drive. During the 1950’s members promoted many study classes, cleaned up some “no-good” literature being sold on local news stands, and donated $500 to St. Joseph Hospital. The club also devoted meetings to a study of the United Nations, printed milk bottle caps urging local citizens to vote on election days, and studied the “equal pay” status of men and women in local industries.
The club’s continuing cooperation in community fund drives and contributions to local citizens through scholarships, charitable donations, and educational classes, helps insure the fulfillment of the club’s objectives today.
