Sew and So Club (Cass County, Iowa) records

Collection

Identifier: IWA0551

Staff Only
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Scope and Contents

The Sew and So Club records date from 1937 to 2005 and measure 5 linear inches. The records consist of eight record books spanning the years 1937 to 2005. The record books contain the club's minutes, membership lists, attendance, dues and fines, expenditures, members' birthdays and anniversaries, and newspapers articles. The photographs include the club's fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries. There is also a photograph of a quilt made by the club and donated to the Hitchcock House in Lewis, Iowa in 1988.

Dates

Creation: 1937-2005

Creator

Sew and So Club (Cass County, Iowa) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The records are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

The Sew and So Club began on September 24, 1937 when Hazel Lawton gathered a group of women together from Washington Township (the Lewis-Atlantic area of Cass County, Iowa) at her home and they "decided it would be nice to get together often and organize a club." At its second meeting, the twelve charter members voted on officers, the club's name, and to limit membership to twenty women.

The club met twice a month in members' homes during the early years to work on quilting, dish towels and other handiwork. Members would bring their children along if the tots were not in school. They had speakers at special times and donated funds to charities such as the Christian Home in Council Bluffs, the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, Boys' Town in Omaha, and the Atlantic Family Crisis Support Network.

In 1946 the club "adopted" a family in the Netherlands and regularly sent clothing and other articles. The last official meeting was a Christmas party in December 2004. After the last two charter members died in 2004, the three remaining active members (Margaret McGill, Phyllis Sponsler and Shirley Breach) decided to close the club and donate its records to the Iowa Women's Archives.