Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MC 1081

Records of the Saturday Evening Girls, 1915-1991 (inclusive), 1915-1959 (bulk)

Overview

Clippings, histories, correspondence, and photographs of the Saturday Evening Girls, a social group for working class young women in early-mid 20th century Boston, Massachusetts.

Dates

  • Creation: 1915-1991
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1915-1959

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the records created by the Saturday Evening Girls as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.21 linear feet

The collection includes articles and printed material about the club and Paul Revere Pottery; correspondence; a script by Guerrier in praise of the Board of Health; poems by members; a 1955 member list; loan agreements for an exhibition commemorating the club and Paul Revere Pottery; and photographs of pottery and of club members.

BIOGRAPHY

The Saturday Evening Girls began in 1899 as a reading group for high school-aged girls which met at the North Bennet Street Industrial School in Boston, Massachusetts's North End. The club was supervised by librarian Edith Guerrier and Edith Brown, an artist and illustrator. Organized to meet the needs of working class girls, the club sponsored activities such as folk dancing and drama, programs on literature, music, and art, and discussions of the social, political and economic problems of the day. Girl Scout leader and philanthropist Helen Osborne Storrow subsidized the club's programs and in 1906 built a vacation house for them at Wingaersheek Beach in West Gloucester, Massachusetts. In the summer of 1907, Guerrier and Brown started Paul Revere Pottery, a small experimental pottery with the goal of providing a vocation and a healthful, creative place to work for club members. Work at the pottery continued until 1942 when financial constraints made it necessary to close. The club continued meeting until 1969.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 2001-M50

The records of the Saturday Evening Girls were given to the Schlesinger Library by Florence and Mildred Adelson, daughters of Saturday Evening Girls member Annie Adelson.

Processing Information

Processed: April 2021

By: Johanna Carll and Susan Earle, with assistance from Summer Unsinn

The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.  Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was made possible by the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Fund, Pforzheimer Fund for the Schlesinger Library, Sybil Shainwald Fund at the Schlesinger Library, and Class of 1955 Manuscript Processing Fund.
EAD ID
sch01968

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Contact:
3 James St.
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
617-495-8540