Garden Street Garden Club (Cambridge, Mass.)

Nineteenth century America saw the formation of a vast social reform movement with women's volunteer organizations at the center. Female reform workers laid the foundation for a variety of organizations aimed at providing women with social and cultural resources. Though many of these organizations were formed as extensions of local churches and charities, they became gradually more involved in matters of state and eventually played a significant role in transforming the status of women. By the middle of the nineteenth century, organizations such as Sorosis, formed in New England in 1868, became focused on the cultivation of female culture. Women's clubs served many purposes for their members: locally, women used them for cultural activities, such as reading and studying. Class status and professional affiliations sometimes separated the membership of these clubs rather sharply. Nevertheless, they provided an outlet for women to form close friendships and to cultivate their rapidly changing identities and roles in the evolving society. An example of the more socially focused club is the Garden Street Garden Club, based in Cambridge, Mass. The club held its first meeting on 24 Mar. 1879, at the home of Mrs. Marcou, 42 Garden Street. Members present at the first meeting included Mrs. Asa Gray, Mrs. Parsons, Miss Needham, Miss Parker, Mrs. Thorndike, Miss Howe, Mrs. Everett, Mrs. Storen, Mrs. Pickering and Miss Homer. Mrs. Marcou was elected president of the club, while Mrs. Pickering was elected secretary. Meetings were held on Monday afternoons at four, and subscription entitling membership was a dollar. The purpose of the Garden Club was primarily to exchange tips, facts and personal stories about gardening. Members took group outings to local greenhouses and gardens and cultivated plants and flowers for display in various exhibitions.

One note of interest about the Garden Club is the membership of Mrs. Jane Loring Gray, wife of the famous botanist Dr. Asa Gray. Dr. Gray has been described as the person who developed systematic botany at Harvard and even in the United States. Gray also built a major herbarium, which became the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University, and authored several influential botanical textbooks. The records of the Garden Club mention Dr. Gray frequently, often describing plants and specimens that he offers to the ladies of the club through his wife. One entry (p. 59, v. 1) describes a list of samples exhibited by Mrs. Gray, with a notation at the bottom, "Dr. Gray expressed a wish that the ladies would perpetuate some of these in their gardens." Dr. Gray also seems to have interacted with the club when meetings were held at his home, offering facts and tips on gardening, as well as books and journals, such as the "Gardener's Monthly". In the 9th Annual Report of the Garden Club (v. 4, tipped in before p. 77), the secretary of the club expresses the women's deep loss felt by the passing of Dr. Gray. A newspaper clipping describing Dr. Gray is also glued onto the page.