Minnesota Alumnae Society

The Alumnae Club was established on March 19, 1914 "to promote the welfare of the women students at the University, to cooperate with the General Alumni Association and to promote friendship between students and alumnae." One of the organizers was Alice Rockwell Warren ('04) who, in 1922, became the first woman to be appointed to the Board of Regents. Membership was open to any former woman student who had attended the University.

The first project undertaken by the club in 1915 was to furnish and maintain a cooperative house for women students. Horace Newton Winchell, a professor of geology, had originally owned the house assigned to the club by the Board of Regents. It was located on State Street which ran approximately where Northrop Mall is now situated and was in front of where Walter Library now stands. The club named the house the Charlotte Winchell Cottage, in honor of Horace Winchell's wife. The club remained responsible for the house until 1918 when, according to the minutes of the April 26, 1919 meeting, the University decided to take over management of the cottage to make way for the building of the new library. The house was sold and moved to an unknown location. Other cooperative cottages were later donated by the Board of Regents, eventually totaling 13 cottages and were known as the Charlotte Winchell Village. The Alumnae Club maintained an interest in these cottages and gave financial support on occasion.

In order to assist women students in times of financial need, the Alumnae Club established an emergency student loan fund in 1921. It was named the Jesse Ladd Loan Fund in honor of the Dean of Women at that time. A scholarship program for freshman women was also established in 1932 that provided for expenses during their first year at the University. An Educational Foundation was established in 1944 as a permanent fund to be deposited with the Board of Regents, the interest to be used for scholarships. The first unit of the Educational Foundation was called the Alice Rockwell Warren Fund.

In 1962, the Alumnae Club became a constituent of the Minnesota Alumni Association because of the club's past inability to generate new members and in order to revitalize the organization. In 1981, the club changed its name to Alumnae Society or University Women's Alumni Society (UWAS) so as not to be confused with the Alumni Club. By 1987, a three-year effort to revitalize and redefine the purposes of UWAS was organized, which included a strategic planning committee and a mentoring program, in addition to the existing scholarship and loan programs. A major membership campaign was put into effect in 1988 to revitalize the Society. At this time, the UWAS merged with the Gold Club, a women's athletic alumni association. The combination of the membership campaign and merger of these two societies increased membership from 330 to about 700. The Society's name again changed in 1990 to the Minnesota Alumnae Society. At that time it also became an affiliate of the Commission on Women as a result of the decision by the Minnesota Alumni Association to no longer support the Alumnae Society as a constituent member.

The Alumnae Society became inactive in 1992 due to changing times. The loss of staff support due to a reorganization of the Minnesota Alumni Association and lack of commitment by its members to programs made it difficult for the Society to continue. In addition, a separate alumnae group for women was no longer needed since the University Commission on Women had been given a chairmanship within the Office of Academic Affairs and the Women's Center became affiliated with the Office of Student Affairs. It was felt that these two occurrences strengthened the positioning of women's programs with the University. Subsequently, the scholarship program was transferred to the Women's Center with the scholarship funds being designated for returning women students instead of for first-time students, as it had been in the past.

From the guide to the Minnesota Alumnae Society papers, 1914-1992, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University Archives [uarc])