1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 2: Wilson. 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: And this is a topic that has been on my 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,240 Speaker 1: list since I worked on paper patterns, because this person 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: is deeply connected to the Demorests, who we talked about 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 1: at length during that as kind of the a primary 9 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: forerunner of paper patterns being widely available in multiple sizes 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: in the US. So. Jane Cunningham Crowley, who wrote under 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: the pen name Jenny June, was a journalist who advocated 12 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: for equality for women. She wrote as We'll talk about 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: later for the Demorists magazine. She is most well known, though, 14 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: for founding one of the earliest clubs for women in 15 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: the US and kind of starting the women's club's movement. 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: Jane Cunningham was born on December ninth, teenth, eighteen twenty nine, 17 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England. Her parents, Joseph Howees and 18 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: Jane Scott Cunningham, had three children already before Jane was born. 19 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: She was smart, described as buoyant and magnetic. Her teachers 20 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: loved her, and she and her father were very close 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: from the beginning. According to an account written by her brother, 22 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: the two of them remained close for the rest of 23 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: their father's life. When Jane was about twelve, in eighteen 24 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: forty one, the family moved from England to the US, 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: eventually settling in New York State, and this move seems 26 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: to have been precipitated by religious persecution. Joseph Cunningham was 27 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: a Unitarian minister when England was not particularly friendly to 28 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: that denomination of Christianity. There are some accounts that say 29 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: that the family home was stoned at one point, which 30 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: led Joseph and Jane to decide to move for the 31 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: sake of the family's safety. Once they had gotten to 32 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: the US, they lived briefly in put Kipsie before making 33 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: their way to Wappinger's Falls, a little to the south 34 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: that's still about seventy five miles north of New York City, 35 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: and their father, Joseph, built a home and filled the 36 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: land around it with a massive and very productive garden. 37 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: He typically grew more food than the family could use, 38 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: and all of the extra went to neighbors or people 39 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: in need. 40 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 2: According to some newspaper accounts, Jenny was a temperance enthusiast 41 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 2: and a club starter from a very young age. One account, 42 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 2: which was written shortly after her death and appeared in 43 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 2: multiple papers, mentioned that at the age of nine, she 44 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 2: founded a club called Band of Hope Temperance Society. Allegedly, 45 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 2: this club had a song with the lyric quote shout 46 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 2: Aloud the inspiring lay the Band of Hope must wind 47 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 2: the day. But that same account puts her at living 48 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 2: in Massachusetts at the age of nine, which would have 49 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 2: put the family in the United States earlier than her 50 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 2: brother's writing, and all the other accounts say that they were, 51 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 2: so this might not be the most trustworthy information. 52 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: No, but it's cute the idea that she started a club. 53 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: I have a you know, as a big writer of 54 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: books and club starter myself as a kid have a 55 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: little kinship to that. As an adult, Jane moved in 56 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: with her brother John, who at that point was working 57 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: as a pastor in Worcestern, Massachusetts. She took care of 58 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: the house for him, she sometimes called his housekeeper. She 59 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: also taught school, and she still found herself with enough 60 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: spare time to start a small paper with a friend 61 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: that was distributed twice a month to her brother's congregation. 62 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: The two women wrote all of the contents of this newspaper, 63 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: and they had readings of it in the church when 64 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: it was released every two weeks, and those readings were 65 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: reportedly very well attended. 66 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 2: In eighteen fifty five, after their father died, Jane moved 67 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 2: to New York City with the goal of pursuing a 68 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 2: career as a writer. Her first article was accepted by 69 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 2: the New York Tribune, and soon she pitched a regular 70 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 2: column to the New York Sunday Times and Noah's Weekly Messenger. 71 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 2: That started a career that would see great success. She 72 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 2: started writing under the pen name of Jenny June, and 73 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 2: in a lecture given to a women's society she later founded, 74 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 2: she gave her own account of how that name began. Quote, 75 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 2: I was a sunny, happy, little blue eyed girl, and 76 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 2: our genial Unitarian pastor was particularly fond of me. One 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 2: day he gave me a little book of poems published 78 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 2: by Benjamin F. Taylor, remarking these are for the junius 79 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 2: little girl that I know. One of the poems was 80 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 2: called January, and another Jenny June. For a long time 81 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 2: I was known to my intimates as Jenny June. The 82 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 2: name almost passed out of my mind as I grew older, 83 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 2: till I commenced contributing to the papers, and then I 84 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 2: bethought me of Jenny June as a nom de plume. 85 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 2: A note on the spelling, sometimes Jenny ends with a 86 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 2: Y and sometimes with an ie. There's not really a 87 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 2: solid indicator of which one she preferred. Her professional bylines 88 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 2: ended with the IE, but in her own writing and 89 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 2: the writing of her family it changed back and forth. 90 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 2: When it came to correspondence, she just used her initials. 91 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, So I don't know. I don't know if she 92 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: cared especially, but Jenny June wrote what sounded like unimportant 93 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: fodder for ladies. Her regular column for the Sunday Times 94 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: was titled Parlor and Sidewalk Gossip. But she was even 95 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: in her early career, advocating for equality for women in 96 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: some ways. We'll talk about the problems in a bit, 97 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: And even in her career, just making that column, she 98 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,479 Speaker 1: was kind of trailblazing because she's often credited with being 99 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: the first woman to syndicate a column Parlor and Sidewalk Gossip, 100 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: which often talked about, you know, the popular clothes of 101 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: the day. Who was having a ball who attended that ball. 102 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: Et cetera ran in papers throughout the country in New York, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, 103 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: and Kentucky. In eighteen sixty four, her columns were collected 104 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: into a book titled Talks on Women's Topics. There was 105 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: also a follow up book written in eighteen sixty nine, 106 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: also collecting the columns that had happened since that first 107 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: book was published, called Jenny Juniana Talks on Women's Topics. 108 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: Through her journalism work, Jane met another journalist named David G. Crowley. 109 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,919 Speaker 2: Crowley was originally from Ireland and had become a well 110 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 2: respected editor. They fell in love and got married on 111 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 2: February fourteenth, eighteen fifty six, when she was twenty six. 112 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 2: Crowley worked for the New York Harold as a reporter, 113 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 2: and Jane and David lived in Manhattan together. According to 114 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 2: Jane's brother, John, David quote was a conservative Democrat of 115 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 2: the strictest sort, a radical in religion, and had but 116 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 2: little appreciation of the deeper forces at work in society 117 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 2: and in national life. But he was able and honest, 118 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 2: and enjoyed the respect of his fellow craftsmen. Jane and 119 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 2: David had five children together, four of whom lived to adulthood, 120 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 2: then a son who died in infancy, Herbert, Vila, and Alice. 121 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 2: One thing that was unique about the Curly marriage was 122 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 2: that David did not expect Jane to stop working once 123 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 2: they got married or after they had children. At a 124 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 2: time when most women stopped being professionals the moment they 125 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 2: became wives, Jane and David modeled a much more modern 126 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 2: relationship in which Jane's professional work was supported and cheered 127 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 2: on by her spouse. David is often mentioned in accounts 128 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: in letters written by friends and family as frequently telling 129 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 2: people how amazing he thought Jane was. To be clear this, 130 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 2: he does not seem to have been so progressive as 131 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 2: to split the domestic duty with his wife. So Jane 132 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 2: was taking care of the entire family and her career, 133 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 2: and she often gave up sleep to make all that work. 134 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 2: Coming up, we're going to talk more about Jane's work 135 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 2: and a brief move that the couple made to Illinois, 136 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 2: but first we will take a sponsor break. The same 137 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 2: year that she became missus Crowley, Jane also started her 138 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 2: first women's club, called the Women's Parliament. This of course, 139 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 2: would be the first of many, but the Women's Parliament 140 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 2: was intended to bring women together so they could talk 141 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 2: about the role of women in society and how that 142 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 2: role could change for the better. But this effort never 143 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 2: really took off, so it's not often cited as an 144 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 2: early women's club. In eighteen fifty nine, the Crowleys left 145 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 2: New York for Rockford, Illinois. David had been chosen to 146 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 2: be the new editor of the rock Ford Register. This 147 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 2: was not just a random thing that happened. The job 148 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 2: came about because of family connections. The Register was financially 149 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 2: backed by William Gore King, who was married to Jane's 150 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 2: sister Mary. Some accounts state that this was an entirely 151 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 2: new newspaper that David was launching, and others say that 152 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 2: he was brought on to try to save it. The 153 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 2: Library of Congress has a record of a Rockford Register 154 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 2: that started in eighteen fifty five with an uncertain end date, 155 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 2: so it seems like the latter scenario might be the 156 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 2: accurate one. But David and Jane both really missed New 157 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 2: York and this paper did not succeed, so after a 158 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 2: year in Illinois, they moved back to Manhattan. 159 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. During that year was when they had their first child, 160 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: which she was born in Illinois. But then upon returning 161 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: to New York, David became the managing editor for the 162 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: New York World, and this was the first in a 163 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: string of managing editor positions in the city that he 164 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,679 Speaker 1: held with a number of different papers. Jane became the 165 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: head of the women's department for the paper, and she 166 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: also became the primary staff writer for Madame Demorest's Mirror 167 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: of Fashions at this time, which we of course mentioned 168 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: in our recent episode on paper patterns. And Jenny June 169 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: remained a fixture in the pages of the Demorst magazine 170 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: as the periodical transitioned to become Demorist's monthly magazine with 171 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: a more frequent published cycle. Somehow, despite her busy work 172 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: schedule and managing an entire household with four kids, Jane 173 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: and David also had a regular social gathering at their 174 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: home every Sunday. 175 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 2: Jenny June wrote extensively about the injustices of society as 176 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 2: they related to women's causes, but not all of her 177 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 2: advice for women was actually great for women. For example, 178 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 2: in eighteen sixty six, she published a book titled Jenny 179 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 2: June's American Cookery Book, and in that she states, quote, 180 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 2: food for the well is better than physic for the sick. 181 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 2: Bad cooking is a crime. It is the cause of 182 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 2: dyspepsia and a host of other evils. A woman convicted 183 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 2: of it ought to be arraigned for manslaughter. Just I 184 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 2: had a little shudder after reading that. 185 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: You and me Bo don't read this book. It would 186 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: make you irate. 187 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 2: Also, for all of her claims toward equality for women, 188 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 2: she writes some pretty old school things about women's role 189 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 2: in a marriage. She opens the line of thought by 190 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 2: saying that the first decision that a couple must make 191 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 2: is quote, whether they shall keep house or board. She 192 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,200 Speaker 2: finds that men want to choose to keep house, but 193 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 2: young wives often want to board because they don't know 194 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 2: how to cook, And then she writes, quote, the final 195 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 2: result is that they go to board in some highly 196 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 2: genteel establishment where the prices are high in proportion to 197 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 2: the gentility and lack of real comfort, and some find 198 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 2: the young gentleman wakes up to the knowledge that he 199 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 2: is tied to a wife who doubles his expenses but 200 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 2: has added nothing to his happiness or at any rate 201 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 2: nothing to the real value and usefulness of his life. 202 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 2: This is a matrimonial swindle. Girls ought not to marry 203 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 2: unless they are ready and willing to accept the position 204 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: of head of a household and capable of making a 205 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 2: home what it should be to husband and children. Uh, 206 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 2: I don't love that. 207 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: No, that was a big yikes for me as a girl. 208 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: We gotta have a talk, Jenny g. 209 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I'm like boarding somewhere where someone else is handling 210 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 2: all the cooking and cleaning. 211 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 1: Sounds great. Well, it's also funny because it kind of 212 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: echoes to the ongoing arguments that have been happening throughout 213 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: my entire life, where there will occasionally be news stories 214 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: about whether or not you should be eating out at 215 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: restaurants or not. Yeah, and whether or not that's waste sole. 216 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: That's kind of the modern version of this. So it 217 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: cracks me up a little. Over dramatic and wildly incorrect 218 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: takes aside, this book is overall pretty practical, even though 219 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: sometimes it's outdated. And I don't mean in terms of 220 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: social morase, but like ingredients and stuff are not things 221 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: we would use today. But in the introduction, one of 222 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: the notes that really struck me was that there were not, 223 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: at the time, actually many cookbooks written by women, so 224 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of information on the practicalities of 225 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: planning meals while also running a household, and this seeks 226 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: to fill that gap. One of the genuinely great pieces 227 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: of advice that Jenny June offers, specifically for setting up 228 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: a kitchen, is that you should not buy a bunch 229 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,679 Speaker 1: of stuff to set up your kitchen right away, because quote, 230 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: it is easy to add more when experience has discovered 231 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: to you precisely what you want. I need this lesson 232 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: all day, every day, because I will buy everything upfront 233 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: and then be like, I don't use that bacon press. 234 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: She also recommends buying the nicest kitchen implements that you 235 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: can afford, because they will last forever. There is also 236 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: a thing that just cracked me up and today would 237 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: not fly. There's a small section of the book titled 238 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:17,079 Speaker 1: Label Children and it just reads, quote into the crowns 239 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: of the hats or bonnets of little children, so a 240 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: square of writing paper stating age and residence. This will 241 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: save them from any danger of being lost. 242 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 2: I was like, what if the hat gets lost? 243 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: I know, I have so many questions about the feasibility 244 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: of this approach. Yeah, I mean, I. 245 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 2: See no problem with you know, putting the label with 246 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 2: the child's name and maybe some contact info in there. 247 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 2: But I don't think it's a solution to the child 248 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 2: being lost, just the hat. 249 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: Yeah. Anyway. 250 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 2: Jenny June notes that no book is perfect, and that 251 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 2: hers is no exception. Quote. It is not claimed for 252 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 2: the present volume by the author that it fully meets 253 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 2: the necessities of the case, or has satisfactorily accomplished its task, 254 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 2: even within the modest limits assigned to it. It is 255 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 2: one thing to think how something may be done, and 256 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 2: another thing to do it. But it is claimed that 257 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 2: the object of the work has been constantly kept in view, 258 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 2: that it has been executed lovingly, with a strong appreciation 259 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 2: of the benefit and pleasure to be derived from good cooking, 260 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 2: from the intermingling of the finer with the grosser elements, 261 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 2: with a pleasant remembrance of good time spent in the kitchen, 262 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 2: and with an earnest wish to make these duties seem 263 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 2: attractive to the conscientious young wives, who would willingly perform 264 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 2: their part if they but knew how. 265 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: So now we come to a pivotal moment. In eighteen 266 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: sixty nine, Charles Dickens was scheduled to speak at the 267 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: Press Club of New York. This included a private dinner 268 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: at Delmonico's, and Jane, like many other people, wanted to attend, 269 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: but there was a problem. A news write up about 270 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: the event read quote, some ladies of literary proclivities asked 271 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: for invitations and got themselves snubbed by the journalists who 272 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: were on the committee of invitations. Apparently Horace Greeley, who 273 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: was running this event, actually wanted the women invited, but 274 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: the committee refused to admit the women. There is a 275 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: whole lot of copy in accounts and newspapers about how 276 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: the snub actually has to do with the men wanting 277 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: to be able to smoke cigars, which they would not 278 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: be able to do if women were present. Jenny June 279 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,480 Speaker 1: wrote about the snub in her column, and then other 280 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: papers featured responses to her, many of which were largely condescending. 281 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 2: When Jane wrote about this series of events in a 282 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 2: book almost twenty years later, she indicated that at first 283 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 2: she had been allowed an invitation after applying for one 284 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 2: through her husband, but once she had other women started doing, 285 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 2: I mean, the same thing, and that was when the 286 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 2: trouble started. She noted in that account that there was 287 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 2: a condition applied just a couple of days out from 288 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,200 Speaker 2: the event that if the women could find enough other 289 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 2: women willing to pay the fifteen dollars fee for the event, 290 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 2: they could still come. But that close to the dinner, 291 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 2: it was going to be impossible to meet that requirement, 292 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 2: and everybody knew it, so the women took it as 293 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 2: an upfront. 294 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: Yeah. The logic and I'm using air quotes behind it 295 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: was like, oh, if just a few ladies come, they'll 296 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: feel so out of place and it will be miserable. 297 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: They need a whole group of women and then they'll 298 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: be more comfortable. But fifteen dollars was an expensive dinner 299 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: at the time. That's an expensive ticket for people to 300 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: scrounge up at last minute, So everybody kind of knew 301 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: this was meant to be an exclusionary qualifier. Jane, who 302 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: seems to have just generally not have been comfortable being 303 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: angry about a problem without trying to solve it, decided 304 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:03,719 Speaker 1: to create her own women's only group, and that is 305 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: how the group Sorosis was born. At a meeting with 306 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: several other women just a few days after that Dickens dinner, 307 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 1: Jane told everyone that her goal was to quote supply 308 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: the want of unity and secular organization among women. The 309 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: women that were there agreed that this was a wonderful idea, 310 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: and they all started to brainstorm what exactly this could be. 311 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: They didn't want the group to be too focused on 312 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: any single interest in ideology, so even names that borrowed 313 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,879 Speaker 1: from literature, for example, were dismissed in an effort to 314 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: make the group, in Jane's own words, quote hospitable to 315 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: women of different minds, degrees, and habits of work and thought. 316 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: So some of the names that had been suggested included 317 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 1: just Women's League, Sphinx, which I sort of love, the 318 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: idea being that it was slightly mysterious Columbia, which they 319 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: dismissed because they said it was two pedestrian and hackneyed, 320 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: and then Blue Docking Club, which is the literary reference, 321 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: which got vetoed for that reason. Jane looked through a 322 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: lot of books and dictionaries in an effort to find 323 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: the perfect name. She later wrote that she found the 324 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: word sohrosis in a Botanical Dictionary, the word refers to 325 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: a fleshy fruit that requires multiple flowers to develop. This 326 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: is one of those things where when you read write 327 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: ups about the forming of this group, they're often explainers 328 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,359 Speaker 1: of what the name means and how it happened that 329 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: are in no way reflective of what Jane herself wrote 330 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: about how she found it. But Jane took this to 331 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: be quote full of gracious meaning, and a day later, 332 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 1: the first iteration of the group was organized with just 333 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: twelve members. Poet Alice Carey was elected its first president, 334 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: and their first order of business was to send out 335 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: invitations to potential new members to a lunch to be 336 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: held for them at Delmonico's, and the day of the luncheon, 337 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: they went from twelve members to fifty. Before long, Crosis 338 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: had chapters in major cities around the country, and soon 339 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: smaller cities and towns had them as well. The goal 340 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,919 Speaker 1: was always to help women professionally and socially. That was 341 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: the goal of all the chapters above all else. While 342 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: leadership was often asked what they were doing for various causes, 343 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: the response was that they helped their members individually. Occasionally, 344 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: though they did raise funds for charity, but they never 345 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:30,400 Speaker 1: adopted any one cause as a special focus. We'll talk 346 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: about this on behind the scenes, but there was a 347 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: fascinating amount of news coverage of the founding of cerrosis, 348 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:37,719 Speaker 1: and it's part of why it did spread so quickly 349 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: was that people knew a lot about it very fast. 350 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: Some of those write ups were not kind, but it 351 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: still got the word out that it existed. And while 352 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: many chapters of sorosis were popping up seemingly everywhere something 353 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: else happened, there were suddenly a lot of other women's 354 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: clubs forming. Many of them sought a more focused mission 355 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: or identity than the more generalized setup of soorrosis, but 356 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,880 Speaker 1: so many of them were patterned on its structure and 357 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,439 Speaker 1: the way it worked almost exactly, and almost all of 358 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: them were focused on some form of women's equality or betterment. 359 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 2: After we hear from the sponsors that keep Stuffumus in 360 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 2: history class going, we will talk about how Jane became 361 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 2: the sole breadwinner for the family, and also how her 362 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 2: work with women's clubs continued to expand. 363 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 1: Though sorosis took on a life of its own and 364 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: kept Jane quite busy, she continued to work as a writer, 365 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: and she was very successful at it, which is good 366 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: because her husband left his work in eighteen seventy seven 367 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,440 Speaker 1: to promote positivism and to found the New York Church 368 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: of Humanity. As you may recall early in the episode, 369 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: her brother John described David as being a radical in religion, 370 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: and this is part of it. However, he was not 371 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: able to actively participate in that endeavor for very long, 372 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: because he soon had a really serious downturn in his 373 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: health and was eventually bedridden. Throughout all of this, Jane 374 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: kept writing and working on activist projects. She purchased a 375 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,920 Speaker 1: half interest in Gody's Lady's Book and worked at trying 376 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: to keep it afloat, but eventually that magazine folded. In 377 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,360 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six, she published Soorrhosis, Its Origin and History, 378 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: in which she talked about the beginnings of the club 379 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: in its first twenty years. David died in eighteen eighty nine, 380 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: and it seemed that after his passing, Jane really rededicated 381 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,919 Speaker 1: herself to her women's groups, perhaps as a way to 382 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: just stay busy. The same year she was widowed, she 383 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: started the New York Women's Press Club. The following year, 384 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: recognizing how large the women's club movement had become. She 385 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: founded the General Federation of Women's Clubs to serve as 386 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: an umbrella organization that could assist with all sorts of 387 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: support needs and connect groups to one another. She later 388 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,080 Speaker 1: wrote that it had grown out of a desire to 389 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: have a twenty first anniversary event for cirrhosis that would 390 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: be a convention of clubs, and she also founded a 391 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: new magazine called The Cycle or sometimes the Women's Cycle 392 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: which Tickles Me a Little, which was part of the 393 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: Federation's offerings. 394 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 2: In eighteen ninety one, she wrote a book called Thrown 395 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 2: on her Own Resources or What Girls Can Do. This 396 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 2: is written as a resource for a young woman who's 397 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 2: newly in a position to provide for herself. Crowley writes, quote, 398 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,719 Speaker 2: this may or may not be a hardship. Whether it 399 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: is or not depends wholly upon the amount and quality 400 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 2: of your practical and mental resources. Active work is a 401 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 2: necessity of a healthful life. Are you equipped for your 402 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 2: part in the battle? Have you courage and energy to 403 00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 2: carry out a purpose? This book it's definitely filled with 404 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:05,199 Speaker 2: ablest language, but it also breaks some myths about what 405 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:09,440 Speaker 2: would be appropriate jobs for young women. One passage reads 406 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 2: quote teaching you do not know anything well enough to 407 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 2: teach it, sewing that means slow starvation, business, no capital 408 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 2: to begin with. The situation does look discouraging, never mind 409 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 2: try again. I just found it a little patronizing. She 410 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 2: also points out that a job doesn't belong to you, 411 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 2: that you will have to continue to work hard to 412 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,239 Speaker 2: keep it once you have it, But she adds the 413 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,919 Speaker 2: positive note that everyone has something they're good at and 414 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 2: they can start there and build on it and gain 415 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,399 Speaker 2: respect Over time, she'd shifted away from preaching the importance 416 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 2: of being a good wife and mother to promoting the 417 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 2: idea that women could be entirely focused on their careers 418 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 2: and contribute to society in that way. In the late 419 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 2: eighteen nineties, cur started writing a more comprehensive history of 420 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 2: women's clubs in the US, titled The History of the 421 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 2: Women's Club Movement in America. The book's dedication, which was 422 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 2: a reproduction of the words as written in June's own 423 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,960 Speaker 2: hand read quote, this book has been a labor of love, 424 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 2: and it is lovingly dedicated to the twentieth century woman 425 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 2: by one who has seen and shared in the struggles, hopes, 426 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 2: and aspirations of the woman in the nineteenth century. That 427 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 2: book was released in eighteen ninety eight, and in it 428 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 2: she gave particular focus to sorosis, of course, but also 429 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 2: New England Women's Club, which is often invoked as a 430 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,399 Speaker 2: contender with Soorosis for first women's club in the US. 431 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 2: Friends in Council of Quincy, Illinois, the Fortnightly Club of Chicago, 432 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 2: the Civic Club of Philadelphia, and Working Girls Clubs. Of 433 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,359 Speaker 2: the Working Girls Clubs, she wrote quote, this convention was 434 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,439 Speaker 2: a revelation to a public that had only known working 435 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,959 Speaker 2: girls through the whining and cur eyeing of sentimental sympathizers 436 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,239 Speaker 2: who had nothing in common with working girls themselves. In 437 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 2: eighteen ninety eight, the year her History of Women's Clubs 438 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 2: was published, Jane, who was sixty nine, fell and broke 439 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 2: her hip. Recovery took a long time, and she consulted 440 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 2: doctors throughout the United States Northeast and in Europe to 441 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 2: try to regain some of her health like it was 442 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 2: from before the fall. But this did not really seem 443 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:31,120 Speaker 2: to work, although there's not much information about the specifics. 444 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 2: In October of nineteen hundred, she wrote a resignation letter 445 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 2: to the New York Women's Press Club. It read, in 446 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 2: part quote, it was really a grief to me not 447 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 2: to be able to meet you individually and collectively before 448 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 2: leaving to be absent the entire season. The accident which 449 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 2: disabled me for the summer threatens to cripple me for 450 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 2: the winter also, And in this condition of dependence and 451 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 2: general disability, it seemed best to go where I could 452 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 2: have seclusion and the care of some member of my 453 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 2: own family. I resign my place among you with less reluctance, 454 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 2: because the Women's Press Club is now strong and well 455 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 2: able to guard its own interests and direct its own affairs. 456 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 2: Remember that a well rounded club is an epitome of 457 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 2: the world that it never can and never ought to 458 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 2: be perfect according to any one individual's idea of perfection, 459 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 2: for everyone's ideal is different. And it is the unity 460 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 2: in this diversity which constitutes the spiritual life of the club. 461 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,320 Speaker 2: As the soul animates, it inspires the body, exalt the club. 462 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 2: Bring your best to the front, extinguished personal aims. Mind 463 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 2: not all the little picking and carping of human gadflies, 464 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 2: whose desire to extract blood is perhaps a survival of 465 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 2: their species and an evidence of their unfitness for human companionship. 466 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 2: Jane died on September twenty third, nineteen oh one. She 467 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 2: may have had a stroke just before her death. That's 468 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 2: a detail that appears only in a couple of accounts, 469 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 2: but it's not clear where they got that information, and 470 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 2: if one account was just parroting what another had said. 471 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 2: She was buried next to her husband David, in Lakewood, 472 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 2: New Jersey. Two weeks after Jane's death, the Sorosis Club 473 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:22,199 Speaker 2: and the Woman's Press Club met at the Waldorf Astoria 474 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 2: to remember Jane and her contributions to the women's movement. 475 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 2: The meeting was also open to the public, and many 476 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 2: women's groups from the New York area prepared letters to 477 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 2: be read at the meeting. 478 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: The then president of Sorosis, Dimmi's Denison, read a letter 479 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: that included the following passage about Jane quote, Missus Crowley 480 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: had that particular sense of fellowship among women most unusual. 481 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: If you will stop to think in our language, you 482 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: will find that there are no words to express that 483 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: thought except those that are masculine. Fellowship, brotherhood, fraternity. Missus Crowley, 484 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: perhaps more than any other woman in the world, had 485 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: the sense of what fellowship or fraternity meant in women. 486 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,760 Speaker 1: And although she sometimes may have been called an idealist 487 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: or sentimentalist, it is recognized by many women that this 488 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: thought must be abiding, for in a federation, it is 489 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: the spirit that is current through it that keeps the 490 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: federation alive. 491 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 2: Cirrhosis printed a memorial book of her letters and writings, 492 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 2: which included a biography written by her brother. He wrote 493 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 2: this of his sister, quote, the most interesting and potent 494 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 2: fact within the range of human knowledge is personality, and 495 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 2: in the person of Jane Cunningham Crowley Jenny June, a 496 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 2: potency was a parent which has affected the social life 497 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 2: of more women, perhaps than any other single controlling factor 498 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 2: of the same period. One of the really interesting passages 499 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 2: from that biography kind of seeks to identify the source 500 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 2: of Jane's influential personality. So John wrote, quote, what was 501 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 2: the secret of Jenny June's charm and pass not scholarship? 502 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 2: Let this be said in all sincerity. How greatly she 503 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 2: appreciated the scholar's advantages was well known to her intimate friends, 504 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 2: but these advantages did not belong to her. He also 505 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 2: noted that it wasn't wealth or social rank, because though 506 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 2: she made a good living, she was not an aristocrat 507 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 2: by any means. He continued quote. Nor did Jenny June 508 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 2: pattern her work according to the advice or after the 509 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 2: example of any one man or woman. There was no 510 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 2: example by which she could be guided. Woman was a 511 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 2: new factor in journalism, and Jenny June was a new woman, 512 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 2: a new creation. I cannot too fully emphasize the fact 513 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 2: that she was a new and original personality in journalism. 514 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 2: She was unalterably true to her divine, womanly ideals of 515 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 2: woman's nature, place in society and redemptive work. I say 516 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 2: redemptive work, for it was one of her deepest convictions 517 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 2: that woman's function was to be the saving salt of 518 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 2: all life. Jenny June's recognition of this vital truth brought 519 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 2: her into sympathy with a worldwide movement the new Woman 520 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 2: is no monstrosity, no sporadic creature born of intellectual fermentation 521 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 2: and unrest, but the rise and development of a better, 522 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,080 Speaker 2: nobler type of womanhood the world over. Jenny June's eminent 523 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 2: distinction was that she was a leader in this movement. 524 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 2: When Jane died, there were still sorosis chapters all over 525 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 2: the country. A lot of them were shuttered by the 526 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 2: mid nineteen fifties, but some have hung on into the 527 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 2: twenty first century. A lot of them were absorbed into 528 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 2: other groups or their members moved on to other clubs 529 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 2: when their Sorosis chapter closed. The General Federation of Women's Clubs, though, 530 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 2: is still going strong today. Its mission is stated as quote, 531 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 2: the General Federation of Women's Clubs is an international women's 532 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:58,440 Speaker 2: organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of 533 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 2: others through volunteers. And that is Jane Cunningham Crowley aka 534 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 2: Jenny June. Do you also have some listener mail? I do, 535 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 2: and this one delights me because it's one of those 536 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 2: things that I have actually meant to mention on the 537 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 2: show a number of times, or thought maybe I should, 538 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 2: and then I didn't. Uh. 539 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: This is from our listener Chandra, who writes hi Ally 540 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: and Tracy. This is mostly for Holly. After the sewing 541 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: related episode, a friend texted me to ask if I 542 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: sew and I initially replied, no, I am not a sewer, 543 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: and then I realized that's not what I mean, because 544 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: of course it's spelled like sewer, but that got me 545 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 1: thinking what the current term is for a person who sews. 546 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: Seamstress seems outdated and too gendered. Taylor doesn't seem quite right. 547 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: My husband suggested seamstrix. A friend said stitch wizard. But 548 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: I'd really like to know, Holly, how do you refer 549 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: to yourself in terms of being a person who sews? 550 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: As pet tax I've attached a picture of our three 551 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: cats and one of our guinea pig. Well, there are 552 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,160 Speaker 1: two white cats. The middle cat is unrelated and the 553 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: white cat close to the camera, and the torty our 554 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: brother and sister. They're in our walled in yard where 555 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: they're safe but can enjoy the outdoors and chase mice 556 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: as they are in the picture. We have a guinea 557 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 1: pig two despite being a middle aged couple with no kids, 558 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: because piggies are adorable and they're a much more fun 559 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: way to dispose of vegetable scraps than a boring old 560 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: compost pile. She hangs out in my office with me 561 00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: while I work from home. Love the show and I'm 562 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: looking forward to October and the Halloween related episodes that 563 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: come up. Then. These cats are so cute and listen 564 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: guinea pigs are adorable, I believe you. As for the 565 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: sewing thing, you instantly brought me back to the second 566 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: grade without probably meaning too Chandra, because my second grade teacher, 567 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: Miss Hollis, who was a wonder of a human being 568 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: I loved her desperately, was the first person who really 569 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: opened my eyes to the fact that you cannot call 570 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,200 Speaker 1: someone a sewer because it's spelledake sewer and nobody wants 571 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: that at the time that the seventies, seamstress was pretty 572 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: frequently used. Today, I like either sost or stitcher. Those 573 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: are the ones I tend to use. They seem the 574 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:11,400 Speaker 1: least gendered and least loaded, and also the most accurate frankly, 575 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 1: because sometimes you know it's you're right. It's not the 576 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,799 Speaker 1: same as being a tailor because they really specialize in 577 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: specific kinds of garments. Those are the ones that I like. 578 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:25,839 Speaker 1: I also like Stitchwitch, but that's just me for fun 579 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: or I'm sure there's another one that isn't appropriate for 580 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,399 Speaker 1: our show, but in rhymes with stitchwitch. You can put 581 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: it together from there. I love that you brought this 582 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: up because it really was such a fun memory of 583 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,840 Speaker 1: being in my second grade classroom and learning that you 584 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: really shouldn't say someone is a sewer. You would like 585 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,760 Speaker 1: to write to us, you could do that at History 586 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also subscribe to 587 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,640 Speaker 1: the show if you have not done that already, just 588 00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,960 Speaker 1: about anywhere you listen to your favorite shows. 589 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 2: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 590 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 591 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:15,720 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.