The Ypsilanti Ladies Literary Club get's a nice shoutout in the JSTOR Daily. The article, Women’s Groups and the Rise of the Book Club, chronicles the rise of book clubs in the US. The article traces the origins of modern book clubs to 19th century women's clubs:
One of the first such societies, Sorosis, was founded in 1868, when several female columnists were barred from a New York Press Club event honoring Charles Dickens. Journalist Jane Cunningham Croly, who created the club with a circle of professional female colleagues, took the name from a botanical term: Sorosis refers to a type of fruit formed from an aggregate of flowers. Inspired by Sorosis and the New England Women’s Club in Boston, women across the nation began forming similar societies, from the still-running Ladies’ Literary Club of Ypsilanti, Michigan (1878), to the Ladies’ Reading Club of Houston (1885).The image above is an undated 4th of July picture of the Ypsilanti Ladies' Literary Club.
H/T: EJ
Ypsilanti's own
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