On an October afternoon in 1893, twenty years after the founding of Vanderbilt University, the first meeting of the Vanderbilt Ladies Literary and Musical Club took place. Over the next three years the focus was expanded to include other areas of university interests, and a constitution was drawn up. In 1896 the name was changed to the Vanderbilt Woman’s Club, members took a pledge to make the Club and its activities a success and record keeping for the business of the club began in earnest.

In its 126 years the Vanderbilt Woman’s Club has welcomed hundreds of women to life at Vanderbilt and has developed a sense of community and purpose for these many women and their families with the events, activities, interest groups, and scholarships it promotes and sponsors.

Wives of the Chancellors, Mary Henderson Kirkland, Margaret Vaughan Branscomb, Jean Keller Heard, and Faye Wyatt, have had prominent roles in the leadership of the club. Dean of Women Ada Bell Stapleton and Blanche Henry Clark Weaver are honored by the scholarship in their name which has been the major fundraising effort of the club for the last several decades. In these records you will find time and time again tributes to the work of the women of this university and their dedication to promote a sense of community and well- being for both the newcomer and those whose connection with the club and the university spans decades of membership. You will also find humor and wit, a sense of fun, and collegiality in the occasional verse of Virginia Holladay and the skits and performances, the picnics and fashion shows, and gadabout outings put on by the club. The records for the early years of the club are mostly handwritten and kept in ledger books. The most recent records reflect the digital age and are in email, compact disc, and other digital formats. The photographs in albums and scrapbooks and newspaper articles tell a great visual story of the VWC. Many of these photographs are identified and dated and give a glimpse into the variety of events and people associated with the VWC over its long history.