Kansas City Young Matrons Records (KC0100)
The Kansas City Young Matrons was organized in the Kansas City Athenaeum Clubhouse in the fall of 1917 under the name of Athenaeum Young Matrons. Mrs. George W. Fuller, then president of the Kansas City Athenaeum, conceived of the idea of a club of young married women in order that their interests might be developed and directed toward larger club activities. Near the close of its third year, the Young Matrons severed its connections with the Athenaeum and changed its name to Kansas City Young Matrons. A primary function of the Young Matrons has been and is service to the community. This service has taken the form of volunteer work with various community organizations such as the Rehabilitation Institute, Children’s Cardiac Center of Children’s Mercy Hospital, Truman Medical Center, Historic Kansas City Foundation, the Crittenton Center and many others. Philanthropic work initially took the form of a layette program for war babies and that later expanded to a general clothing program for needy young women and yet later to providing clothing to needy high school and college students. The Young Matrons was the first club to provide a scholarship fund to the University of Kansas City in 1933 and continues to support that scholarship fund to the present. In 1926 a subsidiary organization, “The Carolyn Farwell Fuller Unit,” was established to serve the needs of Young Matrons’ Associate Members. This group provided an opportunity for special study, especially study of various foreign countries, for its membership. It continued as a part of the organization until it was dissolved in 1953.
The records included in this collection are the minute books of regular meetings, Executive Board meetings, and the meetings of the Carolyn Farwell Fuller Unit. Occasional financial reports are also included. Additional general financial material from the Charity and Welfare Committee is included for a brief period, as well as some administrative documents, including the constitution and bylaws and instructions to officers. After suffering water damage from a flood in the fall of 1981, the records, which had been in bound volumes, were removed from their bindings and placed in folders for preservation. All of the material suffered from the exposure to water, with some receiving greater damage than others. Some of the records are faded, washed out, bled through, or otherwise deteriorated. The copies preserved are the only valuable documents. 1917-1964.
298 folders (MICROFILMED).
© State Historical Society of Missouri
updated:
Monday, February 07, 2011
State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Kansas City
(816) 235-1543 WHMCKC@umkc.edu