Overview
The Junior League of Boston is a women’s service organization that has worked to improve the communities of the greater Boston area since the beginning of the 20th century. Founded in 1906, it was the second Junior League in the world. The Boston League currently has over 800 members who together provide over 16,000 service hours each year. It is a member of the Association of Junior Leagues International. The Junior League of Boston’s official mission statement is: "The Junior League of Boston is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.
Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable." In recent decades, it has focused its efforts on the empowerment of girls and women with service projects, including one-on-one mentoring and arts education for elementary school girls.
History
In 1906, former debutante Sarah Lawrence Slattery established the Sewing Circle League, a charity group based from her sewing circle of upper-class Boston women. She modeled the group after the Junior League of New York, founded in 1901, and aimed to provide young women opportunities to do stimulating work, to help their communities, and to form female friendships. In the 1970s, the League established a child abuse center for the Massachusetts Welfare Department. The League also underwent several demographic changes in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, membership was only granted to women who were “proposed” by a current member, then “endorsed” by two others. As a result, the League tended to exclude women outside of elite social circles. The proposal and endorsement requirement was removed in the 1980s, as part of an increased effort to diversify the membership.
In response, the League organized more workshops geared towards the professional world as part of member training. In addition, the average age of members increased from 22 to 31 between the 1970s and 1980s.
Headquarters
The League’s headquarters were originally at Zero Marlboro St., opposite from the Boston Public Garden. In 1953, the Katherine Gibbs School took over their building, so the League temporarily met in the Harvard Club of Boston. They purchased a new place for headquarters at 117 Newbury St. in 1958, and remain there today. In 2011, the League began renovation and refurbishment of this space, in part to make it handicap accessible and better suited to the modern needs of the organization.
Notable Speakers Series
The Junior League of Boston began hosting notable speakers soon after their founding. They have hosted Dr. Richard C. Cabot (founder of Social Services), Charles W. Eliot (president of Harvard University), Booker T. Washington, Jane Addams (founder of Hull House), William Howard Taft, and a warden of Sing-Sing. Most notably, the Junior League of Boston hosted President John F. Kennedy on October 23, 1946. President Kennedy gave his famous speech, “Why I am a Democrat.” Given shortly before his campaign came to a close, the speech’s moderate stance helped to center his candidacy.
Show House
Historically, the Junior League of Boston contributed to a greater movement throughout the 1920s to foster the arts among their members. The women of the Boston Junior League were highly involved in a national effort to make the arts available to women and part of a healthy community life. In the 1920s, the Boston Junior League was known for their avant-garde taste, opting for a fresh and modern art deco style for their clubhouse. For many women of the Junior League of Boston, the use of arts in their headquarters was an act of self-expression. Their skills in interior decorating were not limited to their headquarters. Since 1970, the Junior League of Boston’s Show House event has been one of its most noteworthy and well known.
Originally held annually and called the Decorator’s Show House and Garden Tour, the fundraiser brings together numerous designers who redecorate, and at times restore, a historic site to then be toured by the public. In the past, it was the only League-wide event, and all members were expected to contribute to the project. Funds raised through the first Show House allowed the League to develop and open the Gilday Center, a daycare facility for abused children. By 1984, the annual event had raised over $1 million. In this execution of the event, most of the décor and artwork was available for purchase, increasing the League’s fundraising potential.
Charity Gala
The Junior League of Boston hosts an annual charity gala, which is one of its most famous and successful events of the year. The League’s history of hosting galas and balls dates back over sixty years. These events provide crucial fundraising for their operations. The 2016 Gilded Gala raised over $85,000 through ticket sales and live and silent auctions.
Notable members
* Peggy Stuart Coolidge: composer and conductor * Helen Morton: member of the Boards of Directors of the Community Music Center of Boston, United South End Settlements, the Boston Center for the Arts, and the Harbor Light Homeless Shelter. * Nora Saltonstall: received the Croix de Geurre for her work as a wartime chauffeur on the Western Front in World War I. Her letters were also published as Out Here at the Front: The World War I Letters of Nora Saltonstall. * Sarah Lawrence Slattery: founder of JL Boston and daughter of William Lawrence * Carolyn G. Connors: treasurer for Mayor Kevin White of Boston and vice president of Massachusetts Special Olympics * Virginia Walker: Hollywood film actress
Cookbooks
* Presenting Boston… : A Cookbook (1st ed. 1976) * More than a Tea Party: a Collection of Regional Recipes from the Junior League of Boston (1989) * Boston Uncommon: a Culinary Journey through Boston’s Distinctive Neighborhoods (2006)
Documentaries
* The Innocents (1960) * The Disquieted (1960) * The Exceptional Child (196-)
Guidebooks
* A Guide to Boston (1945): written for servicemen returning after World War II * The Guide to Boston for the Handicapped (1950) * Along the Coast of Essex County; A Guidebook (1970)
Opera
* The Fisherman’s Wife (1967): children’s opera commissioned for its 50th Anniversary
Periodicals
* Bulletin (1929-1975) * Junior League of Boston Magazine (1945-1947) * Happenings (1970-) * Community Newsletter (1981-1993)
External links
* Junior League of Boston, Official Website. * Junior League of Boston Records, 1897-1994. 79-M9—94-M87. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. * Junior League of Boston Additional Records, 1907-2010 MC 787; T-499; Vt-269; DVD-116. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.