Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
All-Around Club, 1898-ca.1970
In 1898 the seventy-five women of Tufts College banded together to elect officers for a new social, literary, and 'democratic' club. The All-Around Club would last for over seventy years, serving the social and intellectual needs of Tufts and Jackson women. | |
Male students in 1898 were upset about the growing presence of women on campus. Their insecurity came through when, partly in response to the formation of the All-Around Club, they protested: "the time is not far distant when the matter of coeducation at Tufts will come to a crisis." Despite this opposition, in its first year the All-Around Club organized a faculty tea, a music night, and several receptions. Those successes opened a long, energetic history filled with operettas, an annual spring dance, music lectures, annual dinners, orientation breakfasts, sight-seeing tours, a fashion show in Packard Hall, and many more. | |
Mundane issues came under the jurisdiction of the All-Around Club in 1903, after the Tufts College Association of Women Self-Government joined with the All-Around Club and an organization for women's athletics to form a larger club. Though this loose association soon disbanded, the All-Around Club would continue to engage in serious endeavors, publishing Jackson College directories and guides, organizing food drives, and providing a representative for the Student Council. From 1903 on, every woman enrolled at the school was included as a member of the club. | |
The 1909 constitution of the club proclaimed as its goal "to promote unity and loyalty in the college; to further the social, intellectual, and athletic interests of the student body; and to encourage the personal responsibilities of its members."The goal remained unchanged until the club's disappearance. | |
The All-Around Club last receives mention in an Observer article in 1969.The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the demise of many long-standing organizations as changing student attitudes brought about a new era of student activities. | |
Sources:AO; JB; TCG; TW; JCOE; OBS | |
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