Historical Photos Information
Alameda County Soroptimist Club Charter Members
File name:
1946_Charter_Members_of_1st_Club100.jpg
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Alameda County Soroptimist Club charter members taken during taken during 1946, during the celebration of Soroptimist’s 25th Anniversary.
Upper row, left to right: Edna Brown, Violet Richardson (Ward), Eloise Cushing, Emily Wilke, Gladys Leggett Penland.
Bottom row, left to right: Sarah Hammond, Helena Gamble, Cassie Moreland, Isabel Jenkins.
About the members
Edna Brown:
- Classification: Life Insurance
- Join/Date of first dues payment: September 1, 1921
Violet Richardson (Ward):
- Classification: Physical Education
- Join/Date of first dues payment: August 1, 1921
Eloise Cushing:
- Classification: Attorney-at-law
- Join/Date of first dues payment: July 1, 1921
Emily Wilke:
- Classification: Copy Editor University Press
- Join/Date of first dues payment: September 1, 1921
Gladys Leggett Penland:
- Classification: Insurance Broker
- Join/Date of first dues payment: June 1, 1921
Sarah Hammond:
- Classification: Cafeteria
- Join/Date of first dues payment: June 1, 1921
Helena Gamble:
- Classification: Campaign Manager
- Join/Date of first dues payment: August 1, 1921
Cassie Moreland, D.O.:
- Classification: Osteopathic Physician
- Join/Date of first dues payment: June 1, 1921
Isabel Jenkins:
- Classification: Jewelry
- Join/Date of first dues payment: September 1, 1921
Adelaide Goddard
File name:
Adelaide_Goddard-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives, Helena Gamble Collection
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Adelaide Goddard, charter member of the Alameda County Soroptimist Club. Goddard was one of two women owners of the Parker-Goddard Secretarial School, and is credited with giving club organizer Stuart Morrow the idea to organize a club for women in business and professions.
About Adelaide Goddard
- Classification: Osteopathic Physician
- Join/Date of first dues payment: June 1, 1921
Helena Gamble
File name:
Helena_Gamble-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives, Helena Gamble Collection
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Helena Gamble, charter member of the Alameda County Soroptimist Club, served the club as a paid secretary. Because of her professional background, Stuart Morrow later hired Gamble to serve as a Soroptimist club organizer in California when he left California to organize clubs on the U.S. East Coast and in Europe. Gamble continued her efforts to charter clubs through 1934.
About Helena Gamble
- Classification: Campaign Manager
- Join/Date of first dues payment: August 1, 1921
- Collected early historical documents in her positions as club secretary and paid club organizer.
- Served as club president in 1932.
- Served as the Southwestern Region director (now called governor) from 1934-1936.
- Appointed Federation Historian for life in 1936.
Eloise Cushing
File name:
Eloise-Cushing-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives, Alameda County Soroptimist Club Etching Book
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Eloise Cushing was a charter member of the Alameda County Soroptimist Club. The original invitation to the club was sent to one of Cushing’s co-workers, who passed it on to her, and she joined on the spot. Cushing’s profession as an attorney and a law librarian led to her serving as one of the principle authors of the first club’s governing documents, which later served as a model for other clubs. Cushing was also largely responsible for drafting the first set of governing documents for the American Federation of Soroptimist Clubs when it was formed in 1928.
About Eloise Cushing
- Classification: Attorney-at-law.
- Join/Date of first dues payment: July 1, 1921.
- Served as club treasurer 1923, vice president in 1926, president in 1928.
- Served as the 2nd Vice President of the American Federation of Soroptimist clubs from 1932-1934.
Stuart Morrow
File name:
Stuart-Morrow-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives, Helena Gamble Collection
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Stuart Morrow, a club organizer whose previous work included the organization of Rotary clubs in the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom, was the organizational force behind the chartering of the earliest Soroptimist clubs through 1927.
About Stuart Morrow
- Born in Dublin, Ireland, attended Trinity College.
- Emigrated to California 1885.
- Member of San Francisco Rotary club 1908—Classification: Collections Agent.
- Returned to Dublin and formed Rotary club there in 1911, followed by clubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham; his methods caused a break with Rotary and he eventually returned to California.
- Soroptimist members bought out his interests in Soroptimist in 1927 for $5,500.
Alameda County Soroptimist Club 3rd Anniversary Celebration
File name:
alameda_county_3rd_anniv-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives
Photo credit:
Photo by Waters & Hainlin Studios, Oakland, California. Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
The Alameda County Soroptimist Club members and their guests celebrate the club’s third anniversary with a gala evening on September 21, 1924 at the Hotel Oakland.
Violet Richardson
File name:
violet-richardson-100.jpg
Source:
The Soroptimist Archives, Alameda County Soroptimist Club Etching Book
Photo credit:
Photo by permission of the Soroptimist Archives, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Caption:
Violet Richardson was a charter member of the Alameda County Soroptimist Club and was elected its first president. The child of English immigrants, Violet is credited with refusing to join the Soroptimist club unless she had Stuart Morrow’s assurance that Soroptimist would eventually include international clubs. (Morrow chartered the first international club in London in 1924.)
About Violet Richardson (Ward)
- Classification: Physical Education; worked for the Berkeley School District
- Join/Date of first dues payment: August 1, 1921
- Fought for (and eventually received) pay equal to men’s as a class instructor during her time as a student at the University of California.
- Attended the 1928 convention in Washington, D.C. that formed the American Federation of Soroptimist Clubs and the Soroptimist International Association.