Have you ever heard of The Boothbay Harbor Monday Club? Please read on to quench your curiosity about this little-known organization that was started by local women in the 1890s. If any readers are related to, know of any Monday Club women, or are just plain curious, please come to celebrate and honor them, and to learn more about these interesting women.

In the tradition of the Silver Teas of yesteryear, the Boothbay Region Historical Society will host “Tea, Treats and Tales” on Aug. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club at 156 Western Avenue, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The tea will include a presentation by BRHS Volunteer Julia O’Brien-Merrill who will tell some tales of The Monday Club she has learned through cataloging the Monday Club records.

When five young Boothbay Harbor women - Mrs.Annie Blair Kenniston, Mrs. Grace Miller Hussey, Mrs. Natalie Nickerson, Mrs. Emily Smith and Mrs. Imogene Nickerson - met on Jan. 18, 1895, to discuss the possibility of forming a literary club, little did they know that one hundred and thirty-one years later, their names would be in the local news. They reached out to both the Federation Clubs of Maine and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs for guidance in forming a club. These founders of the Boothbay Harbor Monday Club were looking for ways to improve their minds and to learn more about their community and beyond. Once organized in October 1895, with 14 members, they opened the club to women of Boothbay Harbor. They held meetings every Monday at 2:30 October through April using parliamentary procedures.

The Boothbay Harbor Monday Club was federated in 1899. Each year a program, including all the meeting dates and topics, was printed for each of the members. They invited various guest speakers, including the Governor of Maine, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and Poet Robert Frost to attend their meetings. Members had responsibilities to make presentations at the meetings and were charged five cents for an absence and one cent for tardiness, showing their commitment and seriousness of purpose. In 1913 the Monday Club introduced the teaching of music in the Boothbay Harbor schools. Their club motto was, “There is one proof of ability – action.”

Jump ahead to 1925 when the Monday Club was one of seven Women’s Clubs in Lincoln County who incorporated as The Lincoln County Union of Women’s Clubs with an objective to carry out one combined community project. At that time The Monday Club had a membership of sixty, and the combined membership of the seven clubs was 455. Each Club contributed ($1.00) one dollar to the project. Mr. George J. Woodman, a public-minded citizen of Damariscotta purchased and donated the property to become The Lincoln Home, a place where aged people in Lincoln County could live comfortable and happily. The Lincoln Home was dedicated on Dec. 10, 1932. The clubs would hold fund-raising “Silver Teas” to help support the Lincoln Home, which to this day is a thriving community.

The history of the Boothbay Harbor Monday Club is complex and fascinating. Several histories of the organization have been written by Monday Club Members and are part of the Monday Club Collection of the archives at Boothbay Regional Historical Society. The written records and ephemera of one hundred years of meetings and events can help us to bring the lives of these forward-thinking women alive.

Tickets for this event are $50 pp, with a limit of 50 guests. Please contact Connie Hartley for more information and to purchase your tickets: chart@boothbayhistorical.org or call 207-633-0820, Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Proceeds from this event will support the Society’s mission to collect, preserve, and promote interest in the history of the Boothbay region through research, exhibits, and programs.