THE FREE BAPTIST WOMAN"S MISSIONARY SOCIETY was organized June 12, 1873, to conduct home and foreign missions. This is believed to be the only Woman"s Missionary Society (with possibly the exception of the Christian and the Friends") which from the beginning has been entirely independent and not an auxiliary organization. It has furnished eleven women missionaries for India, one of whom is a professor in the Theological School and two are physicians, and supports a large number of schools, many native and Bible women and extensive zenana work.
Besides this it aids all other women missionaries of its denominational conference board by annual appropriations for their local work among women and children at the various stations occupied by Free Baptists. The Rhode Island Kindergarten Hall, the Widows" Home and the Sinclair Orphanage, all located at Benares, province of Orissa, India, are the property of this society.
Its home missionary work is connected with Storer College, Harper"s Ferry, W. Va., to which it has furnished thirteen teachers, besides contributing largely to the erection and equipment of two of the main buildings. Its receipts have been about $200,000. It has a permanent fund of about $42,000.
The society has twenty-five State organizations, others in Canada and India, with between 8,000 and 9,000 members.
THE WOMAN"S PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE SOUTHWEST was organized at St. Louis in April, 1877; originally to create and foster a practical and intelligent interest in the spiritual condition of women and children in our own land and in heathen lands. Since the close of its fourteenth year its work has been for foreign missions only, being one of the seven woman"s auxiliaries to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America. It has given to the cause of missions $249,618, and has had missionaries, as teachers or physicians, in India, China, j.a.pan, Korea, Siam, Persia and South America. The record of their work has been of a nature sufficiently encouraging to warrant continued and larger support. The Board has 605 branches or auxiliary societies and 13,776 members.
THE WOMAN"S BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was organized in December, 1878, to establish and maintain Christian schools among those near home. It has eleven stations in Alaska, eighteen among the Indians, twenty-seven among the Mexicans, thirty-one among the Mormons, forty among the mountaineers, six among the foreigners in this country, five among the Porto Ricans, making a total of 138, with 425 missionaries and teachers and 9,337 pupils.
The Board has secured to the Presbyterian church $750,000 worth of property and has expended about $3,500,000 since organization. Two magazines are published, the _Home Mission Monthly_, and _Over Sea and Land_ for the young, the latter jointly with the Foreign Societies. It has about 5,000 auxiliary societies with about 100,000 members.
THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN"S BOARD OF MISSIONS was organized Oct. 22, 1874, to maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction; to encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and effort in the churches; to disseminate missionary intelligence and secure systematic contributions for such purposes; to establish and maintain schools for the education of both s.e.xes.
Fields: The United States, Jamaica, India, Mexico and Porto Rico.
Work: University Bible lectureships, Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, Calcutta, India; eighteen schools, four orphanage schools, two kindergartens, four orphanages with 500 children, one Chinese mission, one hospital, three dispensaries, one leper mission, thirty mission stations outside the United States; 135 missionaries, besides native teachers, evangelists, Bible women and other helpers; $900,000 raised during twenty-six years; income last year, $106,728. Its publications are _Missionary Tidings_, circulation 13,500; _Junior Builders_, same circulation; leaflets, calendars, manuals, song books, etc. Property values: United States, $120,000; India, $60,300; Jamaica, $38,550; Porto Rico, $10,000; total, $229,650; amount of endowment funds, $85,000.
This is purely a woman"s organization; funds are raised and disbursed, fields entered and work outlined and managed without connection with any "parent board," although relations with other organizations of the church are most cordial. There are thirty-six State organizations, 1,750 auxiliaries, forty-five young ladies" circles, 374 mission bands, 1,711 junior societies of Christian Endeavor, 177 intermediate societies and 40,000 members of auxiliaries.
THE WOMAN"S STATE HOME MISSIONARY ORGANIZATION OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH represents a slow but steady growth during the past thirty years. Branches exist now in forty-two States and Territories. The last report available, that of 1897, showed $100,768 collected that year and disbursed for the usual home missionary purposes.
THE WOMAN"S CENTENARY a.s.sOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH was organized in 1869 to a.s.sist weak parishes, foster Sunday-schools, help educate women students for the ministry, endow professorships in schools and colleges, relieve the wants of sick or disabled preachers, ministers" widows and orphans, distribute denominational literature, and do both home and foreign missionary work. Since its organization it has raised and disbursed over $300,000 and has a permanent fund of $20,500, the interest of which is annually expended for the purposes for which the a.s.sociation was organized. Millions of pages of denominational literature have been distributed. The a.s.sociation has ten State societies and 100 mission (local) circles.
THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF UNITARIAN AND OTHER LIBERAL CHRISTIAN WOMEN was organized in 1890. Its objects are primarily to quicken the religious life of Unitarian churches and to bring the women into closer acquaintance, co-operation and fellowship; to promote local organizations of women for missionary and denominational work and to bring the same into a.s.sociation; to collect and disseminate information regarding all matters of interest to the church, viz.: needs of local societies, facilities for meeting them, work to be done, collection and distribution of money, etc.
The Alliance takes part in the missionary work of the denomination, a.s.sisting small churches and starting new ones; supports one or more students each year at the Meadville Theological School and maintains several circuit ministers. It has lending and traveling libraries and libraries for ministers, and has established and maintained three permanent ones in places where there was no free library. Through its well-known Post Office Mission it distributes annually about 300,000 sermons and tracts, and through its Cheerful Letter Exchange an untold amount of miscellaneous literature. Money is not disbursed from a central treasury, but is given by the branches which are independent in such matters, an Executive Board making recommendations. The expenditures of the past ten years have been $419,757. The Alliance has 255 branches and nearly 11,000 members.
THE WOMAN"S MISSIONARY a.s.sOCIATION OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST was organized Oct. 21, 1875, to engage and unite the efforts of women in sending missionaries into all the world; to support these and other laborers in mission fields, and to secure by gift, bequest and otherwise the funds necessary for these purposes. Valuable missionary work is being done in West Africa, China and the Philippines. The a.s.sociation in the last twenty-five years has raised $311,920. It has forty branches and 13,232 members.
THE WOMAN"S FOREIGN UNION OF FRIENDS was organized May, 1890, to increase the efficiency for spreading the Gospel of Christ among the heathen, and to create an additional bond between the women of the American Yearly Meetings. It has been the instrumentality of greatly quickening the missionary zeal and activity in the denomination. It established missions in j.a.pan, China, India and in unoccupied parts of Mexico, and rendered valuable a.s.sistance in planting missions in Alaska, Jamaica and Palestine. It founded and has successfully managed the _Friends" Missionary Advocate_. During the past ten years $300,000 have been raised and expended. It has ten branches and 4,000 members.
THE WOMAN"S HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. was organized in 1879. Its object is to cultivate a missionary spirit, to create a deeper interest in the spread of the Gospel, to disseminate missionary intelligence, and to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women in the Lutheran church in supporting missions and missionaries on home and foreign fields, in co-operation with the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions and Church Extension. In the Foreign field it is now supporting eight women missionaries in India, two of whom are physicians and one a trained nurse. The princ.i.p.al station is Guntur, Madras Presidency. In Africa it is supporting two women missionaries at Muhlenberg, Liberia. In the Home field it has helped support eighteen missions and build churches for twelve of them. The amount contributed by the societies for the year ending March 31, 1902, was $27,286.
The Society has twenty-two Synodical Societies, 760 auxiliaries and 20,452 members, active and honorary and cradle roll, besides 489 life members.
THE WOMAN"S MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED CHURCH was organized in 1887, to aid in the advancement of the work of Christian Missions in Home and Foreign Lands. Individual societies had existed for ten years previous. The last report available is that of 1893, when 144 societies were reported and $10,000 collected during the year. One-third was expended for foreign and two-thirds for home missions. The society has published an official organ, the _Woman"s Journal_, since 1894. Women also belong and contribute to the general missionary societies of the church.
THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF WOMEN"S AND YOUNG WOMEN"S CHRISTIAN a.s.sOCIATIONS had its beginning in 1871, when thirty of these a.s.sociations affiliated for biennial conferences. Later they organized as the International Board which became incorporated. Its object is to unite in one central organization these bodies of the United States, Canada and other countries, and to promote the forming of similar ones, to advance the mental, moral, temporal and above all the spiritual welfare of young women.
The Ladies" Christian Union of New York, organized in 1858, was the first work in this country for the welfare of young business women. A home was the imperative need of the friendless young women employed in cities then as it is now, since the small wages received make possible for them only the poorest quarters amid demoralizing conditions. These Christian Women opened a house and took into it as many as they could reach, giving clean rooms, wholesome food, cheap rent, pure moral atmosphere and religious influences. From this developed the Young Women"s Christian a.s.sociation.
The federated a.s.sociations now own property valued at over $5,000,000.
In the evolution of this work the Boarding Homes, now accommodating over 3,000 at one time, have been supplemented as the need arose. The Traveler"s Aid Department seeks to reach the young, ignorant girls before the agents of evil who haunt the railroad stations and steamer landings. During 1900 over 10,000 were thus protected. The Employment Bureau during this year a.s.sisted over 20,000 applicants. The Educational Department, with day and evening cla.s.ses, has 15,000 enrolled. There are Recreation Departments, Vacation Homes and many other important features. Every phase of the life of a girl or woman is touched by the a.s.sociation. Religion in its broad sense is its fundamental and guiding principle.
Twenty-three States are represented in sixty a.s.sociations in the United States and Canada, with over 20,000 voting and contributing members, over 500,000 a.s.sociate members--self-supporting girls and women--and 2,500 junior members.
THE WOMAN"S NATIONAL SABBATH ALLIANCE was organized in 1895, to educate the women of America to an intelligent appreciation of the relation of this one day in seven to the national life, and to emphasize woman"s responsibility and influence, especially in the home and in society. The work is along educational lines--in creating public sentiment in favor of better Sabbath observance. While placing a wedge in every tiny opening, its members have prayed, protested, proclaimed and practiced. Through this organization Christian women have become more fearless in standing for their convictions. The Alliance has twenty-two branches and over 1,000 members.
PATRIOTIC:
THE WOMAN"S RELIEF CORPS, AUXILIARY TO THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, was organized July 25, 1883. Its object is specially to aid and a.s.sist the Grand Army of the Republic and to perpetuate the memory of its heroic dead; to a.s.sist such Union veterans as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to their widows and orphans; to cherish and emulate the deeds of army nurses and of all loyal women who rendered loving service to the country in her hour of peril; to maintain true allegiance to the United States of America; to inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country among children and in the communities; to encourage the spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all.
General legislation is enacted by the annual national convention, the supreme authority; States are governed by department conventions. The a.s.sociation has educated women in an exact system of reports and returns. There are no "benefits," as it is strictly philanthropic. It supports a National Relief Corps Home for dependent army nurses and relatives of veterans; has secured pension legislation from the general Government for dest.i.tute army nurses; has influenced State legislation in the founding of homes for Union veterans and their dependent ones in Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, New York and Kansas; has led to the establishment of industrial education in the Ohio Orphans" Home; has been foremost in financial aid in every national calamity; has unitedly furthered patriotic teaching in schools and the flag in school rooms; and has raised and expended for relief in the eighteen years of its existence, $2,500,000. The corps has thirty-five departments, 3,174 subordinate corps and 142,760 members.
LADIES OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC were organized Jan. 12, 1886, to a.s.sist the G. A. R., encourage them in their n.o.ble work of charity, extend needful aid to members in sickness and distress and look after the Soldiers" Homes and the Homes of Soldiers" Widows and Orphans; to obtain proper situations for the children when they leave the homes; to watch the schools and see that children are properly instructed in the history of our country and in patriotism; to honor the memory of those fallen and to perpetuate and keep forever sacred Memorial Day.
Its departments and circles have spent for relief $16,685 and given to the G. A. R. $2,658; to the Soldiers" Homes, $364; Soldiers" Widows"
Homes, $1,461; Soldiers" Orphans" Homes, $179.
The organization has twenty-three departments and 28,070 members--mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces of soldiers and sailors who served honorably in the Civil War.
THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF VETERANS OF THE U. S. A. was organized and chartered in 1885, to perpetuate the memories of the fathers and brothers, their loyalty to the Union and their unselfish sacrifices for its perpetuity; to aid them and their widows and orphans, when helpless and in distress; to inculcate a love of country and patriotism among women; to promote equal rights and universal liberty, and to acquire, by donation or otherwise, all necessary property and funds to carry out the aforesaid objects; to a.s.sist the G. A. R. to commemorate the deeds of their fallen comrades on the 30th of May.
The Alliance is composed of daughters and granddaughters of the Northern soldiers who fought in the Civil War, 1861-1865, and has a sufficient membership to a.s.sure the soldiers that their memory will ever be preserved and their widows and orphans will not want. Over $2,000 are spent yearly for relief. The value of donations other than money is nearly double that amount. It has a.s.sisted in obtaining pensions, erected monuments for unknown dead, furnished rooms in Soldiers" and Soldiers" Widows" Homes, furnished transportation for helpless soldiers, presented flags and banners, brightened sickrooms with flowers and cheerful faces. At present it is interested in the erection of Lincoln Memorial University at Mason City, Ia., where one building is to be known as the Daughters of Veterans" Building. There are "tents" scattered all over the Union and many State Departments.
THE MOUNT VERNON LADIES" a.s.sOCIATION OF THE UNION was organized in 1853. Its purpose was the purchase and preservation of the home and tomb of General Washington with 200 acres of land. The sum of $200,000 was raised by voluntary contributions from the women of the United States.
The Regent is elected by the Council and is a life officer. Mrs.
Justine V. R. Townsend of New York is serving at present. The Regent appoints, and the council at its annual meeting ratifies by votes, one lady in each State as vice-regent to represent the State. The a.s.sociation is purely patriotic. The great annual increase of both home and foreign visitors is gratifying, and testifies to the loving veneration in which the memory of Washington is held. The entrance fee of twenty-five cents is sufficient to keep the home and grounds in perfect colonial order.
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION was organized Aug. 9, 1890, to perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence, by the acquisition and protection of historic spots and the erection of monuments; by the encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution, and the publication of its results; by the preservation of doc.u.ments and relics, and of the records of the individual services of Revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of celebrations of all patriotic anniversaries; to carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address to the American people, "to promote, as an object of primary importance, inst.i.tutions for the general diffusion of knowledge;" to cherish, maintain and extend the inst.i.tutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty.
The society has carried out its desired objects; brought together the women of the North and South; caused many of them to study the const.i.tution of their country and parliamentary law; rescued from oblivion the memory of many heroic women of the Revolution; examined and certified to the 1,000 nurses sent by the Surgeon General"s office to the Spanish-American War; raised $300,000 in money and sent 56,000 garments to the hospitals during that war; contributed $85,000 for a Memorial Hall in Washington, D. C. It has organized children"s societies and taught them love for the flag and all it means; made foreign-born children realize what it is to be American citizens; offered medals and scholarships for historical essays by pupils in schools and colleges; helped erect the monuments to Lafayette and Washington in Paris. By requiring careful investigation of claims to membership the society has caused many families to become re-united who had been separated by immigration to remote parts of the country, and has stimulated a proper pride of birth--not descent from royalty and n.o.bility but from men and women who did their duty in their generation and left their descendants the priceless heritage of pure homes and honest government. The society has 600 chapters and over 36,000 members.
THE SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION was organized Aug. 20, 1891, to perpetuate the patriotic spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence; to commemorate prominent events connected with the War of the Revolution; to collect, publish and preserve the rolls, records and historic doc.u.ments relating to this period and to encourage the study of the country"s history.
Through its State organizations it has marked with tablets historic places; promoted patriotism by gifts of historical pictures to public schools; helped to bring about an observance of Flag Day through the general society; given prizes to various women"s colleges for essays on topics connected with the War of the Revolution; raised $5,000 to erect a monument at Valley Forge in memory of Washington"s Army. The present work is the establishment of a fund to be loaned in proper sums to girls trying to make their way through college. It has nineteen State societies and 3,200 members.
THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA were organized in New York City, May 23, 1890, to honor the brave men who in any important service contributed to the achievement of American independence; to collect ma.n.u.scripts, traditions and relics and to foster a true spirit of patriotism. A hereditary society was deemed the most effective for this purpose. It has made a collection of valuable ma.n.u.scripts, pedigrees, photographs and books; effected restorations in the old Swedes" Church at Wilmington, placed tablets in Baltimore, to Washington, and in Kingston, N. Y., to Governor Clinton. Historic tableaux have been given in the city of New York, with readings of original papers and lectures by historians. The publication of the "Letters to Washington"