I'd like to complain about the caption on your Friday featured photo that says \Old girls' club"" (Feature Photo, Sept. 17). I am glad that you sent someone to the talks about the Woman's Club of Madison, but I think a caption like this trivializes the accomplishments of the members of the Woman's Club of Madison.
David Mollenhoff's book on the history of Madison talks about many of the accomplishments of the Woman's Club of Madison. This is the story that needs to be told and nobody seems to be doing it. The women organized and became a strong force to improve their neighborhoods and the city before they could even vote!
Further, the Woman's Club was much more open in its membership than the men's clubs. In the 1960s, some individuals blew the whistle on the Madison Club because it only had white Protestant men as members. Rachel Jastrow was the president of the club from 1911 to 1913 and she started the Madison chapter of Hadassah, a national Jewish women's organization. This means that the Woman's Club of Madison had Jewish members at least 50 years before the Madison Club, a men's club.
I'd like to suggest that you give this information about the Woman's Club to a reporter and let them tell the story of these remarkable women. It is something that future generations need to know.
Bill Patterson
UW-Madison staff member
