100 Years of Impact
One hundred years ago, the Soroptimist Club of San Jose, California, chartered on December 4, 1924, making it the eighth club in what would become Soroptimist International of the Americas, Inc., and the 10th Soroptimist club worldwide.
It became Soroptimist International of Silicon Valley in 1999 and merged with the Santa Clara club in 2013 to form the new Soroptimist International of Santa Clara Silicon Valley club.
The newspaper records for the time of the San Jose club’s chartering are not found in public databases, so there is not much information about the club. There are only small morsels of information in the Soroptimist archives.
Stuart Morrow, who owned the rights to form Soroptimist clubs in the early- and mid-1920s was working on chartering the Paris, France, club in the Spring of 1924. In his place, Helena Gamble, a charter member of the first Soroptimist club, Alameda County (now SI/Oakland, the mother club), was working to establish new clubs in California.
Her work in San Jose commenced in April of 1924. By mid-May, a letter from her had reached Stuart Morrow in Paris, and in his return correspondence of May 15, 1924, he noted, “I was delighted to see the good start already made with the San Jose club.” He later went on, in response to questions posed by Helena, “As regards the San Jose women desiring Knox rules in preference to Roberts, I would be inclined to let them have their way in this matter, as in the badges, so long as there is no National or International Association yet formed.”
By May 22, 1924, a newspaper article in the San Francisco Bulletin regarding the San Francisco Soroptimist club noted, “Members of the club will motor to San Jose May 27 to attend the installation banquet of the new San Jose Soroptimist club.”
What happened during the extended period between this initial banquet in May and its official chartering in December is not clear. The earliest history of the club, from 1930, notes the charter was granted with 40 members in the club, and that the December 4, 1924, charter banquet and installation was a lovely affair held at the Vendome Hotel. The presidents of the Alameda County/Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, Long Beach, and Washington, D.C., clubs were either present or represented.
Under the first president, Mae Wright, the club began its first forays into civic life in San Jose and soon established a scholarship fund for girls, as well as a permanent summer camp for girls in the Big Basin National Redwood Park.
While the San Jose Soroptimist club has a new name, Soroptimist has supported women and girls in the San Jose community for 100 years. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!
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