On Thursday I started transcribing the minutes of the Board of Management of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore from 1907-1908. Here’s what has caught my attention so far, besides the delightful phrases “dainty refreshments” and “queen of an afternoon”:

It’s hard to keep up sometimes with the amount of women who apply for membership in the Club, are suggested by current members to join, or resign. It feels like for every member who wants to join, another member is resigning—whether it’s because she’s sick, her husband is sick, or simply “too busy” to devote the time and energy required to be an active member. Both the additions to the Club and the resignations are fascinating. Whenever a current member suggests a woman she thinks should join, she is expected to vouch for the candidate’s credibility in several different avenues. Has she sat in on a Club meeting? What did she think of it? Does she write or make music or make any contribution to the arts? While these are all valid questions, it makes me wonder about the seriousness of the society. These women are certainly not playing around. They’ve taken something that seems like it can be casual and have made it very formal and exclusive. I wonder why.

Which leads me to the resignations… why are so many women resigning so frequently? Why was the Club and its duties so exhausting that it caused so many women, month after month, to resign? It makes sense to me that Board members would resign occasionally because seemingly a lot more work was done on the Board, but even so, that happened so often that there was what feels like a constant game of musical chairs on the board of directors. It leaves me wondering what these positions meant to the women who held them and what exactly pushed them away—whether it was a heavy workload or something beyond that.

It’s also worth mentioning that they’re constantly debating whether a past member should become an “honorary member” or not. Well, debating not so much as making unanimous decisions that the lady in question should be an honorary member without a doubt (they often will pose questions only to come to a unanimous positive decision regardless—above anything, these women are agreeable). Regardless, what is an honorary member? Does she attend meetings when she wants to? Does she contribute to the Club? Or is this simply a title, nothing else? I hope to find out more about what being an honorary member entails; maybe the Constitution says something about it.

In the mean time, I can’t wait to see who resigns next. This is better than reality TV.