Eighty years old — but it’s not your great-grandmother’s Morristown Junior League.

By Peggy Carroll

In February, 1936, a group of 10 young women met in a small room over the Hipson Dairy Farm. They were members of what was called the Morristown Junior Aid League, formed eight years before under the auspices of the Junior League of New York.

Its object: “To foster interest in the social, economic, educational, civic and cultural conditions of the community and to make its volunteer services efficient.”

On that wintry night, in the midst of the Great Depression, the small group was making a transition, becoming the 40th affiliate of the national Junior League.

The first president of the new group was a woman named Mrs. E. Ward Olney Jr. Like most married women of the era, her own first name never was mentioned.

Reports of the affiliate formation called its members “girls.”

Not terribly feminist, in modern terms. But the group was very much about the power of women. The new affiliate was following the footsteps of a young New York heiress who had enlisted her fellow debutantes to become actively involved in improving the lives of the people who shared their city.

For the new affiliate, the first mission was to give its members the training they needed to do their job.

It has been doing that for eight decades.

Over the past 80 years, it has touched – in large ways and small – the services, the agencies and the institutions that are part of the community’s life: From the Morristown Neighborhood House to Morris Arts, from Fosterfields and Speedwell Village, to Morristown Medical Center and the Morris Museum.

This year, as it celebrates eight decades of service, the League is looking at its past and its achievements, its present challenges and its future.

Each generation has its own needs, said Heather Bochner, who took office as League president last month. And the lives of members have changed dramatically since that first meeting.

So the League too is changing, bringing its heritage of volunteerism into the second decade of the 21st century.

IN THE BEGINNING

The national Junior League movement began in 1901 with a 19-year-old Barnard College student named Mary Harriman.

Mary was a person today’s college students would call “privileged.” Her father was Edward Harriman, a financier and railroad executive. And she was a debutante.

But Mary was interested in more than tea parties and tea dances of the times. She lived in a city undergoing spectacular change. Thousands of immigrants were arriving every day at Ellis Island. Many lived in tenements in neighborhoods crowded far beyond capacity.

She wanted to do more than the limited volunteer work then open to women of her status.

In her friends, Mary saw an untapped resource, and she seized the opportunity to revolutionize the experience of young women being introduced to society.

She believed that the 85 young women making their debut that year “had the opportunity and the responsibility of making an important contribution to the New York City community . . . [to] do what we could do to improve conditions, and that we should head the way.”

With the debutante system already in place, she saw a continuing crop of volunteers who, “with organized and combined effort,” could “put to good use the opportunities afforded them by the advantages of time and means.”

She was motivated by the work of Jane Addams and the settlement houses that were helping immigrants as they struggled to find a place in the country.

In no time, she had enlisted 80 young women not only to raise money, but to work hands-on as volunteers. They called the organization the Junior League (“junior’ because of the age of the members) for the Promotion of the Settlement Movement.

It has grown into an international movement, composed of 291 autonomous affiliates in four countries.

A MIXED LEGACY

If the Harriman debutantes showed that women, even the younger set, could make a difference, they also created a problem with image.

Time and again, recent stories on the Junior League have begun with a paragraph that says, in effect, “they aren’t what you think.” The stereotype puts them in white gloves, black pumps and pearls. It’s been a hard picture to erase.

Even a feature in the New York Times, headed “pearls not required,” was, unfortunately, illustrated by a photo of five young women, dressed in formal wear, each with a string of pearls.

But even from the first years, the image did not fit the reality. Consider this  “membership list” of Junior Leaguers:

 

• First Ladies: In 1903, Eleanor Roosevelt, then a shy young woman, joined the League and volunteered at a settlement house. Her husband later said that she introduced him to the problems of poverty and need that helped shape the agenda of his administration.
  Nancy Reagan, Barbara and Laura Bush, and Betty Ford would follow.
• Olympic tennis star Helen Wills.
• Actresses Shirley Temple Black, Katharine Hepburn and Margaret Hamilton (famed as the Wicked Witch of the West).
• “Art of French Cooking” chef Julia Child.
• Pulitzer prize-winning author Eudora Welty.
• Jurist Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman named to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
• Oveta Culp Hobby, first director of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

And today, that century-old image is even less fitting.

This is not your great-grandmother’s Junior League.

Long gone are the days when the daughters of the well-to-do and socially prominent were invited to join. Today, the League is open to any young woman.

“The only requirements,” said Madi Grob, immediate past president, “ is that you must be 21 and interested in volunteering.” She stopped and thought a minute. “And that’s it.”

Twenty-six year-old Kate Calabro, who joined the League three years ago, also had another reason: She was looking for a way to make new friends.

“After you leave college and the classroom,” she said, “it is difficult to meet people.”

Another member has become one of her closest friends. And she has enjoyed the social activities the League also offers for members.

She also found an unexpected benefit. Older members with professional experience provided mentoring for her in her career as a consultant for nonprofits. And she has honed her leadership skills.

“I have done things I would not normally have done,” she said. “I learned to manage projects that affect a larger audience than I was used to, work with many people, and plan things that appeal to people with different needs.”

Calabro is an active member – one of three levels of membership the League offers.

The first level is the first year, when new members receive training in volunteer work, learning how to run a volunteer project, from start to finish.

The next step is active membership, and the third is sustaining membership, for those aged 40 and over, who have been active members for five years. The Morristown League has 75 active members (including 17 new members) and 220 sustaining members.

The training and experience pays off for the community, Grob said. Members are highly valued by other not-for-profit organizations and often are recruited to serve in leadership roles

While they share with their predecessors the commitment to the community, today’s members live markedly different lives. Like their contemporaries, their days are hyper-busy, with crowded schedules and filled appointment books.

“Most of our members are working in some capacity outside of the home,” Bochner said. “And many are working mothers.”

Bochner is a prime example. She has four children, aged 2 (twins!) to 8, and works full-time in communications and public relations. She has also served in every League office, making time in her life for the volunteer work she considers an important part of her life.

“Volunteering gives me back more than I am able to give to it,” she said. “I get a lot of energy from being part of the League; it is part of who I am. It is important to me to contribute, to give back, to the community where I am raising my children.”

EIGHTY YEARS–AND COUNTING

If you have ever been to the Neighborhood House; walked on Patriot’s Path; visited Speedwell Village, Macculloch Hall, Fosterfields or the Morris Museum; attended a program of Morris Arts; had a child admitted to Morristown Medical Center; supported the Jersey Battered Women’s Shelter, Daytop, or the Interfaith Food Pantry … the Junior League has been there before you.

Working with dozens of community partners, it has helped initiate projects large and small. Members give short-term aid through “helping hand” programs, and manage long-term projects as well. Women and children have been their primary focus since the 1990s.

Some highlights, gleaned from eight decades:

The Neighborhood House: Like the League’s founders, the Morristown affiliate devoted much time and attention to the settlement house movement. From its beginnings in 1936, the local League worked for and with the Neighborhood House. For its contributions, the League was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Citation in 1951, and the Morris County Urban League Award in 1955.

The Larks: A singing group, begun in 1963, and professionally coached by a choir director from the New Jersey Opera Theater, it has performed in nursing homes, hospitals, special schools — anywhere where music could bring pleasure to a special audience. They wore, according to accounts, “crisp aqua outfits accented with bright scarves.”

The Children’s Theater Group: Established in 1936, this was among the first, and longest running, projects in the League’s history. The group traveled to schools throughout the area,
giving children what often was their first taste of live theater.

It was an extremely hands-on undertaking.

June Meehan, who was the newest volunteer on the 1985 production of Good Grief, A Griffin, said the theater committee had worked together for years.

“They could design a set, paint the scenery, and sew the costumes as well as sing and dance,” she said. “They had a lot of fun, but were extremely focused on producing a fine production for the children in our area. They poured their heart and souls into each production.”

Though often whimsical, each production embedded a life lesson. The League presented its first show at the Morris Museum – tickets were $2.50 – and then took it on the road to elementary schools. Every year, they reached approximately 6,000 children.

Community Directories: In 1963, the League joined with the Community Chest (later, it became the United Way) to compile a directory of community services. In 1971, it researched and published, in cooperation with the United Way, an updated listing of health, welfare and specialized education and recreational services available to county residents.

Nearly New Shop: In 1961, the League opened a resale/consignment shop in rented quarters on South Street. The shop was an immediate success and soon outgrew its quarters.

So the League bought a 60-year-old, two-story, two-family house at 7 King St. It was a major move. Members had to obtain a mortgage (paid off in 1984). And the necessary renovations were plagued with difficulties.

“Steam escaping from the furnace damaged the entire outside paint,” Mrs. John Churchill, then League president, told reporters. “Early in the summer, we found the old retaining wall was inadequate. If we didn’t build a new one, the whole municipal parking lot might slide into the back of the Nearly New Shop. “

The furnishings presented no problem: There were none. “We had an open house to show our husbands that there was nothing to sit upon,” another member said. “We hoped they’d open their hearts and wallets, but we had so many guests that I’m afraid they didn’t even notice.”

They managed anyway.

In its new surroundings, the Nearly New Shop continued to flourish as a major fund-raiser for the League. By the time of its move, the shop already had raised $62,000 that was funneled back to the League’s community projects. These causes include:

Domestic Violence: In 1979, the League sponsored a public meeting on violence and helped fund the Jersey Battered Women’s Service, donating almost $8,500 in match money that enabled it to secure a federal grant and open its shelter. The League has continued its support through the years. One of its latest ventures: Refurbishing the shelter’s room for teens.

Scholarships: Since 1986, the League has awarded scholarships totaling more than $200,500 to Morris and Somerset area students. The grants are presented annually to high school students and women returning to school.

Publications: League members researched and wrote materials for nonprofits. Among these: A Family Album, the story of the Macculloch/Miller Family, for the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum; and a Morris County Guide to Nursing Homes and Residential Health.

A Junior League-sponsored workshop on children’s nutrition

Historic Preservation: The League has supported renovation and protection of the historic Vail House, Speedwell Village, Macculloch Hall and Fosterfields.

Health Care Facilities: The League also administered the preparation of an historic structure report on the Willows at Fosterfields.

Health Care: An abundance of projects – from buying isolettes and supporting pediatrics activities  at Morristown Medical Center, to sponsorship of a bone marrow testing program, a support group for chemotherapy patients and a woman’s cancer screening program.

Child Care: The League supports summer camps for developmentally disabled, screening for learning disabilities, parenting education for high school students, day care, hospital child life program.

Healthy Living: The League partners with the  Interfaith Food Pantry to offer “Children Making Healthy Choices,” to address childhood obesity and teach nutrition. Kids learn to prepare two or three healthy, economical and easy recipes. They share the meal, family style, then take home the leftovers and the recipes.

For the second year, in conjunction with the Morris School District, the League hosted “Run It,” a family run and fitness day of active play and educational activities, fostering healthy choices among children, teens and young adults.

And for itself: A Matter of Taste, a Junior League cook-book first published in 1989 (and later reprinted), has proven a successful fund-raiser.

TODAY–AND TOMORROW

As times change and lifestyles change, so does the League.

Small things: With so many members working, meetings  now are held in the evening rather than the afternoon.

Large changes: After 53 years, the once very popular Nearly New Shop closed its doors last year – a victim of changes in the consignment store model and difficulties in staffing.

Without the need for the space it occupied, the League has put the building on King Street on the market.

But the League continues to raise money for its projects. “Lunch with the Authors,” which brings in best-selling writers for talks and book-signings, remains a signature event.

And it continues to look at community needs. For the past two years, the League has been researching the status of teenagers.

“There are teens in Morris County who are homeless, teens who are working, teens who live alone or without other families than their own,” Grob said.

“And there are teens who don’t have adequate resources – clothing, food, school supplies – to be successful students. Teens who are parents and have children of their own.”

In the coming year, members will determine where they can help.

The League also will be seeking a new space for their headquarters. Members  currently are meeting at the Mayo Performing Arts Center.

And before they move out of their King Street building, their home for almost 50 years, they will clean out the archives in their attic.

“There is,” Bochner said, “a lot of history in there.”