Monday Morning Reading Class, May 1902 (Photo by George Glessner)
I began my
summer project on Frances Glessner’s Monday Morning Reading Class with little
idea of what I would uncover. As I looked more and more into the class, I was
struck by the similarities between this group of women and my college sorority.
As a sorority girl who loves everything about sorority life from the sisterhood
to rituals to formals, I think of the organization that brought me and my
sisters together quite often. As such, while reading about the Monday Morning Reading
Class through my collections project, I was struck by the similarities between
this class and my sorority.
Mrs. Glessner had
the first meeting of her Monday Morning Reading Classes in November of 1894
with the goal of gathering young married women from the South Side of Chicago together,
including the wives of the professors of the newly opened University of
Chicago. Mrs. Glessner hosted a meeting every week while she was in town,
typically November through May. The class ran for two hours and involved a
reading from a book (provided by a paid professional reader) or a lecture,
followed by a performance from a visiting musician and lunch the first Monday
of each month. It was a popular social event that was by invitation only; Mrs.
Glessner created a roster of members every season that included around 90
names. The Monday Morning Reading Classes continued until Mrs. Glessner’s
declining health required that the class be disbanded 1930.
Chi Omega - Tau Mu Pledge Class, 2016
It’s plain to see
the similarities between the class and my sorority at first. Sororities are women-only
groups, just like the Reading Class. There’s a special sacredness to women-only
spaces where we don’t have to worry about the impression we make and can form
bonds with those around us. Women who wouldn’t otherwise meet become close
friends. It’s also a relief to have a gathering where men may be invited but
are not allowed to invite themselves. In a sorority, a male visitor is
permitted to speak and must leave directly afterwards. In the Reading Class, a
male visitor was held strictly to their role as lecturer or musician, leaving
swiftly after completing his task.
There are other small
details of the Monday Morning Reading Class that match closely to sorority
life. The members paid dues and went to weekly meetings, at which attendees
were expected to dress a certain way, much like a sorority chapter. The class
operated during the Glessners’ yearly Chicago
The roster of
Monday Morning Reading Class members changes slightly from season to season, as
some members leave and others are selected. While there isn’t any record of how
Mrs. Glessner selected the new members, one can assume that the names were
given to her by members and friends of the class, just like sorority
recommendations for recruitment. Although in this aspect, I must say that the
class seems to be more exclusive than my sorority was during our recruitment
process.
The small
details that I found to be the most intriguing were descriptions of rituals. The
Reading Class went out with a bang at the end of every season. Much like a
sorority ends with a formal, the class concluded with a luncheon for all
members complete with gifts and more flowers than Mrs. Glessner could handle. However,
there were several journal entries by Mrs. Glessner describing elaborate
rituals.
On January 13, 19 01
I
gave some tapers to some of the ladies who lighted them at the library
fire—they were passed from one to the other until every one had touched them.
Then they were carried out in procession to the dining room where the new lamp
was lighted. The lamp stood in the centre of the dining table with a wreath of
green ferns and red carnations around it. We all applauded the lighting.
There were also
extra parties that hinted at some ritual aspects, such as the one described in
Mrs. Glessner’s journal, held on April 25, 1904:
The day was rainy but there were sixty of
the ladies at the party. Mrs. Stein stood in the hall watching for us and as
soon as we stepped out of the elevator disappeared telling the ladies we had
arrived. We left our cloaks in the dressing room and went in to the Fortnightly
assembly room where the ladies stood in a circle at the door, Mrs. Kennedy and
Miss Trimingham being without hats. The rooms were most beautifully decorated
with flowers which had been sent by the ladies. The mantel was trimmed with
pink snapdragons. The rest of the room seemed done with yellow and white
flowers and green palms. Two large baskets of daisies, violets, hydrangeas and
white lilacs stood on the rostrum and came from the University ladies. A large
box of yellow jonquils came from the Hibbard sisters. The dining room had tulips
all around the wainscoting and the table decoration was made in a pyramid of
all sorts of spring flowers and was very beautiful. After the greetings were
over twelve members of the orchestra came and played a beautiful program. Mrs.
Thomas read her paper on the musician’s life and temperament. Then Kramer
played, the musicians played again and after that a very pleasant tea was
served. It was all most beautiful, the spirit of affection and whole tone was
especially charming. I came home quite tired and headachy but never enjoyed a
more beautiful afternoon in my life.
On November 20, 19 04November 16, 19 13
Rooms were
decorated in an elaborate and specific way; the description of greetings was
vague and may be more ceremonial than a casual hello. This is all conjecture of
course, but the combination of several parties with specific details about
actions and decorations leads me to believe that these were more like
ceremonies. The repeated ceremonies, such as the memorial services and the
end-of-year celebrations, could be considered rituals.
Given its many
sorority-like characteristics, Mrs. Glessner’s Monday Morning Reading Class was
a proto-sorority. If the Glessners had not purposefully disbanded the group due
to Mrs. Glessner’s illness, I believe that the class would have gone on for
much longer. Maybe they would have eventually picked out a couple of Greek
letters in order to abbreviate such a long title.
--
Our guest author is Genevieve Leach, an Art History and Archaeology major at Washington University St. Louis Glessner House Museum
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