Thursday at Ten.
Carrie Jacobs Bond’s Annotated Copy
Signed by Dozens of Conference Club Members
Bro, Margueritte Harmon. Thursday at Ten. Chicago…: Willett, Clark and Company, 1942.
8vo.; paper clip rust remnants on pages 38-41; green cloth; pictorially stamped in blind; spine stamped in brown; dust-jacket; internal tape repair; light wear to extremities. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition this history of the Conference Club of Chicago; with ten black and white photographs and a black and white frontispiece portrait of the President of the Conference of Club Presidents and Program Chairmen, Myrtle Dean Clark.
Carrie Jacobs Bond’s annotated copy (Bond was the first female composer of popular songs). Over the course of two readings—one with pen in hand, one with pencil—Bond has filled the margins of the chapter devoted to her, with notations correcting false statements and simplifying language. With additional pencil marginal lines in the preceding two chapters: “Highlights,” and “—and Headlights.”
Signed – in pencil and in various colored inks – on the first endpaper by 41 members of the “unique” women’s organization, the Conference of Club Presidents and Program Chairmen, including the author, twice. The first signature on the list reads: Myrtle Dean Clark/May 23, 1942. In her Introduction, Bro defines Clark as “the Conference’s president and guiding spirit.” Clark headed the organization for 25 years; for this reason, Bro explains, the book is just as much about her as it is about the Conference. The Board members have supported this fact; Bro recounts in the Introduction that they claim, “The Conference is Mrs. Clark.”
Other notable signatures include: Edith Harrison, children’s book author; Gladys Dick, a physician who, along with her husband, is credited for isolating the bacteria that causes scarlet fever; Maud Slye, the “American Madame Curie,” who made significant advances in cancer research; Catherine Waugh McCullough, the suffragist and lawyer; and Myrtle Walgreen, wife of the pharmacy founder Charles Walgreen. Thirty-two pages in the rear of the book list Conference Membership, including Officers and Board of Directors.
The dust-jacket prints a synopsis of the book on the inner flaps; the lower flap concludes with a brief review: “Margueritte Harmon Bro tells the story of Mrs. Clark and the Conference in a style that scintillates and yet is aware of the profundities…. Altogether this book is a delight to read and an inspiring piece of the history of democracy. It was written with women in mind, but men are welcome to read it, and doubtless will – to their pleasure and profit.” There are also reviews printed on the lower cover of the book, including one by Preston Bradley, who praises: “The far-reaching influence of Mrs. Clark’s inspiration, her encouragement, her ability to create opportunity for others, will now be multiplied. It will help strengthen the foundation of every life and assist in preserving the ideals necessary to heal the wounds of this stricken world.” Bradley, of course, is referring to a world at war.
The book is organized into 23 chapters, with headings that include: “Speaking Directly,” “Audition, Please,” “The Show is On,” “Common Sense and Policies,” “Dickering with the Dames,” and “The Art of Being Casual.”
Bro is lively and lighthearted throughout the book, but she does not compromise substance for style; she precisely describes the goals of the club and its evolution. Bro begins chapter two, “Speaking Directly,” with a humorous explanation of the Conference and its purpose:
The Conference of Club Presidents and Program Chairmen is an organization made up of club presidents and program chairmen. Just like that. No hiding behind a totem animal or mythical symbol. These presidents and program chairmen of the Conference come from the assorted women’s clubs of the Greater Chicago area, meaning adjacent sections of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ill
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