How women-led Mendocino Study Club grew from a desire for higher education

IN A TIME WITHOUT the internet or college courses available to everyone, a group of Mendocino women met to further their education. They would go on to make a wider impact than they could have expected or planned.

On October 30, 1908, Stella West organized a meeting with Olive Brown, Grace Fisher, Emma Coombs, Nellie Murray, Laura Lammers and Edith Peirsol, a group that would become the Mendocino Study Club. Their purpose was for “the highest intellectual and spiritual development of its members through avenues of study or works that seemed profitable.” As women gained more autonomy during the Progressive Era, women’s clubs grew in popularity nationwide.