For Service and Sociability
(As you read, click on the links to see related artifacts from the
exhibit.
You can also click on some in the photo of the display case.)
 Many people join organizations as a way of contributing to their
communities or helping others. Twentieth-century service clubs such as the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.),
Jaycees,
Kiwanis,
Lions,
Rotary and
Toastmasters
aid their communities with money raised by holding chicken barbecues and
other fund raisers. Their national organizations and local chapters have assisted people
who have disabilities, provided
college scholarships, helped small businesses and nonprofit
organizations, and challenged their members to develop new leadership
skills.
Some of the most popular organizations in late-19th-century
America were fraternal orders including the
Free Masons,
Knights Templar
and The Patrons of Husbandry (commonly known as the Grange).
 Fraternal orders were often
built around the backgrounds or beliefs of members. Some, such as the
Royal Arcanum,
offered insurance as well as sociability. Most initially admitted only male members,
but as times
changed, developed auxiliaries for women or included female members.
Women also formed organizations around
their interests. Two of the many groups represented in the exhibit are the
AAUW
(American Association of University Women), organized for female college
graduates in 1921, and the
Michigan Federation of Women's Clubs,
formed in 1895.
(Read about Social
and Civic Organizations in Lansing in the special exhibit Lansing
1898.)
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