Description
Responding to the plight of women in her day, Mary Dana Hicks, an art teacher in the Syracuse City Schools, attended a woman’s congress in 1785. Miss Hicks and her young art students were impressed by the speeches of such leading feminist as Mary Livermore, Mary Redfield Baggg, and Julia Ward Howe. “Most impressive was the appeal for women to organize club groups and pursue whatever study 06759r cause they considered important. “shortly after a group of nine young high school girls meed in October. 1875 and formed a sketching club. The Portfolio Club, as it was called, was said to be the first women’s club in Syracuse and one of the first in the nation. Although it was called the Portfolio club because of the original study of art, it became more of a general interest club.
