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McWhirter, Mrs. F.T. mss., 1873-1974

Papers of Luella Frances (Smith) McWhirter at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Summary Information

Repository
Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Lilly Library
Indiana University
1200 E. Seventh St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5500
Phone: 812-855-2452
Fax: 812-855-3143
Email: liblilly@indiana.edu

Creator
McWhirter, F. T., Mrs. (Felix Tony), 1859-1952.

Title
McWhirter, Mrs. F.T. mss., 1873-1974

Collection No.
LMC 2183

Extent
2,315 items

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
The McWhirter, Mrs. F.T. mss., 1840-1979, are papers of Luella Frances (Smith) McWhirter (Mrs. Felix Tony McWhirter), 1859-1952, clubwoman.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

Career:

October 1, 1859 Born at Perrysville, Vermillion County, Indiana
Undated Daughter of the Reverend Hezekiah Smith and Susan Davis (Marsters) Smith
Undated Educated at East Tennessee Wesleyan College, Athens, Tennessee, and DePauw University
November 18, 1878 Married Felix Tony McWhirter
Undated Following marriage resided at Athens, Tennessee and Greencastle, Indiana, where Mr. McWhirter was member of the English Department of DePauw University
1888 Moved to Indianapolis
1893-1896 Indiana W.C.T.U. treasurer
1896-1900 Indiana W.C.T.U. president
1927-1937 and 1940 Indiana W.C.T.U. trustee
1940-1952 Indiana W.C.T.U. honorary president
1897-1913 and 1919-1945 Editor, The Message, official paper of the Indiana W.C.T.U.
1900-1936 Director, Peoples' State Bank of Indianapolis
1907-1909 President, Woman's Research Club
1908 Appointed to represent Indiana in Congress of Mothers, Washington, D.C.
1911 President, seventh [Indiana] Federation of Clubs
1911-1913 Indiana Federation of Clubs, president
1938-1952 Indiana Federation of Clubs, honorary president
1924-1927 Indiana Federation of Clubs, chairman, American Home Department
1916-1918 Indiana Federation of Clubs, organizer, War Victory Commission
1911 One of organizers, Woman's Franchise League of Indiana, vice-president
1912 Founder, Woman's Department Club of Indianapolis
1922-1926 President, Woman's Department Club of Indianapolis
1912 General Federation of Women's Clubs, president, State Presidents' Club
1916-1920 General Federation of Women's Clubs, director for Indiana
1916-1924 General Federation of Women's Clubs, transportation chairman
1925-1927 General Federation of Women's Clubs, chairman, War Victory Commission, chairman, Extension Department
1932-1938 General Federation of Women's Clubs, trustee
Undated General Federation of Women's Clubs, chairman, Federation Foundation Fund for six Midwest states
1917 President, Legislative Council of Indiana Women
1917 Vice-president, Indiana Dry Federation
1917-1945 Trustee, Robert W. Long College for Women (to be established)
1918-1920 Director, United States Good Roads
1922 Chairman, Indianapolis drive for building funds, Women's Union Christian Colleges in the Orient
1926-1937 president, Indiana Conference Deaconess Board, Methodist Episcopal Church
1931-1932 Member, President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership
1932 Chairman, Woman's Loyalty Committee for Indiana, United Protestant Church Loyalty Crusade
1932-1934 Indiana White Cross Guild, Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, president
1934-1952 Indiana White Cross Guild, Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, president emeritus
1936 Member, Jury of award on Model Homes of Indiana, Federal Housing Administration
1936-1938 National League of American Pen Women, charter member and vice-president for Indiana branch
1942 Regional mother, Golden Rule Foundation
December 10, 1952 Died

Trustee: Taylor University

Historian: May Wright Sewall State Council of Women

Member:
  • Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
  • Society of Indiana Pioneers
  • Epsilon Sigma Omicron
  • Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Association of Parliamentarians
  • Woman's Press Club of Indiana

Biographical accounts of Mrs. McWhirter appear also in Blanche Foster Boruff's Women of Indiana... (Indianapolis, [c1941]), p. 199 and Mildred Marshall Scouller's Women Who Man Our Clubs... (Philadelphia, 1934), pp. 146-148.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into the following series: I. Subjects; II. Scrapbooks; III. Printed; IV. Photographs; V. Miscellaneous.

Scope and Content Note

The Subjects series contains correspondence, addresses, constitutions and by-laws, minutes of meetings, membership lists, histories of organizations, yearbooks, programs, and publicity materials.

Note on Indexing Term - "Medicine": Of interest are Committee minutes and newspaper clippings of the Jacob E. Wile Memorial Nurses' Home of the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital, papers of the White Cross Guild of the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital and one folder of 1925-1939 material related to the Missionary Medical College for Women, Vellore, India.

Note on Indexing Term - "Religion": Represented in the collection is material pertaining to the Indiana School of Religion, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Methodist Episcopal Church and its various divisions such as the Women's Foreign Missionary Society and Women's Home Missionary Society.

Note on Indexing Term - "Women": Contains correspondence, diaries from 1894 to 1941, scrapbooks, and files of The Message, the official paper of the Indiana Women's Christian Temperance Union. Her papers document efforts of Indiana women to secure temperance reform and the ballot.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Acquired: 1953-1974
Usage Restrictions
Prior arrangements are not necessary before coming to the Library, however, patrons from out of town are encouraged to communicate with the Library in advance of their visits to ascertain availability of materials.

Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts, Lilly Library.

Preferred Citation
[Item], McWhirter, Mrs. F.T. mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Container List

Series: I. Subjects

Arranged alphabetically after biographical and genealogical information, and letters of condolence on the death of Mrs. McWhirter.

Correspondents include:

  • View All (102)
  • Albion (Fellows) Bacon
  • Bertha (Crosley) Ball
  • Arcada Campbell (Stark) Balz
  • Eliza A. (Cooper) Blaker
  • Ella Alexander Boole
  • Evangeline Cory Booth
  • Marie Caroline Brehm
  • William Lowe Bryan
  • Mary (Quick) Burnet
  • Amos William Butler
  • Nannie C. (Lucas) Canine
  • Eleanore Elliott Carroll
  • Grace (Julian) Clarke
  • Mamie (White) Colvin
  • Clara Ruth (Meid) Compton
  • Milton Conover
  • Sallie (Southall) Cotten
  • Lucy (Jennings) Dickinson
  • Nettie A. (Geiger) Downey
  • Saidie (Orr) Dunbar
  • Carrie Belle (Tyler) Fenton
  • Irving Fisher
  • Gerald Rudolph Ford
  • James Ford
  • William Fortune
  • James Putnam Goodrich
  • Anna Adams Gordon
  • John Matthew Gries
  • Lottie (Lyons) Grow
  • James Franklin Hanly
  • Rolla Neil Harger
  • Ida (Husted) Harper
  • Mary Garrett Hay
  • William Harrison Hays
  • Catharine (Spicer) Hitch
  • Herbert Hoover
  • Mary Hannah (Hanchett) Hunt
  • John Newell Hurty
  • Allan Jackson
  • Charles Bacon Jackson
  • Mrs. Haute (Tarkington) Jameson
  • Evelyn (Hageman) Jaqua
  • Rose Carolyn (Byers) Katterhenry
  • Helen Adams Keller
  • John Harvy Kellogg
  • Edward Joseph Kelly
  • Araminta (Cooper) Kern
  • Estella M. (Stiles) King
  • Helen (McCreadie) Knight
  • Robert Patterson Lamont
  • Roberta (Campbell) Lawson
  • Mary Ashton (Rice) Livermore
  • Katherine (Huber) Ludlow
  • Louis Leon Ludlow
  • Warren Terry McCray
  • Felix Tony McWhirter
  • Nancy Caroline (Tyree) McWhirter
  • Shailer Mathews
  • Mable (Warner) Millikan
  • James Atwell Mount
  • Harry Stewart New
  • Vida Newsom
  • R. Earl Peters
  • Grace (Smith) Pettijohn
  • Amelia Waring Platter
  • Anne (Carlisle) Porter
  • Bertha (Kelsey) Poston
  • Samuel Moffett Ralson
  • Anna Steese (Sausser) Richardson
  • Maude Ellen (Lucas) Rumpler
  • Elizabeth (Gunn) Seebirt
  • May (Wright) Sewall
  • Albert Shaw
  • Margaret (Espy) Vennedge Sheridan
  • Mary Belle (King) Sherman
  • Bettie M. Sipple
  • Hezekiah Smith
  • Mabel (Johnson) Smith
  • Rodney Smith
  • Susan Davis (Marsters) Smith
  • Elizabeth (Tipton) Stanley
  • Sara (Messing) Stern
  • Lillian M. N. (Ames) Stevens
  • Katharine Adelia (Lente) Stevenson
  • James Arthur Stuart
  • Milo H. Stuart
  • Thomas Taggart
  • Booth Tarkington
  • Susan (Davis) Taylor
  • Elizabeth Ione (McDonald) Thornburgh
  • M. Clifford Townsend
  • Phebe (Kerrick) Warner
  • James Eli Watson
  • William Allen White
  • Cora (Young) Wiles
  • Frances Elizabeth Willard
  • Vella Alberta Winner
  • Alice (Ames) Winter
  • Evans Woollen
  • William Watson Woollen
  • John Granville Wooley
  • Rose Emmet Young
Box 1 Biographical and genealogical, 1898-1970  

(4 folders)

Letters of condolence on the death of Mrs. McWhirter

(3 folders)

Autographs
Badges
Better Homes in America: 1924-1942  

(5 folders)

Better Homes in America: 1933,  publicity notebook
Better Homes in America: 1934-1942,  newspaper clippings
Citizens Committee of One Thousand
Contests
Daughters of the American Revolution

(2 folders)

Epsilon Sigma Omicron
Federation of Women's Boards of Foreign Missions of North America
Ford, Gerald Rudolph
General Federation of Women's Clubs: 1912-1929 
General Federation of Women's Clubs: 1930-1946 
General Federation of Women's Clubs: Newspaper clippings
General Federation of Women's Clubs: Federation Foundation fund
General Federation of Women's Clubs: 1912 State President's Club
General Federation of Women's Clubs: Committee on Federation Extension
Box 2 General Federation of Women's Clubs: Transportation Chairman, 1899-1924  

(2 folders)

General Federation of Women's Clubs: World War Service Board
Golden Rule Foundation
Golden Rule Foundation. American Mother's Committee
Hoosier Salon Patron's Association. Hoosier Program Bureau
Indiana Association of Parliamentarians
Indiana Audubon Society
Indiana Dry Federation
Indiana Federation of Clubs: 1909-1956  

(6 folders)

Indiana Federation of Clubs: Newspaper clippings
Indiana Federation of Clubs: Department of the American Home, 1923-1941  

(3 folders)

Indiana Federation of Clubs: Department of the American Home, newspaper clippings
Indiana Federation of Clubs: War Victory Commission, 1916-1918 
Indiana School of Religion
Indianapolis, IN, Methodist Hospital
Jacob E. Wile Memorial Nurses Home
White Cross Guild
White Cross Guild, newspaper clippings
Indianapolis Local Council of Women
International Council of Women
Invitations
Legislative Council of Indiana Women
McWhirter, Felix Tony: Condolences on death of
McWhirter, Felix Tony: To McWhirter, Mrs. Luella Frances (Smith)
McWhirter, Luella Frances (Smith). Addresses, 1896-1937  

(2 folders)

Box 3 McWhirter, Luella Frances (Smith): Diaries, 1884,   1927 

(2 volumes)

McWhirter, Luella Frances (Smith): Diary sheets, 1894-1941 
Methodist Episcopal Church: Indiana State Council
Methodist Episcopal Church: Women's Foreign Missionary Society
Methodist Episcopal Church: Women's Home Missionary Society. Deaconess Home. Indiana conference
Minerva Club, Indianapolis
Miscellaneous letters and papers: 1873-1961  

(7 folders)

Miscellaneous letters and papers: Printed material
Miscellaneous letters and papers: Newspaper clippings
Missions
National Congress of Parents and Teachers
National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs
National League of American Pen Women. Indiana branch
National Prohibition Emergency Committee
Near East relief
Peoples State Bank, Indianapolis
Perugia. Regia universita italiana per stranieri
Photographs. Obituaries and remembrances of Luella Frances (Smith) McWhirter, 1952 
President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, Washington, D.C., 1930-1933  

(2 folders)

Prohibition
Scoggins, Ethel (McWhirter).

Includes: Ethel McWhirter Scoggins: An Autobiography

Society of Indiana Pioneers
Southern Commercial Congress
United Protestant Church Loyalty Crusade
United States Good Roads Association, Inc.
U.S. Federal Housing Administration
Vellore, India. Missionary Medical College For Women
Box 4 Women's Christian Temperance Union: 1879-1950  

(11 folders)

Women's Christian Temperance Union: Publicity department
Woman's Department Club, Indianapolis: 1912-1954  

(5 folders)

Woman's Department Club, Indianapolis: American Home Club Institute, 1926 
Woman's Department Club, Indianapolis: Newspaper clippings
Woman's Department Club, Indianapolis: Yearbooks, 1912-1915,   1937-1956,  1963-1965,  1968-1971,  1972-1975,  1976-1979 

(32 volumes)

Box 5 Woman's National Committee for Law Enforcement
Woman's Press Club of Indiana
Woman's Research Club, Indianapolis, Ind.
Women's Suffrage
Women's Union Christian Colleges in the Orient
YWCA
Series: II. Scrapbooks
Box 5 Miscellaneous scrapbooks: 1875-1939;   1895-1919;  1916-1929;  1921-1932;  1930-1939 
Armenian pageant, war victory, dry federation, etc.

(2 folders)

Badges, 1893-1938 
Better homes, 1926-1935 
Henry Long College for Women, Oriental colleges, Hoosier Program Bureau and legislative acts, etc.

(2 folders)

Box 6 Indiana Federation of Clubs, 1909-1938  

(3 folders)

Letterheads
Woman's Department Club: 1912-1924  (early history); 1922-1925;  1925-1926;  1926-1937 
Women's suffrage, 1913-1920 
W.T.C.U.: 1888-1936;   1932-1933 
Undated bound scrapbook
Series: III. Printed
Box 6 The Message (W.T.C.U.), 1916, Jan.- 1939, Dec.  

(3 folders)

Box 7 The Message (W.T.C.U.), 1940-1949  

(3 folders)

Indiana Club Woman, 1927-1941,   1943-1947 
A 30-year History of the Indiana Federation of Clubs, 1938-1968 
Year Book of the Society of Indiana Pioneers, 1971 
History Indiana Federation of Clubs
Indianapolis Blue Book, 1925,   1929 

(2 volumes)

Famous Living Americans
Women of Indiana
Women's Press Club of Indiana. Newspaper clipping, 1913 
Box Oversize The Indianapolis Sunday Star, part five, November 21, 1937,  Vol. 35, No. 169.

Features articles on the Indiana federation of clubs

The Message--Supplement. Reprint of letter by Mrs. McWhirter, May 1899,  vol. III, no. 5.
The Organizer, [Vol. I?, no. 1?], undated and Vol. I, no. 2, November 1, 1882.  Semi-monthly publication of the Woman's National Christian Temperance Union
The Union Signal, Vol. XXIV, no. 10, March 10, 1898.  W.C.T.U. publication
Miscellaneous clippings
Series: IV. Photographs
Box 7 1840-1870.  Hezekiah Smith, Susan Smith, Smith family

(5 photographs)

1864-1876.  Luella Smith

(7 photographs)

1875-1910.  Felix McWhirter

(2 photographs)

1870s.  Luella Smith with others

(3 photographs)

1881.  Indiana Ashbury University
1888-1890.  Luella McWhirter Hutchins

(2 photographs)

1890.  Luella Smith McWhirter

(2 photographs)

1895.  W.C.T.U. Assembly, Bay City, MI

(2 photographs)

1896, 1900.  W.C.T.U. Assemblies, WA and IN

(2 photographs)

1897-1913.  Luella Smith McWhirter

(7 photographs)

1904-1912.  Luella Smith McWhirter

(8 photographs)

ca. 1912.  Luella Smith McWhirter with other club members

(2 folders)

1916-1919.  W.C.T.U. and other banquets

(5 photographs)

1918-1972.  Peoples State Bank, Indianapolis, IN

(12 photographs)

1920.  State School for the Deaf luncheon
1923.  Luella Smith McWhirter and grandchildren
1924, 1931.  Woman's Department Club

(3 photographs)

1926.  W.C.T.U. members. American Mission College for Girls, Cairo, Egypt

(8 photographs)

1926-1927.  Mediterranean cruise, incl. Jerusalem, Algiers, Egypt

(7 photographs)

1928.  W.C.T.U. Lausanne, Switzerland

(5 photographs)

Undated. Steven Marsters

(2 photographs)

Undated. W.C.T.U. leaders and members

(5 photographs)

Undated. Miscellaneous

(3 photographs)

McWhirter, Luella Smith

Glass transparency

Marsters, Rev. Stephen, Jr.

Tintype

Smith, Rev. and Mrs. Hezekiah & Luella

Tintype

Smith, Captain Mark

Tintype

Smith, Peter

Tintype

Box Oversize 1918.  National W.C.T.U. convention, dinner in Riley Room of Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis
1920.  Mrs. McWhirter at the State House
1920.  Group photograph at State House
1920.  Indiana Women at Chautauqua, New York
1927.  Biannual conference of the General Federation of Women Clubs held at Armory, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 31 to June 4, 1927
ca. 1930.  Indiana convention W.C.T.U., Oct. 7-10 at Trinity M.E. Church, Elkhart, Indiana
1932.  Indiana Federation of Clubs, Riley Room, Claypool Hotel, Nov. 1-3
1933, Jan. 11.  White House reception by President Hoover, General Federation of Women's Clubs
Series: V. Miscellaneous
Box 7 Presentation trowel from Indiana Industrial School, April 8, 1898 
Box Oversize Pi Gamma Mu. Certificate, Mar. 15, 1929;  enrollment card, undated
Daughters of the American Revolution. Certificate, Mar. 7, 1911 
Broadside. To "Club Sisters" from Mrs. McWhirter, Indiana Federation of Clubs, War Victory Commission. Concerning furlough houses during WWI
Poster: "The Great Day!...at Bethany Park, Monday, July 22, 1906."  Featured speakers: Mrs. McWhirter, A.L. Crim (candidate for Secretary of State) and Professor J.E. Hawes (evangelist)
Poster: "An Up-To-Date 4th of July Picnic." Undated. Featured speakers: Mrs. McWhirter and Rev. E.G. Shouse of Kokomo
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