Interlude

Letter from Woman’s Era, Conference Souvenir Number, Vol. 2, No. 5

August 1895

SALEM, July 2, 1895.

The Woman's Progressive Club of Salem was formed June 12, '95. The purpose of this club is to broaden and strengthen the moral, social, intellectual and religious life of its members, and through them to make itself a power for good, not only in their home, but abroad in other fields; also to help those who have not had the advantages of home influence and education, thereby assigning them to a higher plan of living.

As our club is of very recent formation, the report is necessarily brief, but as the days and months pass by we shall be enabled to accomplish some good. Our club consists of 17 members, who are wide awake, enthusiastic, and interested in helping to solve the various problems of our day and time.

ANNIE L. BLANCHARD, PRES

ANNA M. BARBADOES, SEC.

The flyleaf of Evidences of Progress among Colored People, by G. F. Richings (Philadelphia: Ferguson, 1904), along with an interior page. Such works were designed to circulate biographies and photographic portraits of exemplary blacks among black and white publics. This copy, as the flyleaf reveals, was reserved for Pauline Hopkins's personal use at the Colored American offices.

Courtesy of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Hollings Library, University of South Carolina.