Bridget Graffort Club – MS045

Provenance: Placed on deposit by the Bridget Graffort Club in 1992

Citation: Bridget Graffort Club (MS045), Manuscript Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum

Access: No restrictions

Scope and Content

The Bridget Graffort Club Collection consists of scrapbooks including 3 v. relating to the State of New Hampshire, minutes, membership records, account books, Helen E. Curtis Flower Fund account book (1940-1978), printed booklets with by-laws, miscellaneous clippings, certificates, programs, photographs, and other records.

Historical Note

The Bridget Graffort Club is a women’s social club, established in 1895 with the purpose of “the general improvement of its members in literature, art, science, and the vital interests of the day.” The club is named from Bridget Graffort who gave the city of Portsmouth land to build its first school and to lay out the Daniel Street area. The club celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 1995.

Box List

Box 1

Board Meeting Minutes record books: 1895-1903, 1913-1917, 1923-1929, 1929-1938, 1938-1946, 1947-1960, 1960-1969, 1969-1974, 1970-1981 (box of unbound meeting minutes)

Membership Roster book, 1895-1941

Membership Dues record books, 1895-1901, 1903-1916, 1959-1963

Box 2

Account Books: 1895-1911, 1911-1926, 1940-1961, 1955-1959

Helen E. Curtis Flower Fund account book, 1940-1978

Printed booklets of Graffort Club by-laws, 1895?-1978

Miscellaneous clippings, certificates, programs, Granite Monthly issues with Graffort Club articles, scripts of plays, lists of talks to clubs, photographs, etc.

Large Scrapbooks (not in boxes)

1929-1941 (one per year)

1943-1944

1944-1945

1949-1959 (one per year)

1965-1966

1966

1967-1968

1970-1971

1971-1972

1972-1973

1974-1977

1973-1982

“New Hampshire Scrapbooks” (not about Graffort Club), 1940 3 volumes