Founded in 1912, the Coco Plum Woman's Club is one of the oldest community service organizations in Dade County and a long-standing member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), and this collection documents their commitment over the past century to making improvements and enriching local neighborhoods through vigorous fundraising and other various projects, such as implementing a library that remained open for 56 years and aiding war efforts during World War I and World War II . Their clubhouse on Sunset Road is now a government-designated historical landmark in order to preserve the rich history of the club and to honor their dedication to improving the community at large. Contents within the collection include newspaper clippings, photographs, legal documents, ephemera, scrapbooks, and other miscellaneous documents pertaining to the club's activities since its inception.
The Cutler Ridge Woman’s Club records document the club’s founding and history, in addition to its civic, community, and social activities from 1956-2010. The records include minutes for 1956-2008; annual reports for 1956-2005; club histories for 1956-2010; financial records for 1956-2009; charter and by-laws; newsletters; yearbooks; and guest books, as well as clippings, certificates, letters, and other documentation relating to club activities. Also included is one folder of materials relating to the club’s predecessor, the Welcome Wagon Club. Oversize materials include proclamations and a map of Cutler Ridge used for a street light campaign in 1970.
The Ethel E. Murrell Papers document the activities of the National Woman's Party (NWP) under her leadership from 1952-53. The files include correspondence, newsletters and other materials with other women's organizations including the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the World Woman's Party, the American Woman's Foundation, and the American Woman's Council. The papers document the cooperative efforts of these groups in working for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, including articles written from 1938 to 1953 publicizing the Amendment.
Charters, minutes, speeches, press releases, resolutions, and correspondence dated 1946-53 detail Murrell's efforts as a lawyer, writer and political organizer. The files also highlight NWP attempts to promote its agenda. The papers are significant as a record of activity during the 1940's and 1950's, years considered by many as a period of decline between the two larger feminist movements of the early twentieth century and the 1960's. The records also include references to cold war anticommunism. One letter of resignation, for example, dated June 17, 1953 expressed a sentiment characteristic of several members: "...I wondered...if the 'pinkos' had not taken over. I certainly do not want to be connected with any organization that does not stand for good Americanism."
