Restoration of the Woman's Club of Albany's front porch and installation of an accessibility ramp were completed in 2022, but the iconic pillars were in great need of restoration. The Club launched a #GivingTuesday appeal and raised $3,450. A generous grant from the Bender Family Foundation allowed the club to complete repair of all 14 pillars on the front and side porches in 2023.
To preserve the history of the club we are dedicating each pillar to represent a defining moment, person or WCA initiative. Members and the public will be able to walk the building and learn about this important women’s history. The club regularly hosts open houses and tours showcasing the house, its history and the service of the WCA in the Capital Region over the years.
The Pillars Project is dynamic. As archival research into the club's history since its founding in 1910 continues, and as the club fulfills its motto "For the Future," the web pages may be updated with additional documentation. For now, there are 10 pillars, leaving room for growth.
Before
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After
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Archives at UAlbany
In 2012, the WCA donated more than 40 boxes of materials to the M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives at the University Libraries at the University at Albany, and an additional six cubic feet of records in 2023. Read more about the archives here. Visit the Department's website to view our archives here.
The 10 Pillars of the WCA
1. Ella Blair, founder and first president
4. Eleanor Roosevelt Comes to Tea
5. Cultural Enrichment Classes
10. Our Members' Community Service
*The WCA Archives committee notes this error in the timeline document below, prepared and published by a local newspaper. In June 1910, Ella Blair invited 22 women to her home for the purpose of establishing a new Woman's Club. Twenty attended (two were unable to attend due to illness). All 22 became charter members.
WCA Timeline 1910-1919 *
| WCA Timeline 1922-2001
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