WBAI: The First 75 Years

By Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia and David A. Hurst

A short history of the WBAI, as well as news clippings from the early 1900s. Biographies and photos of WBAI members.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Jun 1, 1992
• ISBN: 9781681625614

Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia

Paddy Ladd is a Lecturer and MSc co-ordinator at the Centre for Deaf Studies in the University of Bristol. He completed his PhD in Deaf Culture at Bristol University in 1998 and has written, edited and contributed to numerous publications in the field. Both his writings and his Deaf activism have received international recognition, and in 1998 he was awarded the Deaf Lifetime Achievement Award by the Federation of Deaf People, for activities which have extended the possibilities for Deaf communities both in the UK and worldwide.

Book preview

HISTORY OF THE WOMEN’S BAR ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS

In 1869, Chicago's courthouse was in a sorry state. Cows, goats and the good citizens of Chicago had trampled the grass in the courthouse square. The windows were filthy and the walls worn and defaced. The squalid condition of the courthouse did not seem to bother anyone - with the exception of Myra Bradwell. This remarkable woman had just established the Chicago Legal News, a weekly publication designed to provide up-to-date case law and legal information to lawyers and also to improve everything connected with the practice of law. Restoring the courthouse was part of her ambitious campaign. (See: The First Century by Herman Kogan) At a time when, in the whole of the United States there were no women lawyers, and women did not yet have the vote, what was her motivation?

Myra Bradwell was a schoolteacher from Vermont who married James B. Bradwell, a lawyer. She had begun to study law in her husband’s Chicago office, intending merely to assist him in his law practice. As her studies progressed, she decided that she would also become a licensed attorney. This quest was interrupted temporarily by the Civil War, during which Bradwell worked for passage of laws granting women fair property rights, the right to serve on juries and urging the admission of women to university law departments.

Bradwell also served as Secretary of the Illinois Women’s Suffrage Association, whose goal it was to ensure that Illinois become the first state to permit women to vote. Through all the turmoil, she steadfastly worked toward her goal of becoming an attorney.

In 1869, Bradwell passed the bar examination and was certified to the state supreme court for admission to the bar. Had this been permitted, she should have been one of the first two women lawyers in the United States. However, the Illinois State Supreme Court denied her application. Its reason was that her married condition constituted a disability which impaired her ability to keep a client’s confidence. That year, Iowa admitted Belle A. Mansfield, who became the first woman in America admitted to the bar.

Bradwell immediately requested the Illinois Supreme Court to reconsider. The chief justice, in an opinion indicating general approval for women’s rights, harshly affirmed the original denial (55 Ill. 535). Not only would Bradwell’s admission to the bar be denied because she was a married woman, ruled the court, it would be denied because she was a woman. The court reasoned that women had not been known as attorneys at common law. Women might have a detrimental effect upon the administration of justice.

When the legislature gave the court the power of granting licenses to practice law, it was with not the slightest expectation that this privilege would be extended equally to men and women. Since God had designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and it belonged to men to make, plan and execute the laws, the court chose to not exercise its discretion to admit women.

Bradwell promptly filed a writ of error to the United States Supreme Court. It affirmed, ruling that admission to the bar was not a privilege belonging to citizens of the United States which individual states were prohibited from abridging. The Court noted that the laws of the Creator had placed limits on the functions of womanhood. There was one dissent.

Bradwell made no subsequent attempts to attain admission to the bar. She devoted her time to legal reform, her newspaper, women’s rights, working for the formation of what would eventually be The Chicago Bar Association and encouraging other aspiring female attorneys. However, on its own motion and four years before her death, in 1890, the Illinois Supreme Court granted her a law license, based on the application which she had made on August 2, 1969, 21 years before. Two years later, the United States Supreme Court admitted her. Although she never practiced law, Myra Bradwell was perhaps Illinois’ most outstanding attorney.

In June, 1870, the first woman in the U.S.A. graduated from law school. She was Ada Kepley from Effingham, Illinois. She attended the law department at Chicago University. In 1873 after her graduation, Chicago University and Northwestern University entered into an agreement to jointly manage the department and it became known as the Union College of Law. In 1891 it was formally integrated into Northwestern University. However, Illinois refused to permit women to enter the so called learned professions. Ada Kepley was not then allowed to practice law.

In 1870, while Bradwell’s request for admission to the Illinois bar was pending, a courageous judge in Effingham permitted Adah H. Kepley to practice in that court. He stated that although the Illinois Supreme Court had refused to license a woman, it was in another case, and he believed Kepley’s motion was proper and in accord with the spirit of the age.

In 1871, Alta Hulett, who had passed the bar examination at age 18 and studied law in a Rockford law office, applied for admission to the Illinois bar; she was refused. Hulett, assisted by Bradwell, Kepley and others who had also been refused admission to the bar, drafted a bill which provided that no person could be discriminated against in any employment, except the military, on account of sex. With the help and encouragement of Myra Bradwell and the Chicago Legal News, the bill passed in March of 1872. It was the first law in the United States prohibiting sex discrimination in employment.

On Hulett’s 19th birthday, June 4, 1873, Illinois admitted her as its first woman lawyer. (Tragically she died in 1877.) From 1875 through 1879, one woman was admitted to the bar each year. In 1880 and 1881, two women were admitted one of them, Adah Kepley. In 1882, one woman was admitted; in 1884 through 1887, two were admitted, each year. In 1888, one was admitted; and in 1889-90-91, three were admitted each year. In 1892, the number increased to five. From that time on, the number varied. One of those early admittees was Bessie (Helmer) Bradwell, Myra Bradwell’s daughter, an 1882 Northwestern University Law School (Union College) graduate.

In 1880 Helen Schuhard was appointed Master or Chancery in Union County, Illinois, despite a challenge that women could not legally hold the office. J. Ellen Foster was a defense attorney in the 1880’s who gained a new trial for her client, a woman facing execution. This enhanced her reputation as an attorney; she was also a temperance leader.

An early leader in the suffrage movement was Catherine Waugh McCulloch, an 1886 Northwestern School of Law graduate (then Union College of Law) who was admitted to the Illinois bar in November, 1866. She was also a noted club woman. The Equal Suffrage Association, under her leadership, held conventions throughout Illinois.

By 1890, boasted Kate Kane Rosse, a Chicago attorney, she had either prosecuted or defended every crime known to modern times except treason and piracy. In 1890 the Illinois Supreme Court granted Myra Bradwell a license, on its own motion, on her original application filed in 1869.

In 1891, Ellen Martin, a Chicago lawyer, noted the Town Charter of Lombard had omitted the word male in its voting ordinance. She demanded the right to vote. Shocked, the judges permitted it, and she produced 14 other women, who also voted.

In 1894 Florence Kelly graduated from Northwestern Law School. She went on to work in a child labor reform, through Hull House and as Chief Factory Inspector in Illinois. She left Illinois for New York in 1900.

In 1894, the first black woman was admitted to practice law in Illinois; her name was Ida Platt. When she was admitted, one of the Illinois Supreme Court justices commented: We have done today what we never did before - admitted a colored woman to the bar. Now it may truly be said that persons are admitted to the Illinois bar without regard to race, sex or color.

The first legal sorority in the United States was established in 1908 in Chicago by some of the Chicago-Kent College of Law’s female students. It flourished throughout the United States, especially in Washington, D.C., and had chapters abroad.

In 1913, the Illinois law was passed giving women partial suffrage: they gained the right to vote, but only in presidential and municipal elections. Illinois became the first state east of the Mississippi to grant woman suffrage in a presidential election. Women immediately ran for office. The campaign which attracted the greatest attention was that of Marion Drake, suffragist and attorney. She ran for alderman against Bathouse John Coughlin. Although she lost, 95,000 women did come out to vote.

Chicago Legal News—1900

Chicago Legal News—1901

Chicago Legal News—1902

'The jury of the future—One that might temper justice with mercy.'—Life Publishing, 1902.

'Studies in Expressions—When women are jurors.'—Collier’s Weekly, 1908. (Both courtesy Judge Ronald Olson, Circuit Court of Cook County, IL)

The Evanston Daily News, June 16, 1913

In June 16, 1913 the Evanston Daily News headlined: Suffrage demonstration was greatest in Evanston’s History, saying thousands gathered in Fountain Square Saturday night to take part in Jubilee . . . Mrs. McCulloch’s wit and clever comment on words of speakers kept the great crowd happy. The citizens turned out en masse to pay tribute to the victorious suffrage leaders and rejoice with them over their great victory of last week. The street was packed with thousands of men, women and children anxious to get a close glimpse of Mrs. McCulloch and other leaders.

In 1914, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI) was organized by nine women lawyers practicing in Chicago.

The early WBAI, like many other women’s organizations at that time, worked for a passage of the U.S. constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. In the years which followed, WBAI would mirror the progress of women lawyers throughout the state. Its activities were divided between the burning contemporary social and political issues and the practical need to help its members gain employment.

WBAI’s original charter was applied for by Alice C. Edgerton, Martha Elvert, Mary M. Epperson, Elizabeth L. Hoffman (Buchhalter), Eunice D. Martin, Ella Zoelzer, Mae L. Minock, Nettie Rothblum and Charlotte D. White, and the charter was issued June 23, 1914, Nettie Rothblum being the first president. Its purpose was to promolgate, promote, advance and protect the interests of women lawyers in the state of Illinois . . .

The plans for the organization were formulated at a meeting of the charter members in Lincoln Park. In the early days of the Association, its most active work was in connection with an auxiliary organization known as the Public Defenders League for Girls.

WBAI member, Alice McClanahan, admitted to Illinois practice in 1915, recalled in her book, Her Father’s Partner, the public’s negative attitude toward woman lawyers. Her father, by making it clear to clients she would be handling their cases as well as he, risked losing many clients, but he believed in women’s suffrage and the equal ability of women.

WBAI’s second president (1915-16) was Miss Nellie Carlin. She wrote, in 1934, "The women lawyers of to-day who share prestige of their brothers in civic and political affairs should not forget the early struggles - the antagonisms and ridicule heaped upon those who declared for equal suffrage . . . foremost in this struggle was Myra Bradwell, wife of the editor of the Legal News, who made a valiant fight for the right of women to practice law. Then came Catharine Waugh McCulloch and others, making their fight for equal suffrage. Great credit is due her and Grace Wilbur Trout for their untiring fight in this cause. Without the granting of this amendment to our Constitution, all progress for women in civic and political life would not now be enjoyed . . ."

(Editor’s Note: When the Nineteenth Amendment finally was passed, Illinois became the first state to ratify it, on June 10, 1919.)

Of course the pioneer women lawyers had to overcome the prejudice of the Bench and Bar, and were often termed with an indulgent though cynical smile: The lady lawyers. The great objection was that women should take up a criminal practice, and when a lawyer named Kate Kane undertook to practice criminal law and was forced to use the same tactics and language as her brother practitioners, their sense of propriety was shocked and a great cry was raised that this was what should be expected by a woman’s participation in the sacred practice of the Law. The usual salutations many years ago when a woman graduate announced that she intended to practice law was: Oh, you are going to be a lawyer like Kate Kane."

"All honor to Kate Kane, whom I did not know; but this much I do know, that she was one of the pioneer lawyers who brooked insult and ridicule from the unthinking crowd and who made possible, today, the presence of the woman lawyer on our Circuit, Municipal and Appellate Benches of the United States . . .

"Now that Equal Suffrage is an assured fact with no danger of the repeal of this amendment to our Constitution, there is great opportunity for the woman lawyer. She can make her influence felt for much good in a worthy cause or causes. There is still great need for the protection of women and children in our Courts . . .

From this nucleus of nine women the organization has now grown to a membership of well over two hundred women lawyers. Not many records are now available as to the earlier activities of the Association, as those women, little realizing the proportions to which their little organization would grow, were more interested in results accomplished than in leaving a history of their deeds. (WBAI 20th Anniversary Journal and Directory).

The Journal and Directory then highlighted WBAI’s history to that date, noting: (in part)

"Following Miss Carlin’s term as President, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch took over the destinies of the organization and served as its President for four successive, and we might add, successful, years . . . .

Mrs. McCulloch was most gracious during her terms of office in throwing her home open for annual picnics and outings, which occasions are treasured in the memories of all those attending.

(Editor’s Note: In 1917 Mrs. McCulloch was appointed Master in Chancery of the Superior Court where she served until 1925.)

The scarcity of women on the bench was blamed on the fact that women, not having the vote, were unable to garner political support. As the suffrage movement gained momentum, the view that women should be considered for Judgeships gained popularity among women and women’s organizations, and led to an increasing number of women on the bench, though mostly in divorce and children’s courts.

In 1917, Ada Cartwright was appointed assistant Attorney General of Illinois and reappointed in 1925.

In 1919, Matilda Fenberg became the first woman to attend Yale Law School. She graduated in 1922 and became a well known attorney in Chicago.

Succeeding Mrs. McCulloch’s regime, Esther Dunshee (Mrs. Bower) became President for the year 1920-1921. It was during this year, chiefly through the efforts of Miss Dunshee and Mrs. McCulloch, that a bill was for the first time introduced in the Illinois Legislature providing for service on juries by women.

(Editor’s Note: By the end of 1921, 20 state legislatures had granted women that right; Illinois was not among them.)

The annual banquet that year was a singular success, there being over 250 persons in attendance. (Editors note: This is the first mention of WBAI’s annual banquet, commenced in 1914. In 1932 it was changed to a dinner dance. In the 1940’s it became a Party for Judges, including dinner. In 1975 it became the annual Judicial Reception as it continues to this day).

"The President of the Association for the year 1921-22 was Charlotte D. White, one of the Founder members of the Association. The annual banquet, the eighth, was held on the same date as the first banquet given by the Association - Washington’s Birthday. This banquet was tendered to the Judges of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals . . . many outstanding lawyers and Judges also attending. The principal speaker was Mabel Walker Willebrandt, who was then Assistant Attorney General of the United States in charge of Prohibition enforcement. The Judges of the Circuit Court of Appeals made brief remarks, as well as the Presidents of the Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations. The Chicago Bar Association Chorus furnished its usual fund of comic melodies, and Miss Geraldine Vance, harpist, rendered several selections.

Alice Greenacre, noteworthy civil practitioner, served as President for the year 1922-1923.

(Editor’s Note: The Nineteenth Amendment had not eliminated the sexual division of labor. Even aspiring career women were limited to positions traditionally set aside for females. Law schools placed strict quotas on the number of female students they would admit, and some refused to admit them. Law firms frequently denied women the opportunity to compete for positions held by men. Women regularly received less pay and fewer promotions than men when they did secure a position. The proportion of women lawyers remained almost constant from 1910 to 1930, at less than 3 percent. Women’s inequality was embedded deep in the social fabric. Occasionally, an outstanding woman would prove an exception to the general role into which women were thrust. One such woman was Mary Bartleme, a protege of Myra Bradwell. An 1894 Northwestern Law School graduate, she became in 1923 the first Illinois woman attorney elected to a judgeship other than justice of the peace. She presided over the juvenile court for 10 years, attaining world-wide fame. She was noted for her concern with the problems of young women and helped establish three homes for girls.)

"Following Miss Greenacre as President, was one of the most widely known and best beloved of our members, the late lamented Ada M. Cartwright, former Assistant Attorney General of Illinois. It was through her influence and strategy that women lawyers were admitted to membership in the American Bar Association. All these things have long since become accepted facts, but it is well to note in passing that it was this early work in this organization which helped it attain the high position which it now occupies and which we are too prone to take as a matter of course.

"Pearl Hart was the next President, serving in the year 1924-1925. Miss Hart, one of the most outstanding members of the local bar, has long been known for the social aspects of her work.

(Editor’s Note: In 1925 Ada H. Kepley died in St. Anthony’s Hospital in Illinois, having become a broken woman and impoverished, according to Karen Berger Morello in The Invisible Bar.)

(Editor’s Note: The travails of women seeking to become attorneys were documented and published in a 1925 Chicago-Kent Law School article. There, the author noted that even though women had proven their scholarship was as high as that of men, there were still law schools which refused to admit women.)

Chicago Legal News—1918

"In 1925-1926 the Association President was Edna E. Barnett, the membership then having increased to 103 members. Up to that time but three of our members had been lost by death. Since then several have passed away, among them Ada Cartwright. This year marked Miss Cartwright’s last real active work in the organization. It was her idea to publish a book of the organization. Her zeal and enthusiasm were irresistible and the book was published. It was hoped to make the book an annual publication and in fact many colleges and universities which received complimentary copies wrote requesting subsequent issues. Meetings were held at the Brevoort Hotel.

"During this year the organization was almost disrupted due to the fact that at the annual picnic held at the Cartwright Farm on the banks of Rock River near Oregon, headed by that capable legal pathfinder, Edna Barnett, several members - who could blaze a trail through the densest of legal entanglements - were, however, unable to find their way back from a hiking party in the woods, but fortunately for themselves and the organization were eventually rescued. Probably that is the first, last and only time the Women’s Bar Association was or will be ‘lost.’

In October, 1926, Mary D. Bailey, who for many years was and is still Assistant United States Attorney, took up the duties of President. The principal endeavor for the year was activity to secure passage of a bill providing for women on juries in Illinois, which bill, however, failed of passage. (Note: 1926 Minutes confirm each meeting’s concentration on the association’s campaign to make women eligible to serve on juries).

The following year (1927-1928), Honorable Mary Bartelme was President of the Association. (An 1894 graduate of Northwestern University Law School, she was later known as Suitcase Mary." She insisted young girls leaving detention homes were to be provided with a satchel of clothing to assist them in making a fresh start.)

Alice McClanahan’s book recalled 1927. It recounts her experiences, after trying cases to an all-male jury, of lobbying with WBAI for the jury bill. The senators seemed to think women’s plea for the right to jury service was nothing more than a demand by a neurotic few who had a yearning for importance. Some explained that men needed to protect lady folk from the soiling influence of the law courts.

In 1927 WBAI’s 13th annual banquet was held at the Congress Hotel. Speakers included U.S. Senator Charles Deneen, Congresswoman Mary Norton of New Jersey, National Democratic Committee woman Emily N. Blair and Judge Mary Bartelme.

In June, 1928, Rebecca Willner Liss, general civil practitioner, was elected President of the Association. During her regime, active work to procure passage of the jury bill was again resumed." (In 1928 Kathryn Barasa (Rinella) joined the City Attorney’s office in Chicago as a lawyer).

"In January, 1929, Honorable Daniel P. Trude, then Municipal Judge, spoke to the Association advocating that women should serve as Judges, particularly in Morals Court, Boys Court and Domestic Relations Court. Also as a speaker during the year was Honorable Henry Horner (now Governor), at that time Judge of the Probate Court, the largest court of its type in the world, who spoke on the need for housing insane and feeble-minded persons. Following this talk the Association appointed a committee to further the passage of a bill appropriating more funds for housing the insane people of Illinois. A later speaker was Honorable Robert E. Gentzel (now Deceased), Judge of the Superior Court, as to the need for a public defender in Cook County.

"During this year, through the efforts of the Association in conjunction with other organizations, a bill was passed in the Illinois legislature providing jury service for women but with a referendum clause to submit the question to the people in the 1930 general election. Much credit is due to Esther Dunshee (Mrs. Bower) for her tireless work on the jury bill.

"During this year also a placement bureau was organized by the Association to endeavor to further employment of women lawyers and women aspiring to the Bar.

Irene V. McCormick, long known for her sincere and able work in the Legal Aid Bureau, was elected President of the Association in June, 1929-1930. During the year a State-wide campaign was carried on to secure a favorable vote on the Jury Bill Referendum, and in this connection the Association maintained a speakers’ bureau from its members to fill requests for speakers on the subject throughout the State. On March 8, 1930, a newspaper report noted, WBAI held its 16th Annual Banquet. Genevieve R. Cline (Judge at the U.S. Customs in New York) the first and only woman federal judge in American history was one of the speakers.

Helen M. Cirese, 1925, attorney at Oak Park, sought election as justice of the peace. The Herald and Examiner ran a story headlined Portia’s Smile to Test in Vote which ended with Her winning smile has proved too captivating to most of Oak Park’s male voters to permit them to say ‘no.’

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Rockford Republic—1929

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Judge Genevieve R. Cline, the only female Federal jurist at the time, addressed the WBAI annual banquet in 1930. She told them sex is no barrier to a job.

"Helen Cirese, notably successful criminal and civil lawyer, was elected President of the Association in June, 1930. The outstanding work of that year was an active campaign for a successful referendum on the jury bill. The activities of the campaign savored much of the women’s suffrage movement of 15 years before, with torchlight parades, stump speeches and newspaper propaganda. The efforts were rewarded by a successful referendum, the jury bill receiving the approval of the populace by the necessary majority of all votes cast at the election. The success was short-lived due to the fact of a test case being taken to the Supreme Court of Illinois, which court held that passage of the bill with the referendum attached was an illegal delegation of legislative powers. Esther Dunshee was requested by the Circuit and Superior Court Judges to represent them in the test case. During this year, prosperity having not yet rounded the corner, the Association felt the call to do something for the needy rather than to expend money for an elaborate annual banquet as had been the custom. To this end a large card party was held at the Chicago Bar Association and a considerable sum was realized for charity.

In June, 1931, Mary G. Kelly, an outstanding woman lawyer and attorney for the City Council Committee on Streets, Alleys and Public Industries, became President of the Association. The outstanding event of the year was the dinner-dance held at the Bal Tabarin, which gala affair will long be remembered as a social triumph, being the first affair of its kind ever held by the organization. Much of the activity of the Association in this year was centered upon the candidacy of Pearl M. Hart for Associate Judge of the Municipal Court. Because of the decision of the Supreme Court holding invalid the jury bill previously passed, much attention during this year was again given to procure passage of a new law providing for women on juries, which bill, however, failed of passage by two votes. An Association Journal was also published in this year.

Except for 1926, 1931 is the first year from which we have WBAI meeting minutes. They show that year’s first general meeting was held at the Brevort Hotel, 120 W. Madison, Chicago, on October 1. Judge William Lindsay of the Superior Court spoke on Probation and Parole. Dinner cost one dollar. A January Dinner Dance took the place of the 1932 annual banquet, WBAI members danced with Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court.

The 1932-33 WBAI Journal notes:

"Mrs. M.B.R. Shay, now 84 years of age, residing at Streator, Illinois is believed to be the first woman to graduate from an accredited law school. She graduated in 1879 from the Wesleyan at Normal, Bloomington, Illinois, with the honors of her law class. She is the author of Students Guide to Common Law Pleading, the first law book written by a woman."

However, we now know the first woman law graduate was Ada Kepley in 1870.

In January, 1933, a Chicago Newspaper asked:

Are women who work to blame for the Depression? That’s not proven, said Hoover’s commission. Helen Cirese was noted as one of the few women in the professions.

By 1933, the Honorable Mary Bartelme had retired and moved out of Illinois and was no longer eligible for WBAI membership under then existing by laws. (Our by laws permit and we now have members from coast to coast). It was proposed that Bartelme be made an honorary member. Two members voted no, one explaining that she was opposed because Bartelme had failed to recommend or comment favorably on other women for the office of Judge of the Juvenile Court. However, the motion passed and Judge Bartelme was made their first honorary member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

On January 4, 1934, WBAI passed a resolution urging that Justice Florence Allen, of Ohio, be appointed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. WBAI sent letters to the President and the Attorney General of the United States. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Florence Allen to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Journal & Directory states that, in June, 1934, Edna Devlin, well known attorney in insurance circles, was elected President of the Association. Again it was voted to concentrate the energies of the Association for the enactment of a bill providing for women on juries and to maintain a lobby in Springfield for that purpose, which work is still continuing. In October a very hospitable housewarming was held in the Chicago Bar Association lounge at which past and present officers poured tea and new and prospective members were welcomed. During this year the President, Edna Devlin, and the Treasurer, Kathryn M. Barasa, became brides. At the November monthly dinner, a reception was held for the brides, a beautiful large wedding cake gracing the table. This was sponsored by Beatrice Hayes Podell and Eleanor Ruth Borgmeier. The Association gave the brides sterling silver carving and steak sets as wedding gifts.

The Depression made the 1930s especially hard for women to succeed in the practice of law; and in Illinois, women were still prohibited from jury service. A quest for jobs and women on juries would dominate that era.

Minutes of meetings of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois dating back to the early 1930s document debates over tactics to achieve passage of the controversial Women’s Jury Bill, simultaneously with discussion about funding customary social events in view of the Great Depression.

One month saw an emergency decision, since 50 percent of the members were in arrears, to reduce all outstanding dues to $1.00. Nonetheless, in another meeting, WBAI members in 1935 voted to spend what ever sums necessary to get the jury bill introduced, including sending the Jury Bill Committee Chair downstate by railroad to lobby for it, and spending $35.00 for correspondence urging 400 club women in the southern part of Illinois to pressure their senators and representatives in favor of the jury bill.

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Some lawyers’ estates had no money to pay funeral expenses. On October 3, 1935, WBAI voted to assume and immediately pay a $150.00 funeral bill for the burial expenses of one of the WBAI members.

In the 1930s a woman law student often found herself the only woman in the class. Law programs that accepted women were still an oddity, even in 1935, as shown by an advertisement from Chicago-Kent College of Law, touting the law school as co-educational.

In the 1930’s, WBAI had no nominating committee. There was great competition to be nominated as President. Kathryn Rinella recalled one meeting where there were three WBAI members contending for that position. Despite numerous ballots, there continued to be a tie. The meeting had to be adjourned to another date so that the election could be held again.

Rose Matelson Adelman, another 1930’s WBAI member, also recalls that phenomenon. She herself was treated to a WBAI membership so that she could be eligible to vote in one of the hotly contested WBAI Presidential Elections.

The 1934-35 Journal and Directory notes: A further major work of the year was the preparation and publication of this Twentieth Anniversary Journal and Directory, which we hope may in some small measure chronicle and preserve a record of the activities and remarkable growth and progress of this Association which had its humble beginning just twenty years ago and may prove in the years to come an inspiration to greater growth and finer achievements. (Editor’s note: We hope the same for this WBAI History).

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Chicago Bar Association gives play, Oct. 6, 1932. L to R: Vilma Busenbark, Leon Desprez, Morton Bernard, Jerome Weiss, Dean Terrill, Kathryn Barasa, Don Hatmaker, Leo Stone, Lawrence Dahlgren and Evelyn Laird. (Chicago Tribune)

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In 1933, the younger members of the CBA lampooned their elders in a play called Felonies of 2933. L to R: Vivian Wagner, Portia Lee, Elsa Beck, Hildah Alden Johnson and Kathryn Barasa.

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In 1935, a telegram was sent to Jane Adams in honor of her 75th birthday. The annual banquet was held at the Union League Club.

On July 2, 1935, following a cordial invitation to WBAI members, a buffet supper musicale was held at the home of Catherine Waugh McCulloch at 6:00 p.m. The invitation promised a very delightful time is in store for all of those who attend. Her garden is one of the showplaces of the North Shore and the guide who will show you through the Labyrinth of Riotous Floral Beauty will none other than Mr. McCulloch, most charming husband of Mrs. McCulloch. This was one of many parties.

At one of these