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Published in The Seattle Times online on Jan. 18, 2024
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Jan. 21, 2024

League takes no junior role in supporting women and social causes

By Clay Eals

Digging into the origin of the Junior League of Seattle demands a contemporary vocabulary lesson.

The operative word for members 100 years ago, when the league began, was “debutantes.” It’s a term not commonplace today, but in the Roaring Twenties it often turned up in headlines and news stories. No doubt readers readily understood it to mean young women entering fashionable society.

The same dynamic applies for another vintage descriptor for members: “younger matrons and girls,” an allusion to youthful women, married and not.

Moreover, the derivation of the organizational name was, and remains, elusive. Junior to what? National and local sources reveal no specific historical rationale other than members’ budding ages.

“It’s funny the name has never changed,” says Maria Mackey, past Seattle president who triggered the league’s upcoming centennial exhibit at the Museum of History & Industry.

Nevertheless, the name persisted, from the founding of the first Junior League, in 1901 in New York, to the Seattle league’s formal inception in 1924, to the present day, when 291 such leagues with 140,000 members operate throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the UK.

In Seattle as elsewhere, Junior League has pursued a steadfastly two-pronged path — a women’s social forum and training ground for a variety of professional and personal pursuits, coupled with an investment of time and money for social-welfare projects, with and without fanfare.

Local league projects have ranged widely, all fueled by altruism. In the 1920s, the league opened a day nursery and operated the only stereotyping machine in the western U.S. to mass-produce metal Braille language plates for the blind. Intervening years helped launch what became Childhaven family services, along with endeavors in youth literacy and the sharing with schoolchildren of traveling works by diverse Northwest artists.

Flashy events to inspire financial contributions are a Junior League tradition. Its first Follies in 1926 featured “a riot of song and dance,” with seats going for 50 cents to $3. In the mid-20th century, the league operated the Wise Penny thrift shop on Capitol Hill. Today, the league raises money via “Touch a Truck,” a kids’ activity with real fire engines and ambulances. The organization’s latest Gala, on Nov. 20, raised $263,000.

While the league once re-labeled active members as “sustainers” (dues-paying only) as they reached 40, the age distinction evaporated more recently, says Jen Siems, president. Members range from new moms to seasoned professionals. “All the different stages of women’s life cycle,” Siems says, “we’re there to support.”

Accordingly, Mackey, recently retired from Vulcan, adds that Junior League “taught me the good part of how the city works” and “gave me my life, really.”

WEB EXTRAS

Thanks to Kay Ray and to Kelsey Novick, Wendy Malloy, Julianne Kidder and Devorah Romanek of the Museum of History & Industry, and especially Jen Siems and Maria Mackey of the Junior League of Seattle for their invaluable help with this installment!

Due to technical difficulties, there is no 360-degree video this week. However, below you will find 2 additional photos and, in chronological order, 18 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column.