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The Ladies Social Reading Club 1903-05
Victoria Emery
At the Melbourne conference in 1994, the point was made that we need
to look to the records we have regarding people individually and collectively
reading. Based on that premise, my paper today concerns the reading of
a group of ladies who formed a club in an outer suburb of Melbourne in
1903.
This is one of a number of societies which I will be using in the course
of a project on Melbourne's print culture around the turn of this century,
to explore ideas concerning reading and related activities. My interest
in this paper lies in the ways that common social prescriptions concerning
books and reading were translated into experience, and the sea-changes
which this entailed.
Essentially, if literacy and literature can be regarded as a form of
cultural capital, how do individuals possess and display it?
In her remarks on literary style as cultural capital, Kathryn
Flannery makes the point:
What counts as style, what counts as valued written form, is part of, and derives its meaning from a matrix of elements that comprise a given culture. The material arrangement of words on the page has no essential or intrinsic meaning apart from a given culture, apart from the conventions of reading and writing.1
If this is true of production it is also true of consumption. The reasons
for people to read, to read specific texts and the ways in which they derive
and demonstrate their readings, are also socially loaded and historically
specific.
The minutes of the club open as follows:
On Monday June 1st 1903-A meeting of ladies was held at Hadley Cottage, Bay Rd, to consider the advisability of establishing a reading Club at Sandringham ...
[Six ladies formed a committee.]
The object of the club is to keep in touch with the literature of the day, by reading at home poetry high class fiction, & standard works, & discussing the books read at the monthly meetings.2
The intentions of the club's founders were amplified at its first official
meeting in July:
Mrs Matters ... stated that its object was not only the furtherance of social intercourse, but that the reading & study of books often neglected, would prove of much benefit to the readers.3
In line with most other 'private' literary clubs, it was intended both
as a pleasurable leisure activity and a self-improvement strategy for its
members. The pose of the high-minded seeker after neglected knowledge was
a common rhetorical device of the time. Less commonly for such clubs, their
minutes have survived and are now lodged in the Melbourne University Archives,
covering the period from 1903 to the mid-1940s. This paper concerns the
initial 'foundation' period of the club's life.
So who were the ladies?
Sandringham early this century has been described by one former resident
as a 'little delightful seaside village, completely isolated from Melbourne,
that had a life of its own.'4
The ladies who formed the club knew each other or had acquaintances in
common, and where addresses are given, or can be inferred from Sands and
McDougall directories, lived within a relatively confined area, though
its possible that some members were from neighbouring Brighton. (Distance
is given as one reason why some ladies are unable to host meetings in their
homes.)
On the basis of the surnames there are two mother daughter or sisters-in-law
pairings and at least two sets of sisters. The minutes themselves tell
us that more than one lady was an officer of the Presbyterian Sunday school
(a meeting is shifted to allow for these ladies attendance at a function)
and the Misses Bonney are almost certainly the principals of the Sandringham
High School and Kindergarten. At least some of the members must be considered
wealthy. In the course of the first two-and-a-half years, two members received
leave of absence to travel overseas.
The members, then, were middle class women, with some education, although
levels of formal education can't be assumed. A genuine academic education
for girls was available in Melbourne from at least the mid-1870s but only
to a privileged few. The inclusion in the club's rules of a ban on religious
discussion is suggestive of differing religious allegiances, though by
no means conclusive.
Another interesting anomaly is the timing of the meetings, between 8.00
and 9.30 pm-again not conclusive, but it suggests that some of these women
were in some form of employment (paid or otherwise) which would prevent
their attendance at a daytime meeting. Meetings took place monthly, with
a three month recess from January to March, later broken by a March picnic.
It is clear that these women defined themselves as 'ladies' in fact
as well as in name. They insisted on the forms of polite behaviour and
the private nature of the venture - the numbers were limited to eighteen,
later twenty. Membership was by invitation only, and only one guest per
person was to be invited to the club's entertainments. (This was altered
in 1905 to allow members of the committee of management a further guest.)
When the club received a lecture from a male expert, a gentleman had to
be called in to act as host and present the appropriate speeches of welcome
and thanks. They clearly had connections with other literary and cultural
societies (Dickens Fellowship, Philharmonic Society) and the knowledge
and connections to obtain speakers and guests for their evening entertainments.
The selection of office bearers, drawing up of rules and forming of
sub-committees are almost automatic. These ladies were no strangers to
the niceties of formal organisation. A syllabus committee was formed to
decide on suitable readings. The minutes note:
Suggestions of books were asked for, from the whole of the members, & Mrs Balfour Melville kindly promised to obtain the syllabus of the Kew Reading Society to help in the choice.5
Unfortunately the minutes of the syllabus committee are scanty and uninformative.
They confirm that the ladies were expected to purchase their own copies
of the books privately, no group arrangements being made by the club with
one exception. The only mention of an alteration of a projected choice
was for the Potters Thumb, which was unavailable, and resulted in
a new rule that syllabus committee members must check price and availability
before recommending titles.
Over the next two and a half years the ladies alternated between poetry,
and novels, with a single excursion into science, essays and two books
which may be travel writings. In poetry they sampled Tennyson, Shakespeare,
Tennyson again, both Brownings, and Longfellow. They read Darwin's Journal
of Researches, works on Japan and Siberia. Novels included The Crisis
on Abraham Lincoln and the American civil war, Dicken's David Copperfield,
Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto, the sole 'Australian' entry,
Rosa Praed's Nyria, and a number of others.
These choices reflect an awareness of the literary canon, and the relative
value assigned to the branches of literature, without wishing to be totally
bound by them. It is noticeable that while their choice in poetry holds
mainly by standard authors, novels, with exceptions such as Dickens and
Walter Scott, tended to be more recent releases.
Poetry and works of information were far more secure in the opinion
of commentators than were novels, often described as a menace to morals
or at best a frivolous waste of time. For all that, they were extremely
popular, and the ladies seem to have compromised with works which could
inform as well as entertain, with a strong bias toward the historical.
Certainly their choice is relentlessly Eurocentric. Exotic settings are
Japan or Siberia, the closest we get to Australia is aboard the Beagle
with Charles Darwin.
Having chosen their texts, how did the ladies read them?
Discussions are not reproduced in detail, but enough is included to
show a number of elements in the member's response to their readings.
The initial discussion of Enoch Arden on 13 July 1903 consisted largely
of readings from critics with members reading aloud the passages referred
to. The critic Edward Compton Tainsh produced the greatest reaction.
Mrs B Melville reading his opinion of Enoch Arden's wife, resulted in a spirited defence of her, from the other members - who were mostly quite opposed to the views expressed.6
The notion of reading as study is apparent, some ladies already consulting
critics ahead of time to prepare for the discussion.
There is little indication of planning of the meetings themselves. They
seem to rely on a core of enthusiastic members who brought along materials
of interest to meetings, and were likely to volunteer readings. In November
of 1904 a change is visible with the members producing character sketches
from the work under discussion, The Crisis. These two minute sketches
define the characters in terms of moral models and exemplary behaviour.
Where guests were invited organisation was careful and extensive. Otherwise
the meetings were rather unstructured except for occasional attempts, such
as for the discussion of Lord Avebury's Pleasures of Life in April
1905, when a decision to discuss the book chapter by chapter broke down
almost immediately:
It says something for the eagerness with which the members remembered the different points of beauty, that this decision was but momentarily adhered to, & extracts from any page were alluded to, without reference to their place in the book.7
Other initiatives included a plan to obtain character sketches of new
authors, and to try to get members absent from meetings to provide written
critiques. In October of 1905 a new system was tried as 'a help to more
systematic reading & methodical discussion at the meetings'. This initially
seemed to inhibit some members but they proposed to persevere at least
for the time. The system is not described but seems to consist of structuring
discussion around a series of questions relating to historical detail,
scenic description, characters, the author's intention, and the readers'
reaction. (Possibly along the lines of the comprehension questions common
in school readers at the time.)
***
The book for August 1903, the second official meeting, was Zangwill's
The Children of the Ghetto, a novel set in the Jewish community
of London.
Several ladies present had not been able to read the entire work, but expressed their views on its characters, & dramatic passages Miss Callaghan reading a short sketch of the Author, & Mrs Chambers a small critique on his style by Mrs Oliphant. Short readings were given by Mrs Leighton Mrs Harton, Miss Clark Miss Bonney & Miss A Cooper, Miss Montford giving a sketch of the jews sabbath at the present time, & Mrs Barnett describing the childrens bath night at the close of the jewish week. Some prints of the Ghetto of today were passed round, and many comparisons shewn between the jews, & the scotch in their verbal marriages, & between the jews & the chinese in their superstitions.8
Characters, dramatic passages, authorship, cultural description. The
ladies were reading for particular kinds of information, in this case including
racial types between which to make comparisons. This is not simply a question
of racism or an orientalist fascination with the Jews as 'other'. There
was a well developed theory of racial characteristics, physical and behavioural,
on which the ladies could draw for their interpretation of the work. (It
was a common practice at the time of describing fictional characters in
terms of a racial type.)
In using reading aloud as a tool at their meetings, the ladies were
drawing upon existing ideas both of the pedagogic model of reading aloud
as a means to learning and the performing model of reading as entertainment.
In September the set reading was Darwin's Journal, and here discussion
proved crucial, much to the satisfaction of the members:
Monday Sept 14th the members of the LSRC met at Mrs Chambers house to discuss Darwin's journal of Researches, & contrary to the expectation of many present, an exceedingly pleasant & profitable time was spent. The majority at the commencement of the evening pronounced the book dull, prone to repetition, & worthy to be read or not according to the pleasure of the member, & in many ways lacking interest, but before half an hour had elapsed the opinion of the meeting had completely changed & what was deemed profitless became profitable & most interesting. Hence the members saw the benefit of the Club made manifest, discussion of a work bringing out much more from its pages, than the mere reading without exchange of the thoughts of other readers.
Miss A. Cooper in her position as secretary could not resist pointing
out the moral.
In November we find the ladies distressed over their inability to master
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream:
Whether it was from the peculiar nature, of the play, or from the want of knowledge on the part of the members to understand the author's mind & motive, the evening though a very pleasant one was non-instructive. The members present feeling that their failure to see the beauties of the dream lay in their want of instruction in the works of the great dramatist.9
Here, with the continuing centrality of the author, we have explicit
the idea that there is a right and wrong way to respond to works of literature
and that a properly 'instructed' person will respond appropriately. The
resolution was taken to make the next lecture, at the third meeting of
the new year on Shakespeare. Failure to appreciate Shakespeare was a serious
matter, and the suggestion was made that an extra meeting be held before
the lecture to enable the ladies to study the play chosen by the lecturer,
but this seems not to have happened.
This lecture by Mr Corr, MA LLB, was based on Julius Caesar and
its content is interesting:
The night was propitious, the attendance excellent & the lecture scholarly, full of information on Rome & its government in the days of the Caesars, the character of Julius Caesar, his place in literature & his splendid position in the history of the world were dwelt upon Brutus in history & in domestic life was criticized, & the several points in the lecture were ably emphasized by readings from the play by 4 ladies-Notably Miss Corr whose elocution was a joy & a lesson in one.10
Again historical detail and the description and judgement of character
have pride of place.
Consultation of authorities, concern with the life and character of
the author, reading for 'information' and moral exempla are all elements
which appear in these minutes. So too do practices such as reading aloud
of passages from the work under discussion.
***
Ties between literature and morality were considered to be close. Rev.
Canon Hayman at his inaugural address to another literary society, the
Hamilton Odd Volume Club, had this to say concerning them:
The man who has some knowledge of books, who habitually schools his intellect, is the more likely to crowd out unworthy imaginings, and thus to elevate and enrich his character.11
This opposition between intellect and appetite or savagery was again
common in the advice literature of the period. That these ideas were taken
quite literally is borne out by the 1902 Victorian Yearbook, which gives
breakdowns of crimes committed both by race and by educational level.
While critics might disagree on the success or otherwise of various
standard works, there was no question of their moral status. The whole
idea of the elevating effects of literature rested on this rationale. The
same could not be said for some of the more recent novels which the ladies
read and the question of their appropriateness for family consumption was
raised for some of these titles.
One member, although she did not agree with the view herself raised
another (non member's) view that the novel The Crisis was 'an unsuitable
story for the fireside as it dealt with the question of slavery'.12
Marie Corelli's blood and thunder melodrama Temporal Power had also
caused concern:
Miss Montford defended both the Authoress & the book, but thought it was one which it would be unwise to circulate largely & give to the man in the street, at the present socialistically political time.13
Aside from this serious consideration of a work whose political relevance
is, to put it mildly, debatable, this discussion draws attention to the
position which these women assumed of moral arbiters, people with the right
and duty to make decisions as to what was appropriate reading for themselves
and their families, a point often made in advice literature to mothers
of the time.
Rosa Praed's Nyria, a novel set in imperial Rome and reputedly based on past-life memories, was also regarded as morally dubious.
The book as a whole was unanimously pronounced attractive, often fascinating,
but in parts unrefined & unnecessarily suggestive of evil-
And later in the discussion:
... everyone felt the power of the authoress, although sometimes they deplored her misuse of it-A shew of hands was asked for to test the feeling of the readers & the verdict was largely against the book, as a whole-Although all admired it in part.14
***
Having formed a club and taken part in its activities there was also
a need for display, to family, friends and others.
The club's contacts with others were an intrinsic part of its structure.
The issue was discussed at the initial meeting:
It was also suggested and carried that a lecturette from outside sources be given twice a year, to which each member shall be entitled to invite one friend.15
Initially the contact was defined as a way for the ladies to receive
added input from 'outside sources', the first of whom was the Rev. W. Fielder,
Professor of Biology who presented a lecture on Sponges, to complement
their reading of Darwin. A great deal of effort was put into the success
of this 'lecturette', reception, music, refreshment and hospitality committees
were formed, arrangements made for the speaker to be collected from Brighton
Beach, to save him the inconvenience of the tram service, and a gentleman,
Mr Harris, was deputised to introduce and thank the speaker.
The second was the lecture on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The
third event, now referred to in the minutes as an 'at home' as well as
a lecture, was on Mendelssohn, and was accompanied by music from visiting
singers and instrumentalists, while the fourth was termed an 'At Home'
and was attended by members of the Dickens fellowship. The final 'at home'
within this period was a 'Handel Night' which also included a lecture,
musicians and singers. The shift in emphasis is from a lecture received
from an authority to an evening of music and /or discussion to be shared
with other literary and artistic groups, which also included a lecture.
This seems to me to signal a change in the model from which the ladies
were working from a schoolroom 'recipient' approach to something rather
more spontaneous. It also fostered the idea of themselves as part of a
network of the culturally informed, allowing them, discreetly, to assert
their claims to erudition.
The reading that took place in the reading club was based on clear ideas about what they were doing and why. Reading was 'study', as well as pleasure, the extraction of useful information and social and moral exempla. These, with the pleasures of reinforcing and displaying their erudition were all part of the meaning assigned to the club experience.
PROGRAMME FOR THE LADIES READING CLUB, SANDRINGHAM July 1903-March 1906
| 1903 | July | Tennyson, 'Enoch Arden' | |
| August | Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto | ||
| Sept | Darwin's Journal of Researches [into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle under the command of Captain Fitzroy R.N. from 1832 to 1836] | ||
| October | LECTURE 'Sponges' given by Rev. W. Fielder, Professor of Biology | ||
| November | Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
| December | Marie Corelli, Temporal Power | ||
| 1904 | In recess January-March | ||
| April | [F.] Marion Crawford The [A] Roman Singer | ||
| May | LECTURE on Julius Caesar | ||
| June | Foster Fraser, The Real Siberia | ||
| July | Merriman, [Henry Seton], Barlasch of the Guard | ||
| August | Tennyson, 'Maud' | ||
| Sept | LECTURE on Mendelssohn by Mr George Peake. | ||
| October | The Heart of Japan [?] | ||
| November | The Crisis | ||
| December | Mrs Browning, 'Aurora Leigh' | ||
| 1905 | In recess Jan-February | ||
| March | Picnic Merriman [reprised] | ||
| April | Lord Avebury, Pleasures of Life | ||
| May | AT HOME on Dickens-members of the Dicken's fellowship attended. Lecturer: Rev. E. Rorke. | ||
| June | Dickens, David Copperfield | ||
| July | Browning, 'The Ring and the Book' Miss Traill, a scholar, attended to lead the discussion. | ||
| August | Mrs Praed, Nyria | ||
| September | AT HOME Handel. Lecturer: Mr George Peake. | ||
| October | Charles Reade, The Cloister and the Hearth | ||
| November | Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship | ||
| December | Longfellow, Evangeline | ||
| 1906 | March | Walter Scott, Ivanhoe | |
This list is derived from the minutes of the club, in some cases details have been attributed by reference to available works.
NOTES
- Kathryn T. Flannery, The Emperor's New Clothes: Literature, Literacy and the Ideology of Style, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh and London, 1995, p.3.return
- Minutes, Sandringham Ladies Social Reading Club (LSRC), June 1 1903, held University of Melbourne Archives. The originals are hand written and some forms such as underlined superscript have had to be abandoned. All corrections in the original have been silently incorporated, and punctuation has not been corrected.return
- LSRC 13 July 1903.return
- Ferguson, Mrs Dorothy, 1976 interview, quoted in Graeme Disney, and Valerie Tarrant, Bayside Reflections: History and Heritage of Sandringham, Hampton, Black Rock and Beaumaris, City of Sandringham, 1988, p.102.return
- LSRC, 13 July 1903.return
- LSRC, 13 July 1903.return
- LSRC, 10 April 1905.return
- LSRC, 10 Aug 1903.return
- LSRC, 2 Nov 1903.return
- LSRC, 9 May 1904.return
- Address given May 22, 1900, [from Hamilton Spectator?], clipping in scrapbook, J.C. Lowry papers, Melbourne University Archives.return
- LSRC, 18 Nov 1904.return
- LSRC, 15 Dec 1903.return
- LSRC, Aug 1905.return
- LSRC, 1 June 1903.return
Victoria Emery
History Department
University of Melbourne
Parkville VIC 3052
email: s_vemery@eduserv.its.unimelb.EDU.AU
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Last Updated : 29 September 1998