Sandusky Coterie records

The minutes of the Sandusky Coterie from 1897 to 1975 include not only notes on meeting activities, but also the constitution and bylaws, membership lists, and treasury records until a separate treasurer's position was created in 1969. The minutes consist of notes on dates and locations of meetings, numbers of members and guests present, titles of presentations given and who gave them, business meeting action such as motions and treasurer's report, new members voted upon, announcements of special sewing, cooking, and lecture courses generally offered or sponsored by the Sandusky Federation, parliamentary drills, charitable donations, and social activities.

The topics covered by the presentations include literary works and writers; reports on various countries, states and cities and their history, industry, education, political systems, people, life style, literature, art and architecture; economics; scientific innovations; politics; religion and the Bible; history and historical figures; current events; agriculture and industry; military and defense during World War II; Negroes; American Indians; and an emphasis on current elections and election issues in the 1920s when women were first granted the vote. The treasurer's records include the money taken in through dues, fines and special assessments, and expenditures on federation dues, postage, plants and flowers, cards, supplies for the officers, program printing, and the cost of coal to heat whatever church in which they met early in the club's history.

There are gaps in the minutes, particularly in the years prior to 1921, which partially are filled by the program booklets which date from 1897 to 1982. Gaps also exist in the programs' sequence, but between the two record series only eight years are lacking any documentation. The programs include meeting dates, hostesses, presentation topics and presenters, and the names of officers and members.

The one piece of correspondence from 1898 relates to the publishing of a state federation magazine with a club directory and requests the Coterie's calendar and one of their papers for publication. Also included is a volume with hand-written copies of some of the papers given, a very brief history of the Coterie's organization and early years, and notes by member Marie Harris on the annual topics through 1962. A stock certificate from the Sandusky Area Sesquicentennial in 1968, purchased by the Coterie to assist in fund raising for the celebration, is the final item included in the collection.