Oak Grove #18 of the Woodmen Circle (North Baltimore, Ohio) records

The records of Oak Grove #18 of the Supreme Forest Woodmen Circle document some of the history, structure, and procedures of a secret and ritualistic fraternal life insurance organization from 1912 to 1931. The bulk of the records, however, date from 1919 to 1929.

The 1927 Ohio Convention proceedings are a full report of both business and social activities and reflect members' attitudes about their organization, its purposes, and about their fellow members. Unfortunately, the minutes of the Oak Grove #18 do not offer much more than a record of financial business transacted at meetings with only an occasional reference to more social activity and none to ritualistic activity.

The constitutions and by-laws offer the most complete record of the group's objectives, structure, and procedures relating to official and financial business. They, however, cover none of the ceremony.

The correspondence, legal, and financial records reflect more of the structure and procedures of the group, the number of members in Grove #18 and how that number decreased in the later 1920s, the cost of membership, and the encouragement by national officers to local groves to recruit new members. The printed material contains both in-house newsletters with information on other groves' and other fraternal organizations' social and charitable activities and promotional brochures explaining the benefits of membership in Woodmen Circle to prospective members. The catalog and premium list give the only evidence of the ceremonial aspect of Woodmen Circle with its photos and listings of such items as jewelry, badges, banners, sabres, costumes, and other paraphernalia for sale to members only.

While far from complete, with many series containing only scattered records, the collection does provide information on how and why a fraternal life insurance group organized and reflects some of its social appeal.