THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502150203
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
IN 1905, MAGAZINES were so scarce and expensive that a group of women decided to meet twice a month in their homes to share the coveted reading material.
Daisy Nurney, a Suffolk resident and well-known correspondent of The Virginian-Pilot, was the catalyst in founding the Magazine Club of Suffolk. She spread the word among her friends, hosted the first club meeting at her home on West Washington Street and was duly elected the club's first president.
``The ladies wore hats and gloves and dressed to the hilt,'' said Sally Caton, who is the club's historian and a third-generation member. Although they shared magazines and were allowed to take them home, she said, ``They didn't dare bend or cut them.''
Caton's mother, the late Jane Butler Michael, was a club member for 12 years. Her grandmother, Julia Butler Cox, was among 19 charter members and the first club historian. Among her hand-written records is the warning, ``Woe be unto you if a cover of a magazine was torn or removed.''
Although the years have brought many changes to Suffolk and the world, the Magazine Club of Suffolk has not only endured but grown in membership and will celebrate its 90th anniversary this month.
Years ago, members went to great pains to dress for meetings. Once, they arrived at a special meeting dressed as flowers and, another time, as titles of books.
``At the end of the year in June, they finally let their hair down and had a picnic or yachting party,'' Caton said.
Members no longer arrive for the meeting in hats and gloves - or exchange magazines. Nowadays, old magazines are donated to the libraries of the city's three high schools for research. China cups and linen napkins are still a must for serving refreshments, however.
``It's a literary, as well as a social club,'' Caton said. ``An invited guest or a member presents the program, perhaps on travel or a book review.''
The club's colors have remained the original gold and white, and the club flower is the daisy - named for Nurney, who was described in a newspaper article as ``the resident ambassador to the people of that larger segment of southeastern Virginia whose political, social and commercial capital is the City of Suffolk.''
At the turn of the century, club members discussed weighty subjects, such as the women's suffrage movement and a woman's part in the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.
``A debate was held once between Miss Nurney, who never married and worked for 36 years, and Mrs. Cross,'' Caton said. ``The subject was, `Does a Business Career Fit Or Mar a Woman For Married Life?' Miss Nurney was `for' and Mrs. Cross was `against.' ''
Caton's grandmother was just out of college when she was invited to attend a club meeting in October 1905.
``The club used to have quizzes on different subjects, such as painters, composers, Shakespeare and other authors,'' Caton said. ``The members were very serious about it, and there was absolute quiet. No help was to be given or received. My grandmother said it was like taking a high school exam.''
``Mrs. John Pinner had a Shakespearean contest, and my grandmother said that she was glad she had diligently studied Shakespeare in college,'' Caton continued.
Julia Butler Cox wrote, ``I scored the highest on the contest and was given a much coveted prize - a large jardiniere with a red geranium . . . so large that I had to send for it the next day.''
One of Caton's mementos inherited from her grandmother is a worn copy of the prized Burr-McIntosh Monthly, which sold for 25 cents a copy and bears little resemblance to the slick, colorful magazines found in stores today.
A tall, slender book with a hard cover, its pages were bound with a satin cord and tassel. The inside pages featured black-and-white nature prints, portraits of ``men and women of note,'' and numerous advertisements. In the November 1906 edition, Tiffany & Company advertised one dozen sterling silver teaspoons for $11.
Other magazines that were shared by club members were Harpers, The Philistine, and one that is still popular today - the Ladies' Home Journal.
In the past, the club's anniversary celebrations were grand affairs held on or close to Valentine's Day and featured a 9 p.m. dinner followed by dancing in a lavishly decorated room in the Nansemond Hotel. Later, the event was moved to the Hotel Elliott on North Main Street.
Programs, which included a five-course dinner menu, were hand-painted and gold-embossed. Through the years, the list of delectable dishes never varied. Lynnhaven oysters, turkey, small cakes and ices were favorites to be sampled. And after dinner, glasses were raised in toasts ``to the club, the occasion, husbands, and guests.''
During the evening, grand opera music was played on a Victrola concealed in a bower of palms.
Even these gala affairs were not exempt from contests, however. One of Cox's booklets contained hastily written answers to a test on several varieties of trees.
Someone composed a poem for the anniversary celebration in 1911. It reads, ``That Suffolk is a town for clubs, From our papers can well be seen, But the club that surpasses all the rest, is known as the Magazine.''
In December 1941, a meeting was shortened so that members could rush home to hear the Declaration of War by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
``During World War II, they dispensed with having meetings twice a month to conserve on gasoline,'' Caton said. ``They talked about how they could volunteer to help, and hosted socials for the servicemen.''
On Feb. 12, 1946, 120 members and guests attended a reception held at the Suffolk Woman's Club on Bank Street. The program was entitled, ``Women In The Post-War World.''
Today, the club meets at 8 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month, October through May. Membership is by invitation, although daughters of members are automatically invited, Caton said.
Current officers are Pat Rountree, president; Beth Canaday, vice president; Lynn Holly, secretary; and Darlene Gruber, treasurer. There are 35 active members.
At the last meeting of the year, a salad supper is held and new members are invited to attend. ILLUSTRATION: Cover color photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Pat Rountree, current president of the Magazine Club of Suffolk,
reads one of the old magazines the early members shared. Her dress
also is reminiscent of the fashion of that day.
The club's annual banquet was a lavish affair.
Members of the Magazine Club, who went to great pains to dress for
meetings, gather for a photograph at one of their annual casual
parties, when they ``let their hair down.''
One of Caton's inherited mementos is a worn copy of the prized
Burr-McIntosh Monthly, which sold for 25 cents.
Historian Sally Caton, a third-generation club member, wears a dress
that belonged to her grandmother, Julia Butler Cox, the club's first
historian.
by CNB