Responding to the nation’s need for an organization that would include women of the press, the following journalists were instrumental in forming the National League of American Pen Women in 1897:

• Marian Longfellow O’Donoghue (newspaperwoman and the niece of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Margaret Sullivan Burke (the first woman admitted to the Press Gallery)
• Anna Sanborn Hamilton (social editor of The Washington Post)

Beginning with 17 charter members, the organization is now comprised of more than 150 branches and over 4,000 members. The League promotes and conducts literary, educational, and charitable activities in the fields of Art, Letters, and Music.

The Atlanta Branch

In late 1930, a group of professional women with vision, diligence and creative ability met and organized an Atlanta Pen Women Club with the announced intention of becoming a full-fledged branch.

Mrs. Erskine R. Jarnigan, who as “Polly Peachtree” was the Society Editor for The Georgian newspaper and became the group’s organizing president. However, before the club achieved Branch status, Mrs. Jarnigan moved from Atlanta and the fledgling organization did not start up until the next year.

After meeting NLAPW President Grace Thompson Seton in California in 1931, Atlanta musician Bonita Crowe renewed the group’s enthusiasm for Pen Women affiliation. With the members of the original club as a nucleus, newly-recruited members, and Bonita Crowe as Charter President, the Atlanta Branch was accepted as an official branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Inc. on September 23, 1931.

	Charter Members include:
		Vinnie Ream Boyd		Clare B. Jones		Mildred Seydell
		Mary Crabtree		Mrs. Joseph Lamar		Lida Wilson Turner
		Bonita Crowe		Jane M. Mattingly		Cora O. Whitman
		Cornelia Cunningham		Minnie Hite Moody		Ellen Wolff
		Yolande Gwin		Medora F. Perkerson		Mozelle Horton Young

Atlanta Serves National Organization

In the more than seven decades since its founding, the Atlanta Branch has sustained the spirit of its charter members. In addition to providing a forum for continued artistic and professional growth, the Branch is proud to have had an Atlanta Pen Woman, Virginia T. Avery – daughter of founding member and past president Lida Wilson Turner – serve The National League of American Pen Women as its President from 1982-84. More recently, the Branch sent Harriet Fay Woodcock to Washington to head the national music program.

The nature garden is bordered by the steep granite of Stone Mountain on the south, and a meandering creek on the north. A rustic footbridge leads to a trail of stones, each one honoring a current or former member of the Atlanta Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. Initially, thirty-three stones were placed, with additional dedications held every two years, bringing the current total to eighty-one stones.

These members get ready to dedicate their stones at Pen Women's Nature Garden, established in 1951.

Left to right: Luanne White, Polly Craig, Mimi Gould, Candace Long, Alison O'Neil-Andrew, Sherry Needle, Mozelle Funderburk, and Mary Jane Stone at their memorial stones dedication ceremony. Not present: Ann Alexander

The History of the Atlanta Branch is captured through Scrapbooks, “The Presidents Book”, and recorded Minutes, all of which are preserved in the archives of the Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.

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Atlanta Branch  - National League of American Pen Women, Inc.
www.AtlantaPenWomen.org - Info@AtlantaPenWomen.org