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Campus Club Celebrates 100 Years

1914 "Faculty Wives Club" now a social club open to all Duke women 

Members of the Duke Campus Club at a tea party in University House in January, 1969. Pictured, from left, are Mrs. Thomas D. Kinney, president of the Campus Club, Mrs. Richard L. Predmore, Mrs. Deryl Hart, Dr. Gwendolyn Newkirk of North Carolina College,
Members of the Duke Campus Club at a tea party in University House in January, 1969. Pictured, from left, are Mrs. Thomas D. Kinney, president of the Campus Club, Mrs. Richard L. Predmore, Mrs. Deryl Hart, Dr. Gwendolyn Newkirk of North Carolina College, and Mrs. Charles E. Llewellyn Jr. Photo copyright The Durham Herald Co.; reprinted with permission.

During exam week each semester, Sarah Woodard bakes chocolate chip brownies and spends an hour with the Duke Campus Club passing the treats to hungry students during Perkins Library study breaks.

"It's one of my favorite activities to do with friends from Campus Club," said Woodard, assistant to Duke University Health System's chief Human Resources officer. "We make the library smell like a bakery."

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Baking is among the service, fellowship and educational activities Woodard and other members enjoy as members of the Duke Campus Club - an organization marking its 100th anniversary. 

To celebrate its centennial, the club will host a series of programs focused on the theme, "Honoring Women in a Century of Change."  A luncheon with guest speaker Judy Woodruff, Duke alumna and nationally known journalist, sold out, but tickets are available for other centennial events, including a talk about Duke's Kunshan University and a presentation on "Women, Leadership, and Global Education" by the dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. 

Mary Few, wife of the President of Trinity College
Mary Few, wife of the President of Trinity College

Mary Few, wife of the President of Trinity College, created the club in 1914. At the time, it was restricted to faculty wives. The women provided Christmas treat boxes to students, held an art exhibit to benefit the Belgian Relief Fund that was supplying food to German-occupied Belgium, and gathered to discuss intellectual issues of the day. 

The club now has 413 members and is open to all Duke affiliated women - faculty and staff, spouses or partners of faculty and staff, alumni, retirees and volunteers. Approximately 13 percent of the members are active employees at Duke. 

Over 100 years, the Duke Campus Club has changed to reflect cultural and civic changes, while continuing to provide opportunities for social gathering and intellectual stimulation.

In 1939, interest groups were organized to expand women's opportunities to explore Durham. In 1941, members of the club voted that hostesses of afternoon teas would no longer be required to wear long dresses. In 1966, the club moved its annual luncheon to a non-segregated restaurant so that Sylvia Cook, wife of Duke's first black faculty member, could attend.

Maidi Hall, who joined the club in 1958 as the wife of Kenneth Hall, professor of anesthesiology, said her introduction to the club was a formal hat-and-gloves Campus Club Tea, complete with a table where tea was served from a silver teapot. 

"Today's meetings are much less formal, but they are still an invaluable source of friendships and fellowship," Hall said. 

Today, most women join to take advantage of the networking available at annual events and to participate in daytime, weekend and evening interest groups. Activities include "Almost Bowling," "Mystery Book Club" and a Sunday afternoon "Triangle Trails" walking group, among others. The club also sponsors excursions, such as an upcoming bus trip to the vineyards of Yadkin River Valley.

The Centennial Year will include a gala celebration at the Washington Duke Inn on April 26, 2014, and, with a nod to history, a high tea at the Washington Duke Inn on Nov. 14, 2014. Long dresses are not required.