Mendocino Study Club, which brought Mendocino its library, to close after more than a century

MENDOCINO Co., 5/14/23 — After 115 years, the nonprofit Mendocino Study Club (MSC), which created and originally staffed the Mendocino Community Library, is calling it quits. The club meets for the last time on May 19. Distributions of the scholarship fund will now be handled by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. The organization promoted literacy for generations and was part of the creation of the Kelley House Museum and began the Mendocino Community Library, managing it for many years. The organization gave scholarships to girls from Mendocino High School. Women’s clubs empowered change in America for more than a century but are slowly fading from the scene.

Longtime member Jane Person said the Study Club was once the “place to be” for women, but times have changed. The women’s clubs gave women increased opportunity and they took it. Women now own more small businesses than men, are leaders in not just organizations and clubs, but politics, business, medicine and law enforcement.