Interest Groups :
A Survey of the Yearbooks
Our branch members have always gotten together in small groups to discuss topics and participate in hobby or leisure activities in addition to the formal monthly programs and business meetings.
Interest groups began as a way to generate programming for the branch. Each group was assigned a month at the start of the year in the Yearbook. That practice ends in 1969/1970 when the May program was the study group round-up/wrap-up but the programs for the year were hired speakers by the First Vice President, Programs.
The term “interest group” that we use today wasn’t always used:
1962/1963 : Study Groups
1963/1964 : Topic Implementation
1970/1971 : Study and Interest Groups
1974/1975: Continuing Interests
1983 the name Interest Groups was here to stay!
The interests of our interest groups have ranged broadly with a few mainstays. Here’s a sample of those listed over the years:
1962/1963
: The Arts, International Relations, Mass Media, Recent Graduates,
Social & Economic Issues, and Status of Women
1963/1964
: See the image above from the Yearbook which includes both a Topic
Implementation and a Study Group for "Occident & Orient"
1967/1968
: Book Discussion I and II are mentioned for the first time
1978
: Five of the current Interest Groups staples (Lunch & Lit I, II, III. Evening
Book Browsers, and Bridge) are all listed using these names in the Yearbook.
1969, 1977, and 1986
: Cookbooks were produced by “The Gourmet Committee”
and “The Culinary Arts Group.” There were sold as a fundraiser for the branch.