February is the anniversary month of Mary Brooks Picken’s Woman’s Institute my favorite source of vintage inspiration. The Woman’s Institute educated thousands of women through correspondence courses between the years of 1916 and 1937. It was a unique educational model, and the number of women that Mary influenced over the course of her lifetime was countless.
I happen to be one of those women inspired by Mary’s work! I want to pay tribute to the Woman’s Institute’s anniversary by sharing with you some of Mary’s words from her editorial The Spirit of Service, published in the Institute’s Inspiration newsletter, February 1924. See if you can share my appreciation for how relevant her thoughts still are today.
As she learned to sew, Mary said that when she, [tried] out every interesting thing that I found advertised or that I heart about, I realized more and more how difficult it was to get authentic information. Nowadays, in our tech-driven world, there’s so much information to be had that it can be overwhelming to sift through everything! How do you choose?
From the first, the Institute has been blessed with two fountains of greatness, which have poured out, in bountiful measure, enthusiasm, interest, loyalty, and substantial help, and these two sources are the wonderful student body and the Institute staff itself. Few individuals by themselves are great, but working together they attain a strength that truly works miracles.
So true. Whether it’s Vintage Notions, Indygo Junction, or The Vintage Workshop, every new endeavor is a collaborative process from start to finish. I love working with my team of designers to take a dream into reality. They are like my Institute staff. And just like Mary’s student body was so crucial in establishing that growth and permanence and security mentioned earlier, so are my readers and friends that I connect with online. (To the left is a picture of Mary’s first Institute student, Dorothy Harmeling)
Students and teachers have worked together in achieving a happy goal; so it is the Spirit of Service that celebrates its birthday rather than the Institute itself.
That’s an attitude that I, too, want to celebrate. But regardless happy birthday to the Woman’s Institute, and thanks to my team who consistently celebrate the Spirit of Service!
