The first Junior League cookbook is published
The Junior League of Dallas publishes a “Junior League Cook Book” and begins a tradition of fundraising through cookbook publishing.
The League continues to expand
Two years after the founding of AJLA, there were 63 approved Leagues and dozens of other women’s service organizations applying for League membership.
With a performance of Alice in Wonderland, the Junior League of Chicago is credited with the formation of the first formal children’s “headline”: theater program in the U.S.
Children’s theaters and other arts programs became a focus for many Leagues in the 1920s and 1930s. Eventually, more than 100 League children’s theaters were established.
The Association of Junior Leagues of America (AJLA) is founded, giving The League a national voice
Banding together, 30 individual Junior Leagues created an umbrella organization to provide professional support to the Leagues. Dorothy Whitney Straight became the Association’s first President.
1920s: New Freedoms and Responsibilities
No image better symbolizes the Roaring Twenties than the flapper, recognized by her bobbed hair, scarlet lips, and fringed skirt barely covering rouged knees. Equipped with a ready-to-party attitude, she smoked, drank, and necked with handsome young men driving roadsters. She created a language and style all her own and changed forever how women acted, thought, and dressed. If the…
The League focuses on training members to become effective volunteers and civic leaders
At the Annual Conference, delegates voted that all members should take a training course, formalizing a commitment to member training that continues to this day.
Marching for women’s right to vote in St. Louis
The Junior League of St. Louis, an early mover in the fight for women’s suffrage, organized a memorable march outside the 1916 Democratic Convention.
World War I breaks out in Europe
The Junior League of Montreal quickly moved to support Canadian troops and U.S. Leagues raised money for war refugees. Later, League members would serve overseas with organizations such as the YMCA.
The League provides a model for free lunches in public schools
A signature project of the Junior League of Brooklyn resulted in the introduction of free lunches in New York City schools – a first-in-the-nation reform. The initiative would serve as a model for the passage of the National School Lunch Program in 1946.
The League expands to Canada
The Junior League of Montreal became the first Canadian League, and today is survived by Leagues in Halifax, Hamilton-Burlington, Edmonton, Toronto, and Calgary.