For our 125th anniversary, we will thread themes and dust off items from the archives in a monthly lookback at our illustrious history. 

1977. NYJL President Mary Ellen Fahs with Jesse Jackson and Thom Turner of the Urban League, as part of the Public Education Committee and the Educational Priorities Panel. Photograph © Public Education Association.

Walter Cronkite, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jesse Jackson, and Carmen Miranda. The White House, Bellevue Hospital, and the American Ballet Theatre. Date rape, child welfare, drug abuse, incarceration, and war. What, if anything, do these disparate and seemingly random people, places, and issues have in common? In ways large and small, each has found its way into the history of the New York Junior League.

After 125 years in Manhattan, it should be no surprise that a vast range of causes and common themes has woven its way into our story. As we mark the quasquicentennial, there is no better moment to reexamine that history and begin threading themes together. Over the course of the year, at the end of each month, we will share several narrative reflections in Friday Flash that—while not intended to be a definitive history—will focus on specific aspects of our heritage.

Led by members with backgrounds in publishing, production, and editorial, a team of creators will help create illustrations, write essays, and curate content pulled from the archives. There will be interviews with members, academics, and experts to help illuminate the impact we have had on New York City and beyond.

1934. From left, Mrs. Mary Harriman Rumsey—NYJL founder and chairman of the Consumers Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration—First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Rep. Isabella Greenway of Arizona, photographed at the White House during their work addressing Depression-era challenges. Photograph by Harris & Ewing. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Our overarching goal will be to explore three foundational values: Commitment, Empowerment, and Engagement. Within each, we will home in on specific themes. For example, February’s final Friday Flash will examine Engagement through the lens of Community Impact. From Roosevelt teaching children to dance at the College Settlement on Rivington Street in 1911 to the Arts Encounters Committee teaching art history to those in recovery on the Upper West Side, we won’t follow a strict timeline; instead, we’ll get to the heart of the matter.

Of course, it won’t be all gravitas and grind. As every member knows, fun funds the work. We will celebrate our fundraising by looking back at more than a decade’s worth of national broadcasts of the Winter Balls. There will be puppet shows and Glee Club productions. By year’s end, the drawings, photos, archival materials, and text will find their way into a commemorative volume, videos, and even a silk scarf.

We will dust off our archives to commemorate the past and view it through a crisp contemporary lens. After all, as anyone in the League knows, our history has very much been alive via a long line of mentors enlightening mentees. It’s that spirit we aim to capture in image and text: a tradition of women-to-women knowledge and care that has sustained both the League and our New York City partners for 125 years.

Did you know? A quasquicentennial is the 125th anniversary of an event, organization, or place. Often celebrated by cities, universities, and institutions, the term is derived from a mix of Latin terms.