Inventory

Flora Gulick Boys Club
Dates:  1912-1940
Accession Number:  790723C
Donor: Vigo County Historical Society
Description:  Nine file folders in a document case;
                            includes twelve photographs and six copy prints

History

The Flora Gulick Boys' Club was founded by Flora Gilman Gulick in 1908.

According to a brief history of the Club written by Gulick, her work in the U.S. Post Office's Money Order Department put her in contact with many underprivileged boys who sold newspapers in the Post Office lobby.  In Gulick's words, “every one seemed to be doing something for the girls but the under-privileged boys of our city were not being looked after.  My heart was touched by the neglect of these poor street boys . . .I thought in making a good man of a boy it would be helping girls too.”  Gulick “announced to the public” that she would hold a free night school for the boys and was given rooms at 1st and Cherry Streets.

She held her first class for five boys by candlelight in January 1908.  By May 1908, she had 50 students and by Spring 1909 the school had expanded in size and the enrollment had grown to “many hundred boys”.  Expenses for the school were raised through a subscription campaign which was supported by several of Terre Haute's most prominent citizens, including members of the Ball, Deming, Hulman and Fairbanks families in addition to several dozen others.

The Club was incorporated in 1911 and became a member club of the National and International Boys' Clubs of America.  In 1923, the newly organized Lions Club and its woman's auxiliary became sponsors of the club.

In 1939, the name of the Club was changed to the Terre Haute Boys Club and in September 2000 was the name was changed  again to Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club.

Mrs. Gulick's 5-page history from which the account above was taken is in Folder 1 of the collection.  A history of the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club from 1908 to 2005 is available in the inventory folder for this collection.

Content and Scope of Collection

This collection consists of a club history (1908-1924), board and committee rosters, subscriber lists and several photographs.  A photograph in the collection of an Ermisch Cleaning and Dyeing Company building seems to be unrelated to the Boys' Club but has been left intact. 

The history in Folder 1 was originally part of the Community Affairs File in the Special Collections Department.  The remainder of the material was transferred to the Vigo County Public Library from the Vigo County Historical Society.

The inventory folder includes obituaries for Flora Gulick and Lex Grant Nichols, a Boys' Club member and long-time superintendent.  The folder also contains a reprint from the Internet of a history of the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club from 1908 to 2005.

Document Case
Folder 1	Brief History of the Flora Gulick Boys Club - by Flora Gilman Gulick				1924
Folder 2	Board of Directors, Boys Club				1912
	Committee Rosters				1912
Folder 3	Subscription form				191?
	Subscriber list				n.d.
Folder 4	Newspaper clippings				Dec. 1913 – Dec. 1914
Folder 5	Newspaper clippings				Nov. 1915 – May  1916
Folder 6	Newspaper clippings				March 1916 – Aug.  1919
Folder 7	Photographs (loose):				n.d.
			Flora Gulick		n.d.
			Flora Gulick (in white blouse with bow) and several boys sitting and standing around a table  (1 copy print in Folder 9)		n.d.
			6000 toys (in a warehouse setting)		Christmas 1931
			George Krietenstein (?), Mrs.Gulick,  an unidentified male and Miss Mabel McKee (?) with an infant standing behind a set of toys on the ground (1 copy print in Folder 9)		n.d.
Folder 8	Photographs (loose):				n.d.
	a.			Photograph of George Miller in uniform   (adolescent boy)	n.d.
	b.			Toy drive preparation? (copy print; aerial   photograph of a crowd standing in front of   several delivery trucks; another copy print is   in Folder 9)	n.d.
		c.		Snapshot of Ermisch Cleaning & Dyeing   Company building in winter	n.d.
	Photographs in envelope (5 photographs with a   common theme: boys at camp either at Turkey   Run State Park and/or Shades of Death Park   according to caption on one of the photographs)				ca. 1940
	a.			Flora Gulick Boys' Club Superintendent Lex   Grant Nichols and several boys
	b.			Boy jumping into creek on a rope   (1 copy print in Folder 9)
	c.			Boys standing along creek (picture captioned   “1940 - Turkey Run or Shades of Death”)
	d.			Boys and men facing creek with their backs to the camera
	e.			Boys sitting on culvert
Folder 9	Copy prints of pictures in Folders 7 and 8 noted above				n.d.