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1894: The launch for Californians

Washington Post, Saturday, Feb. 17, 1894. A series of four meetings were held on Friday nights at the Metropolitan Hotel to organize The California State Association. After the Civil War, many of the state associations were at least nominally partisan for one party or another. But by the 1890s, the partisan focus of some of the clubs began to fade in favor of a purely social focus with expatriates from states of both parties being invited to parties. This was particularly true with the wide admissiion of women members. By World War I, all of the state clubs were nonpartisan. The California State Association became known as The California State Society in 1911.

1867: A Second Launch for Nonpartisanship

The Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1867 reprints a story from The Washington Evening Star. In 1854, a political club of government clerks from Illinois and loyal to President Franklin Pierce. It was called the Illinois Democratic Club of Washington City. It was followed in 1856 by similar clubs for Maryland and Louisiana. When President Lincoln took office in 1861, the club name was magically transformed to Illinois Republican Club. The state clubs or associations were usually identified with a political party but some were just social. But World War I, all state clubs, now called state societies, were nonpartisan. This article from the Chicago Tribune describes a reorganization in a nonpartisan mode of the Illinois Association in 1867

1876: Congressional Directory

The Central Association of the States, a 19th Century version of NCSS, and a listing of state associations (now called state societies) can be found on pages 134 and 135 of the Congressional Directory of 1876. Many state associations were partisan but with a social focus in the years following the Civil War. Members were drawn from the ranks of government clerks in the days before full Civil Service reform and state clubs were a way to network with elected officials who coud help sponsor a clerk for advancement.

1881: Central State Association

The Washington Post published a list of state society representatives who were delegates to the Central State Association (another name for NCSS) on April 1, 1881.

1888: Officers for Central State Association

Washington Post story for April 21, 1888 describes association of state societies (then called state associations).

1891: The Lone Star Society is Launched.

The Washington Post for Aug. 2, 1891. The Texas State Society was reorganized in 1905 with the help of a Dr. Oscar Wilkinson from Mississippi and his wife from Texas. The doctor had been president of the Mississippi State Society. But 14 years before in 1891, a predecessor club, with many of the same officers and traditions such as the annual San Jacinto Day Dinner, was organized as the Lone Star Society. Several state societies went by different names at different times in their 19th Century history. For example, the Michigan State Society was at first called the Wolverine Society in the 1890s.

1913: California Society Foreign Policy

Sr. Sun Yat-sen declared China to be a Republic on Jan. 1, 1912 after replacing the last emporer of the Qing Dynasty. This was a sensitive political issue in California since Chinese-American families living there had different opinions about loyalty to the emporer and loyalty to a new republic.

1916: State Societies Honor Wilson

The Washington Post, Dec. 31, 1916. State Societies were officially asked by the Committee for President Woodrow Wilson's Second Inauguration in March 1917 to help prepare for visitors. By this time, almost all state societies were nonpartisan social and civic booster clubs for their states leaving behind partisan affiliations of the 19th Century. The nonpartisan state societies rallied behind President Wilson only a month after the Inauguration as America entered World War I.

1919: Five Months After the Armistice

The spirit of nonpartisan patriotism and cooperation among state societies during World War I led to closer cooperation again after the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918. Almost all state socieites now had nonpartisan boards except for southern states where Republicans were hard to find and some New England states where Democrats were scarce. Competitive states, such as Illinois, had evenly divided bipartisan boards.

1919: Reorganization of National Council

The Central States Association of the 19th Century lasted from about 1876 to the 1890s. There was a Union of State Societies about 1913 followed by a National Council of State Societies. This was the first effort after World War I to re-launch the association of all state societies. The group was known by different names at different times from 1919 until now but it has been one continuing organization now known as NCSS. Washington Post article from May 19, 1919.

1922: Association of State Societies

The Washington Post for April 9, 1922. Still another early 20th Century name for NCSS in the 1920s was the "Association of State Societies." It is difficult from reading the record to find out why there seemed to be so many name changes for the conference. One reason was that there was apparently another group also called All State Society that also sponsored dances and there was a court case to see which group had caused confusion with the other's name. It turned the first "All State Society" that had nothing to do with the state social clubs had an older claim on the name only to abandon their trademark in the middle 1920s when the group disbanded.

1922: Officers of The All-States Society

Washington Post on Feb. 9, 1922. Officers of the All-States Society elected in 1922.

1922: NCSS President Herbert W. Rutledge

Herbert W. Rutledge was president of the Illinois State Society 1919 to 1923. In 1922, Rutledge was elected president of the association of all state societies in Washington, DC then called the "National Council of State Societies" or sometimes called the All States Society or the Pan States Society. That association has continued in existence every year since 1919 under different names. Since 1968, the present name has been in use which is the "National Conference of State Societies." Mr. Rutledge came to Washington from Alton, Illinois in 1909 to work for the Bureau of Crop and Livestock Estimates. According to his decendants, Herbert was related to the family of Anne Rutledge who was likely engaged to marry Abraham Lincoln when she was a resident of Salem, Illinois. Miss Rutledge died in 1835....

1926: Yet Another Name for the Association

The Washington Post, June 20, 1926. Yet another re-organization and renaming of the conference of state societies took place in 1926. At various times from 1913 to 1943, the organization was called the Union of State Societies, National Council of State Societies, the Pan-States Society, the All States Society, the Association of State Societies, the Association of State Society Officers, the Conference of State Societies, etc. All the groups were informal associations of the presidents or delegates of the state societies of Washington. The groups were particularly active during World War I, the Depression, and World War II in sponsoring benefit dances for service men and women on temporary assignments to Washington. If a sailor with a thick Brooklyn accent claimed to be from Rockford, Illinois, no one much minded because the Illinois State Society dances and those of all state societies were open and free to all men and women in uniform. The tradition continues today. In January 2005 many companies donated money to state societies so that the USO could distribute free dinner dance tickets to military families who wanted to come to state Inaugural Galas.

1929: First Woman President Elected

The Washington Post on April 25, 1929 reports that Miss Bede Johnson was the first woman elected president of the Pan-State Society (another name for NCSS). She was also president of the Minnesota State Society. The next woman to serve in that post was when Charlotte Brown of Illinois was elected head of the Conference of State Societies 1957-1958.

1931: The First All-States Ball

Miss Bede Johnson, President of the Minnesota State Society in 1930, became the first woman president of the All-States Society that same year. The article above ran in the Washington Post on Jan. 9, 1931. NCSS had many names over the years. In the 19th Century, the name for NCSS was The Central Association of States as listed in the Congressional Directory for 1876.

1931: Dances, parties, lectures, and cards

Washington Post for March 31, 1931. Even during the Depression years, state societies were part of the social life on Washington sponsoring lectures, dances, and card parties.

1933: State Societies Visit World's Fair

The Illinois State Society of Washington, DC took advantage of special group fares offered by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to take members to Chicago for the 1933 World's Fair. A special train car just for Illinoisans who were federal employees from "Egypt" or southern Illinois was a centerpiece of one of the trips. Many federal employees wound up taking that trip sponsored by the Illinois State Society.

The president of the fair was banker Rufus C. Dawes, another brother of former Vice President Charles Dawes. He was a sound financial manager for the venture. In the two seasons of 1933 and 1934, the fair drew 48,769,227 visitors, almost twice as many as the Columbian Exposition of 1893, which was only open for six months. The 1934 season earned a profit that was given to the city.

1937: Inauguration for FDR Second Term

Since Lincoln's Inauguration in 1865, state clubs in Washington, DC have been celebrating the start of each new administration. Here are some of the state society parties set for the first Inauguration to be held in January instead of March. The transition took place for FDR's second term. Here are some of the state society parties as reported in The Washington Post for Jan. 10, 1937.

1939: The World of Tomorrow

Several state societies scheduled special weekend railroad trips from Washington to New York for a designated state day during the New York World's Fair of 1939. The fair at Flushing Meadows was symbolized by the distinctive "perisphere" and trialon shown in the poster. The fair extended a second season into 1940 even though "the phony war" has started along the Maginot Line in Europe.

1940: DC was sadly still segregated

The Washington Post for March 3, 1940 page 1. It is true that the state societies had many dances in the 1930s and 1940s. But there were also serious lectures on state history and parties that benefitted the Red Cross or a charity in the state or in DC such as Children's Hospital. Click next to see page 2 or click on arrows lower right if you need to enlarge.

Unhappily, this was the year after African-American singer Marian Anderson performed on federal land at the Lincoln Memorial due to segregation policies at two DC venues and one or two state societies referred to being "white" as a qualification for membership. This was a total reversal from before World War I when state societies did have African American members and in some ways segregation in the government employment rolls got worse, not better, in the Wilson Administration. In this story, the Missouri State Society had such a qualification and as late as 1959, after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, there were still some socities that had "white only" dances. But that pernicious practice did not survive past 1960 for the most part and many state societies actively recruited African American members in the middle 1960s and early 1970s. The social unrest of DC in April 1968 was the only time that cherry blossom festival events were cancelled or moved due to unsafe venues.

1940: Page 2 of state societies feature

Page 2 of Washington Post on March 3, 1940

1941: Even in Washington, Mrs. Roosevelt Went Where FDR Could Not

President and Mrs. Roosevelt were invited to the cherry blossom festival several times starting in 1934 by the D.C. commissioners. The president did not come for reasons of disability now clear but not as clear in the 1930s. A young woman with the same name as the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, and related to the First Family, was named as the Cherry Blossom Queen for 1934. The younger Miss Roosevlet was the daughter of an Assistant Secretary of the Navy related to the president.

1943: State Societies Plan Defense Rally

Jan. 13, 1943, The Washington Post. The name "Conference of State Societies" first appeared in January 1943 as the state societies cooperated to plan a rally for the defense of Washington, DC during World War II.

1948: State Societies Benefit Ball

The Washington Post on April 1, 1948 reports on a State Societies Conference Benefit Ball for Children's Hospital. NCSS often designated Children's Hospital as a preferred charity up until the middle 1990s.

1952: President Truman and NCSS Charter

On April 3, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed Public Law 82-293 that made the Conference of State Societies a Congressionally-chartered patriotic and civic organization. Even though NCSS does not receive public money, the law requires NCSS to submit its annual audit to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee for review by the GAO to make sure that generally accepted accounting principles are used to audit the funds of the organization.

While NCSS met for decades in rooms of the House office buildings, the meetings were shifted to the Hall of States near Union Station after 2001 due to stepped up security procedures at the Capitol.

1956: TV starts to compete for spare time

The Washington Post, Feb. 7, 1956 shows a high level of activity for state societies during the middle of the Eisenhower Administration. But the rapid growth of black and white television since 1950 meant more people stayed at home and fewer went to the monthly dances sponsored by state societies.

1957: Ike's Second Inauguration

Washington Post article from Jan. 20, 1957.

1963: NCSS President Joseph C. Brown

Joseph C. Brown claimed homes in many states growing up. He was president of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC from 1959 to 1961 and held several offices in NCSS. He served as president of NCSS from 1963 to 1964.

1965: Cherry Blossom Queen Linda Gail Quase

Linda Gail Quase of Pennsylvania, 1965 U.S. Cherry Blossom Queen, carried a letter from President Lyndon Johnson to the Prime Minister of Japan in one of the early visits to Japan.

1974: President Ford at Illinois Reception.

On Sept. 25, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford stopped by a reception of the Illinois State Society in the Cannon Building to honor three retiring Illinois members of the House from left: Minority Whip Les Arends, Congressman Harold R. Collier, and Congressman Ken Gray. The Hawaiian leys came in earlier as a present from the Hawaii State Society. This was the second time in history that the Illinois State Society hosted a president, the first one was President U.S. Grant in Januay 1871.

1993 Festival Week Chair Sen. Thurmond

Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was honorary chair for the NCSS festival week in April 1993. Thurmond had two daughters who were princesses, one in 1990 who was tragically lost just a few years later when she was hit by a drunk driver in Columbia, South Carolina. Many of the princess candidates in recent years have listed their membership in Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) as one of their activities. Sen. Thurmond was 90 years old when this picture was taken of him dancing with a member of the South Carolina State Society at the 1993 Cherry Blossom Grand Ball. After a waltz, he asked the orchestra to play some faster music for the next dance. Thurmond served in the U.S. Senate until he was 100 years old before retiring and he died a few months later.

1997: Sen. Mike Mansfield & Lantern

When former Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D) of Montana was introduced to the cherry blossom princesses in 1977 at the Lantern ceremony, the princesses were a little over-awed to learn that Sen. Mansfield had been born nine months before The Wright Brothers successfully flew their first powered airplane in December 1903.

Sen. Mansifeld was a friend of NCSS and was often generous in giving time to NCSS and its Cherry Blossom Festival activities. In 1995, and again in 1997 at the age of 94, he spoke to cherry blossom princesses and assembled guests of NCSS and the National Park Service at the annual Stone Lantern Lighting Ceremony.

Sen. Mansfield served 33 years in the U.S. Senate and after he retired from the Senate in 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Mr. Mansfield as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. He did such an outstanding job that President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, also asked Mansfield to stay at his post in Japan until the last year of Reagan's second term in 1988. Sen. Mansfield died in 2001 at the age of 98.

2002: NCSS Celebrates 50 years of Charter

NCSS observed a 50th birthday of its 1952 Congressional Charter in 2002 on April 3, 1952. Fifty years to the day after President Truman signed Public Law 82-293 giving a charter to NCSS, President Truman's grandson Clifton Daniel of the Harry Truman College in Chicago toured as many State Society Cherry Blossom Princess parties as he could including the Missouri State Society party.

2005 Texas State Society Black Tie & Boots

Audience members display the Texas Longhorn symbol in support of President Bush during the Texas State Society's Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005. White House photo by Paul Morse

1925: Charles Dawes and the Illinois State Society

President Calvin Coolidge and Vice President Charles G. Dawes pose near the back stairs of The White House in 1925. Vice President Dawes won the Nobel Prize for Peace that year with Sir Austin Champerlin of Great Britain for their work on reforming the post-World War I currencies of Europe. Vice President and Mrs. Dawes often led the receiving line at meetings and parties of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC from 1925 to 1929. Dawes had a home in Evanston, Illnois and he was the great grandson of William Dawes who, along with Paul Revere, also rode on horseback from Boston to spread the alarm that British regular troops were marching to Lexington, Massachusetts on the morning of April 18, 1775. In the 1970s, British composer and performer Elton John recorded a song first composed by Dawes in 1912 as a piano concerto that became known after his death as a popular song with lyrics called "Its All in the Game."

2007: Magnolia Caucus Logo

This logo may be copied by state societies who are members of the Magnolia caucus.

Ike, The Golden Age of State Societies

The state societies of Washington hosted many events for the two Inaurations of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 and in 1957. The First Lady, Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower, crowned the 1953 NCSS Cherry Blossom Queen and she was asked to spin the Wheel of Fortune at the 1957 Cherry Blossom Ball. Many senior officials in the Eisenhwower Administration were supporters of the state societies. In 1993, Ike's granddaughter Susan Eisenhower was honorary chair of the NCSS Cherry Blossom Ball.

Harry Truman

President Truman attended the 1949 Cherry Blossom Ball and signed the law giving a congressional charter to NCSS on April 3, 1952.

1871: President Grant attends Illinois reception

According to the Washington Evening Star for Saturday, Jan. 7, 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant attended a reception of the Illinois State Association (now Illinois State Society) the previous night. In the 19th Century, the President of the United States was often invited to attend an event but was not always expected to be the principal speaker. The president just might listen to other speakers who had prepared a special speech for the occassion. Three years before this event in March 1868, Mark Twain attended an Illinois reception and found it to be "a most sociable reunion.

March 25, 2007 Washington Post Feature Story in The Sunday Source Section

Washington Post reporter Dan Zak wrote a feature cover story for the Sunday Source section of the paper on March 25, 2007. The feature covered six state societies in detail along with a sidebar story telling how to contact the other state societies and NCSS. In 2007, about 32 state societies had web sites of their own and another 18 or so were active but did not have web sites. A new web site was set up in March 2007 to serve the news of all the state societies and NCSS at http://ncss.typepad.com. State societies that want to send news items to be posted should send them to Mark.Rhoads@statesocieties.com so we can get your state society folder at right up to date.

The Sunday Source in the March 25, 2007 edition of The Washington Post has run one of the most extensive wrap up stories on state societies in many years. For fun, click here to see Dan Zak's video of the musicans of the Hawaii State Society of Washington practicing their craft in their own unique fashion during a rehearsal in the home of a member in Falls Church.

Next, when you have heard the music of your life, read one of two stories about state societies found in The Sunday Source. The first profiles the state societies of Hawaii, Wyoming, Louisana, California, Nebraska, and Maine. Find the first feature by visiting the Post web site page at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201820.html
to locate the story on The Washington Post Online web site.

Then, if you are not on the list of the feature profiles, read the side bar story about "What the Rest Are Up To" by visiting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201801.html

The Post reached back 56 years to run a picture of our Wyoming Cherry Blossom Princess for 1951 who became the Cherry Blossom Queen. The picture, from the collection of the Martin Luther King Library, takes up just a little bit of space on the first page of The Sunday Source section. NCSS board members and state presidents express our appreciation to The Sunday Source editors and Dan Zak for their diligent efforts to find and profile all of us.

2007: Congressional Staff

NCSS was chartered by Congress in 1952. Hundreds of Members of Congress have served as presidents and officers of their respective state societies since 1876 when all the state clubs or associations were first listed in the official Congressional Directory.

1949 Missouri State Society Inaugural Ball

In the 20th Century, all the state societies of Washington, DC have prided themselves on being bipartisan. This photo by a LIFE Magazine photographer shows Sen. James Preston Kem (R-Missouri) dancing with his wife at the Missouri State Society Inaugural Ball in January 1949 in celebration of the election of Missnouri native son President Harry Truman (D).

President Harry Truman

Clifton Daniel, Jr., grandson of President Harry Truman, served as the Honorary Chair of the 2002 National Conference of State Societies Cherry Blossom Festival Week. He appeared before many state society receptions on April 3, 2002, the 50th Anniversary of the day President Truman signed a public law that gave a congressional charter to NCSS.

1935: Oklahoma State Society Honors Native Sons Will Rogers and Wiley Post

RESOLUTIONS OF THE OKLAHOMA STATE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, D. C., ON THE DEATHS OF WILL ROGERS AND WILEY POST.

WHEREAS, on Thursday, the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, through the act of an inscrutable Providence, two distinguished sons of Oklahoma, Will Rogers and Wiley Post, who had reflected imperishable credit upon their native Commonwealth, simultaneously met with an untimely fate, to the irreparable loss of their State and Nation, and

WHEREAS, these illustrious characters were known and beloved throughout the length and breadth of the land, and had endeared themselves to the hearts of all humanity by their character and achievements, and

WHEREAS, Will Rogers was the outstanding philosopher of this age—a man of sturdy character, keen perception, sparkling wit and wholesome and refreshing humor—an unspoiled child of nature, who looked down upon no man, and looked up to none—a true friend of all humanity, and

WHEREAS, Wiley Post had established himself as a leader in the new field of aerial navigation, and

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WHEREAS, the keen, benevolent, kindly and wholesome humor and philosophy of the one, and the noteworthy contributions to the cause of science and aviation of the other, have created for these distinguished citizens an undying fame, wherein their State shared as by a mirrored glory, and

WHEREAS, in this lamentable tragedy, Oklahoma has lost two of its foremost citizens, whose memory shall ever remain a living inspiration to all Americans, now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, That the Oklahoma State Society of Washington, desires to inscribe upon the record an expression of the Society's profound sorrow at the tragic death of Will Rogers and Wiley Post, a sentiment to be preserved in the archives of the organization, as an enduring testimonial to their deeds, their fame, and their imperishable service to their State, their Nation, and humanity.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the bereaved families of the deceased in token of the affection and sympathy of the Oklahoma State Society of Washington, D. C., and that a copy thereof be preserved in the archives of the Society.

D. A. McDougal, Paul A. Walker, Frank P. Douglass,
COMMITTEE.

Hoagy Carmichael and Gen. Hersey

One of America's great and beloved jazz composers, Hoagy Charmichael, a native of Indiana, was honred by 800 members of the Indiana State Society of Washington, DC at the Shoreham Hotel in this circa 1949 photo. Hoagy is secnd from left and to his right in the photo is Gen. Lewis B. Hershey who was president of the Indiana State Society of Washington, DC. Hoagy's American classics included "Stardust" written in 1927 and "Heart and Soul."

1965: Texans Honor Sam Rayburn

In 1965, The Texas State Society of Washington, DC commissioned and dedicated this bronze statue of former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. It is an indoor landmark that has stood in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building at the ground level for 43 years. Speaker Rayburn served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives and was elected to Congress in 1913 and served more than 48 years in the US House until his death in 1961. He served all but six years as Speaker of the House between 1940 and 1961.

1969: Illinois State Society Inaugural Party

About 1,200 guests gathered at the Grammercy Hotel on Jan. 19, 1969 to celebrate the Inauguration with the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC. Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (R-IL) tosses his arm around society President Helen Lewis to speak to guests as Mrs. Dirksen and Sen. Charles Percy stand in the background at right.

North Dakota State Society about 1955

Sen. Milton Young wrote of this photo:

"This picture was taken at a North Dakota State Society picnic at the home of the late Senator Gerald P. Nye in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I don't recall the exact date but it was probably in the early 1950's. From top, left to right, Congressman Otto Krueger, Congressman Usher L. Burdick, Senator William Lange, Senator Milton R. Young. Bottom row: Senator Gerald P. Nye, former Governor, Congressman and Secretary of Interior, Fred G. Aandahl. With the exception of myself, all of them have been dead for more than 10 years at this writing--Milton Young, 10/8/80. P.S. This is the only picture I have ever seen that included both Senators Nye and Lange"--