Planning for the Greenback Coffee to be held in June 1957 are Mrs. Fred Hogle, chairwoman of the house committee; Mrs. Sam D. Johnson, president of the Santa Fe Woman’s Club and Library Association; Mrs. Elsie D. Ahlich, chairwoman of the courtesy committee; and Mrs. W. Minor Maraman, chairwoman of the Greenback affair. The gathering was the major summer event of the Santa Fe Woman’s Club and Library Association. The public was urged to attend and proceeds went to the fund for a bookmobile and for the library.
Santa Fe Woman's Club members gather for an event held in 1969 or 1970.
New Mexico Federation of Women's Clubs Records, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Santa Fe
Planning for the Greenback Coffee to be held in June 1957 are Mrs. Fred Hogle, chairwoman of the house committee; Mrs. Sam D. Johnson, president of the Santa Fe Woman’s Club and Library Association; Mrs. Elsie D. Ahlich, chairwoman of the courtesy committee; and Mrs. W. Minor Maraman, chairwoman of the Greenback affair. The gathering was the major summer event of the Santa Fe Woman’s Club and Library Association. The public was urged to attend and proceeds went to the fund for a bookmobile and for the library.
New Mexican file photo
Women’s Board of Trade Library on Washington Avenue, circa 1920.
Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
A parade float for the Santa Fe Woman's Club, circa 1950.
Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives
Cora Bartlett, the first president of the organization.
Santa Fe residents in the late 1800s rode burros and horses to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to work and gather firewood.
Many workers, soldiers and merchants would tie their animals to posts on the bustling Plaza, the city’s center, and sometimes let them roam free — until nine well-to-do women decided to put some order to this chaos.
The women formed the Benevolent Association — now known as the Santa Fe Woman’s Club and Library Association — in 1892 with a goal of improving the Plaza and establishing a library. Their mission later would expand to helping fulfill other community needs, such as providing milk and food to those in need, establishing the state’s public health department and initiating Santa Fe’s 911 system.
