Hospitality

Women at St. Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina, play the piano, 1958.

During the 19th century, parish life, and all of its associated activities, became a way to draw people to the church. Social gatherings, Sunday School lessons, Ladies' guilds, sewing circles, and the like became integral to local communities, often extending beyond the church building and into individual homes.

This social network created ample opportunities for women to raise funds for the church, parish halls, orphanages, schools, and mission work around the world. Women hosted church suppers and Sunday teas, staged plays and recitals, and baked and sewed items for raffles and bazaars. Given their success, by the late 19th century, discretionary funds from women's organizations often played a significant role in the day-to-day operations of local parishes. Fundraising became a form of collective power for churchwomen and provided women with the opportunity to fulfill leadership roles outside of the domestic scope.

Women at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Burlington, Vermont make bread for Mothering Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, 1949.

Rector’s Guild Bake Sale at Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes, Washington D.C., 1955. Bake sales and other similar events were often used to raise funds for women’s parish initiatives.