Calumet Regional Archives

Inventory

2.50 Linear Feet
April 1990

Introduction

The Gary Kiwanis Club records were donated by Mr. William Lieber on December 14, 1982.

Property rights of the Records are held by the Calumet Regional Archives; literary rights are dedicated to the public. There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

Linear feet of shelf space: 2.50 linear feet
Number of containers: 3 boxes
Calumet Regional Archives Collection 130
Processed by: Eileen Cvitkovich
Date: April, 1990

Scope and Content

The records document the history and life of the Gary Kiwanis Club from its founding in 1921 to the year 1976, when it is believed to have disbanded. Some of the records included in the collection are the original minutes of the Gary Kiwanis meetings, monthly reports, financial records, scholarship program records, and club bulletins. The photographs in the collection are not extensive but span the dates 1946 to 1971; these dates commemorate the Gary Kiwanis Club's 25th and 50th anniversary respectively. There are a few interesting photographs of the Soap Box Derby in Gary during the 1950's which the Club helped sponsor, as well as two photographs of their annual crippled children's trip to the Shrine Circus.

Club dedication to young people is evident in the achievement reports. During the 1930's, the Gary Kiwanis stressed aid to the underprivileged child; providing free milk for some Froebel High School children; financially assisting Boy Scouts so they could attend camp; sponsoring anti-drug programs in public high schools on the evils of mariJuana use. In the 1940's, the Club was still very much involved with their underprivileged child activities, supplying milk to the Day Nursery at the Gary Neighborhood House. The Club also sponsored boys at Indiana Boys State, 4 H membership for boys and girls, and continued its extensive participation in the Boy Scout movement. In the year following Pearl Harbor, the Gary Club went all out for the war effort supporting War and Community Chest, Red Cross, and the war-bond campaign while still emphasizing its boys and girls work. The decades of the 1950's and 1960's show the same, strong dedication to young people, as the extensive club scholarship records for Gary college bound men and women attest. Records show the Club also supported community service activities such as programs on air pollution and purchasing trees for Gary's Gleason Park. The Gary Kiwanis Club was very supportive of public and business affairs and it was firmly committed to building a better community.

Historical Sketch

The Kiwanis Club of Gary was organized June 13, 1921 in the dining room of the central YMCA. It became a chapter in Kiwanis International, an organization with chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Organizing a club had been developed through several months of canvassing under the leadership of Jay F. Grantham, with the assistance of E.C. Simpson, Charles A. Maloney, Sam Singer and Hoy Davis. Mr. H.W. Tollcot was the first president.

The promotion of business and good will between men engaged in various trades and professions was the inspiration for "We Trade", the original matter of Kiwanis. Later, members of the Gary Club adopted the motto, "We Build", because they believed that directing boys and young men in the ways of good citizenship was building in its highest sense. The Kiwanis Club of Gary promoted the Boy Scouts of America, and also contributed to the support of numerous other agencies: The 4 H Club, Boys State, Girl Scouts, to name a few. The Club also supported the Kiwanis wing at Riley Memorial Hospital for crippled children in Indianapolis, Indiana as well as helping to develop the library at Parramore Tuberculosis Hospital. During the Great Depression, the club leased 300 acres of land for a community gardens project which was jointly promoted by the Gary Friendship House and the Lake County Relief Commission. Besides establishing a scholarship fund for Gary college-bound high school students, the Club sponsored the annual Soap Box Derby for the Gary area, carried on welfare and educational activities for many underprivileged children, young people, and adults.

The Gary Kiwanis Club was a well respected, leading organization in the community devoted to building a better community as well as promoting the application of higher social business and professional standards. It is believed the Gary Club dissolved in the late 1970's.

• Artifacts -- Stored in CRA Artifacts Cabinet

• Gary Golden Jubilee
• Gary
• Soap Box Derby