Research and Ramblings

I have been fascinated by the Women's Industrial Home and Clinic that opened in September 1920 and closed in March 1921. It was located in Medical Lake near the Eastern State Hospital. Governor Lister listened to the women who wrote in requesting a State Industrial Home for Women. The women thought it to be new, as no other state had this provision, more need since the war, didn't want the wasteful methods of arresting, detaining, releasing, and re-arresting, and to provide women a place they could be kept long enough to be given a new idea about life and teach them other ways to earn a living. The Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs lead the charge. They wrote letters recommending women who could run the clinic, ideas about what could be offered, and reminders of the need for moral purity in these times. I am working on a series of vignettes about the women who stayed at the Industrial Home and Clinic for its short lived existence. I have also started researching ...