“The mission of the League, a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation, is to encourage, recognize, and promote the production of creative work of professional standard in art, letters, and music, and through outreach activities provide educational, creative, and professional support to members and non-members in these disciplines. The core values of the NLAPW are respect, knowledge, creation, and preservation of the arts.”
The National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1897 as an alternative to the (then) all-male National Press Club. Realizing a need for an organization that would include women of the press, Marian Longfellow O’Donohue, niece of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, decided to create such an organization. Along with Margaret Sullivan Burke and Anna Sanborne Hamilton, she made plans for “bringing together women journalists, authors and illustrators for mutual benefits and the strength that comes of union.”
On June 26, 1897, the three women brought together 17 writers, novelists, newspaper women, a teacher, a poet and an artist for the first meeting. Alice R. Morgan, an illustrator for New York publishers, designed the League insignia, the owl, symbolic of wisdom, placed in a triangle formed by a red pen, a blue pencil and a white brush, colors of the American flag (see header).
The first National Convention was held in Washington, DC, in April, 1921, and the 300 women in attendance were received by President and Mrs. Warren G. Harding. Mrs. Harding was a distinguished member of The League, as was Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 1978, following its 80th birthday, The League was presented with the Literary Hall of Fame Award in recognition of its contribution to the cultural life of the United States Other recipients of the award have included Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Ariel and Will Durant and Charles Schulz.
Today, the NLAPW has 81 branches in 35 states and many members-at-large. There are over 1,600 professional women artists, writers, composers, and choreographer members of the League, some in large cities such as New York, Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay area, and Honolulu, and others in rural areas, such as Vermont, the Dakotas and in Hawaii. From Mississippi Delta public schools to Boca Raton women’s correctional facilities, from Hawaii’s Girls Court to after-school centers in Washington, D.C., Pen Women have experienced first-hand the personal enrichment that comes from arts engagement.
The website for National is www.nlapw.org
The Pen Woman magazine is free to members of the
National League of American Pen Women.
Visit the national website www.nlapw.org to purchase an annual subscription or a copy of the most recent issue.
