It was the turn of the century and a quiet revolution was taking place in New York City.  Gone were the days of sheltered domesticity that cajoled young ladies of affluent families into enforced idleness.  As the industrial revolution spearheaded great new changes in our society, one young woman conceived of a group dedicated to contributing to the social development of this country.  A Barnard College graduate and daughter of railroad financier E. H. Harriman, Mary Harriman, founded in 1901 the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements.

Now, this was not simply a group of debutantes.  The early League member, according to a Town & Country Magazine article entitled "The Junior League Story," was thought to be entering her "coming of age" by admission into the provisional class of the Junior League.  In fact, the article said that she "meets more social workers than she does debutantes.  She frequents more hospitals and clinics than she does country clubs and ballrooms.  She attends more lectures and committee meetings than teas and cocktail parties.  Her wardrobe includes more nurses-aide uniforms than dinner gowns, more walking shoes than glass slippers."

While the images and symbols may be dated, the concept is much the same today as it was a century ago.  The basic purpose of the Junior League then - "to foster interest among its members in the social, economic, educational, cultural and civic conditions of the community and to make efficient their volunteer service" - is still the essence of what the League is about today.

Our league, the Junior League of the Oranges and Short Hills (JLOSH), joined the national group very early in its history.  JLOSH is the 11th League, having joined in 1913, and the smallest such group to come into the fold of the Junior League.  Those cities, which preceded JLOSH, were New York, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, to name a few.

Click through the links below to look at our own League history, offering a bit of national perspective along with a closer glimpse of how our predecessors met those challenges.