Summary Information
Pittsburgh Club Records
AIS.1971.09
Pittsburgh Club.
1879-1988
3.75 linear feet (4 boxes)
Language: English
Abstract: The Pittsburgh Club began in 1879 as a social club for businessmen in downtown Pittsburgh. This collection consists of several volumes of minutes taken from meetings, scrapbooks, club artifacts, and photographs.
ULS Archives Service Center
University of Pittsburgh Library System
7500 Thomas Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA, 15260
412-648-3232
archives-ref@mail.pitt.edu
1971
Finding aid prepared by Archives Service Center staff. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process on January 15, 2003.
July 1, 2006:
Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to EAD Version 2002
History
The Pittsburgh Club was founded April 5, 1879 by young businessmen who broke away from the Duquesne Club located in downtown Pittsburgh. In its early years members used the club more for social gatherings than business meetings. The first meeting was held on June 4, 1879 to form committees and establish the particulars of the club which included drawing up a constitution, formulating house rules and other items. In its history the Pittsburgh Club has relocated three times around the city due to a variety of reasons including club growth, damage to the building due to the 1936 St. Patrick's Day flood and financial problems. The club has experienced its share of financial troubles putting its future in jeapardy several times since the early 1900s. During the Depression, the Pittsburgh Club found its membership waning by as much as 50 percent, however by keeping close watch over their finances the club survived. Eventually, the club opened up to members of other clubs creating reciprocal priviledges between the Devonshire Club of London, England which later merged with the All India Sporting and Public Schools Club. The Pittsburgh Club's Centennial was celebrated in 1979 and was accompanied by a lengthy article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Pittsburgh Club almost disbanded in the mid 1990s before merging with the Harvard-Yale-Princeton (HYP) Club in 1997, now known as the HYP Pittsburgh Club.
Collection Scope and Content Notes
The collection includes volumes of meeting minutes from from 1819 to 1936 documenting in fairly good detail what was discussed at membership meetings, membership directories, club correspondence, newspaper clippings, annual financial statements, and photographs.
Subject Terms
- Clubs -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Social life and customs
Access and Use
No restrictions.
Gift of the Pittsburgh Club in 1971, and Robert Gates (last president of club) in 2002.
Pittsburgh Club Records, 1879-1988, AIS.1971.09, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
This collection was processed by Archives Service Center staff in 1971, and by Kate Colligan and Tami Jacques in 2003.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Tami Jacques on January 15, 2003 Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 1418949
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Collection Inventory
Box 1
| Folder |
1 |
Constitution, Club rules, house committee rules, 1879-1894
|
|
| Folder |
2 |
Minute books of the Board of Governors, 1819-1936
|
|
| Folder |
3 |
Scrapbook, 1928-1939
|
|
Box 2
| Volume |
1-11 |
Membership directories, 1879-1970 (intermittent)
|
|
| Folder |
4 |
History of the Pittsburgh Club, by Charles Lockhart and John Creighton, 1879-1979, 1980
|
|
| Box |
3 |
Pittsburgh Club Artifacts
|
|
Box 4
| Folder |
13 |
Annual Financial Statements, Club Financial Documents
|
|
|
