March 13, 2025
I am in the process of digitizing and cataloging a collection of nearly 100 historic Junior League of Indianapolis (JLI) member portraits, which my coworker Matt Holdzkom wrote about in his blog Haunting and Elegant last year. As Matt noted, the photographs are a “rare visual record of these women” at the center of the Indianapolis’s civic and social life in the early to mid-1900s.
We consider these photographs rare because they are a public record of these women’s lives and service beyond home and family. And they are all labeled, except for a few! The only problem is, a majority of the portraits were labeled with only their husbands’ names, for example: Mrs. Ralph Vonnegut. The husbands of Junior Leaguers just happened to be some of the most well-known civic leaders and businessmen in Indianapolis.
Eleanor (Goodall) Vonnegut / Mrs. Ralph Clemens Vonnegut, circa 1926, IHS
The historic practice of calling women by their husband’s name is called “coverture.” Women were traditionally addressed by their husband’s name in formal settings, as their identity and property were historically assumed by their husbands at the time of marriage. This practice continued into the 1970s, when the women’s liberation movement influenced change.
The JLI portraits represent a whole generation of educated and progressive women who were as influential as their husbands. They were educated at prestigious colleges such as Smith (Massachusetts), Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania), and Vassar (New York). In addition to JLI, they were also members of such organizations as the Indianapolis Woman’s Club, Propylaeum, League of Women Voters, Christamore House, and the Portfolio Club. That is why we made it a priority to know THEIR names and provide that information in our digital collection for researchers.
In researching each woman, I tried to collect consistent data such as:
- first and maiden names
- birth and death dates
- schools attended
- marriage dates, if applicable
- volunteer or professional interests
The hardest part of this research was determining the women’s first and maiden names. Collection materials such as member lists and directories only list husbands’ names unless the member was not married.
Junior League of Indianapolis Member Lists, 1922-1940, IHS
To track down the identities of the JLI members, I conducted online research using the following sources (that are FREE to researchers):
Ancestry (available at the Indiana Historical Society and some local libraries)
- Searched husband’s name to find marriage records that led to woman’s name, birth and death dates, etc.
Newspapers.com (available through https://inspire.in.gov/) or Hoosier State Chronicles (https://newspapers.library.in.gov/)
- Searched husband’s name to find marriage announcement that led to woman’s name, her parents’ names, and her education and activities
- Searched obituaries to find education, career, volunteering, and family information
Indianapolis City Directories (available through IU Indianapolis)
- Searched addresses of women listed in JLI directory
As I complete research on each of the JLI members, it is very satisfying to “put a face to a name” and learn more about their lives. The end result is a robust description to go with an elegant portrait. Here’s an example description for the portrait above of Mrs. Ralph Vonnegut:
Eleanor (Goodall) Vonnegut / Mrs. Ralph Clemens Vonnegut (1899-1979) was born and raised in Indianapolis. She attended Tudor Hall School in Indianapolis and Smith College in Massachusetts. She married Ralph Clemens Vonnegut in 1922, he was employed in the family business Vonnegut Hardware. Mrs. Vonnegut joined the Junior League of Indianapolis in 1924 and was active with the Motor Corps and Shop. She was also involved with the following organizations: Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, Planned Parenthood Association, Indianapolis Woman’s Club, and Indianapolis Retirement Home.
Click here to view the collection of Junior League of Indianapolis portraits in the Indiana Historical Society digital collection.
