Craddock Study Club Collection

Historical Sketch

Mary Noailles Murfree

A group of woman interested in literary culture started the Craddock Study Club in 1921.  The club is named for a renowned Murfreesboro author, Mary Noailles Murfree, who published her Tennessee folk short stories under the pen name of Charles Egbert Craddock.  The idea for the literary group is attributed to Mary B. Fox Hughes, author of Hearthstones: the Story of Rutherford County Homes.  It was discussed many times at the home of Mrs. J. Baird Jones and the first meeting was held in the home of Mrs. William Tompkins. 

The club limits its membership to twenty, and its stated object is “the mutual improvement and pleasure of its members.”  A candidate, presented by a member, may be elected, provided she is endorsed by two-thirds of the membership.

The club roster has changed many times throughout its history.  As far as is known, there was no yearbook the first year, but the 1922-1923 yearbook lists the following members:

Mrs. Homer Bean, Mrs. Cliff Bell, Mrs. Roy Byrn, Mrs. Neal Elrod,

Mrs. Jack Fox, Mrs. David Goldstein, Mrs. Henry Huddleston, Jr.,

Mrs. Jesse Huggins, Mrs. J. Baird Jones, Mrs. Harry Kerr, Jr.,

Mrs. J.G. McCoy, Mrs. John Nelson, Jr., Mrs. Deery Riggs,

Mrs. Edwin Rion, Mrs. W.T. Robinson, Mrs. Foster Spain, Jr.,

Mrs. Richard Stickney, and Mrs. William Tompkins.

Suggested topics for study, planned to satisfy the varied interests of members, are presented by the program committee a year in advance, with the final selection made by a vote of the membership.  During the infancy of the club, meetings were held every two weeks with three or four persons presenting the program.  Later, two members gave the afternoon’s program and beginning in 1943, only one person presented the program.

Subjects of study, both large and varied, have included the following:

Our South, A Critical Study of the Far East, Famous Women of Yesterday and Today, the Impact of Socialism and Communism in the Post-War World, Contemporary Writers, This Believing World, All the World’s A Stage, the Story of China, Wonderful World of Furniture, Great Families of Europe, Historic Restorations and Men of Destiny, Women Chief Executives, the Victorian Era, Russia.

During the early years of Craddock, twenty current books were bought each year.  These books were awarded as attendance prizes at the end of the year, the person with the best attendance having first choice.  Later, books were presented to the Central High School Library, to the Rutherford Hospital nurses’ library and, still later, to Linebaugh Library.  A collection of period books was a gift to the library at Oaklands’ Historic House Museum. 

Craddock’s student loan fund was established in 1930, and in September of 1943, the fund was changed to the Cuma Bell scholarship fund.  Mrs. Bessie Lee McCord served as chairperson for the Memorial Scholarship Fund for several years.

It was, according to Lillie Mae James, the Craddock is first such study group in Murfreesboro.  As stated in The Craddock story, 1921-1959 by James, Mrs. Brockman Sanders, and Mrs. Ed Morris: 

“Years bring change on most scores.  But not with Craddock.  It remains as enjoyable, as interesting, as challenging as in it infancy—an unchanging ideal in an ever-changing world.”

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