October 2024 - History Corner

Once Upon a Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago

October 1899

The Hillside Club was founded on 5 October 1898. No newspaper articles about the young Hillside Club could be found for this month.

October 1924

Business Meeting, October 6

Prof. H. I. Priestley will give an illustrated talk on the native art and industries of the Indians and peons of Mexico and the southwestern part of the United States. This is the first showing of a set of new pictures presented to Prof. Priestley by the Mexican government. [Herbert Ingram Priestley was born in Michigan in 1875. When he was a teenager, the family moved to California, and he earned a B.Phil. from USC in 1900. He came to Berkeley in 1912, when he was hired as Assistant Curator of the newly acquired Bancroft Library. He continued his graduate work here and received his Ph.D. in History in 1917. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Mexican History in 1917 and Librarian of the Bancroft Library in 1920, a post which he filled until 1940, when he was made Director upon the retirement of Professor H. E. Bolton, serving in that capacity until his death in 1944. Meanwhile he had been advanced to Associate Professor of Mexican History in 1920 and to Professor in 1923. He and his wife Bessie were Hillside Club members for 17 years, from 1920 to 1937.]

Club House rental rates for 1924-25:

Evenings:

Dance, play, cards, etc. — $17, or $15 each for a series

Play, followed by a dance — $18.50 or $17 each for a series

One evening rehearsal, $3

A 10% reduction allowed on the above rates for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings

Afternoons:

Dance, cards, lecture, etc. — $10, or $8 each for a series

Mornings:

Rental — $3, or $2 each for a series

Punch service, $2 extra

Ice cream and cake service, $2 extra

Kitchen with gas service, $3 extra

Rental price includes fire in furnace or fireplace. If both desired, $1 extra

Members for private use will be allowed 20% reduction

October 1949

The Hillside Club has a nearly complete archive of monthly newsletters. Unfortunately, there is a gap from October 1949 through January 1951.

October 1974

Fireside Meeting, October 7

We are pleased to present Dr. James S. Guthrie, Associate Professor of Education at UC Berkeley, who will discuss the critical erosion of public control of our schools. Under the title “American Education: The Public versus the Professionals,” Prof. Guthrie will discuss factors in our society which have contributed to this lessening of local control (urbanization, growth in the size of school districts, unionization of teachers etc.) and will offer suggested reforms.

Civic Affairs, October 21

Mrs. Dagney Winkler, Deputy District Attorney of Alameda County will tell us about the Consumer Affairs Division of the District Attorney’s office—what is is, what it does, and how it works. Recently there has been a growth in “consumerism” and there are new laws providing protection to consumers. More legislation has been proposed. This meeting will give us closeups of these aspects of government which touch each of us.

October 1998

The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!