Organized in 1910 and federated in 1915 by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Columbiana Culture Club is celebrating their centennial anniversary through a yearlong series of events and programs.

The club is a service organization limited to 25 women who have made numerous contributions and committed thousands of volunteer hours to our community in the last 100 years.

The kickoff began on Liberty Day, June 27, 2009, when members dressed in vintage clothing and rode on their award winning float during the Liberty Day Parade.

On Oct. 8, the club began a series of six programs which will feature specific decades of the club’s history. Each month through May 2009, memorabilia, vintage clothing and historical documents will be on display for public viewing at the Jeanette Niven House on East College Street in Columbiana.

The first of these programs was “Club Genesis.” Culture members Betty Broome, Beverly Hall, Betty Holcombe and Beverly Justice entertained the club with a vignette of the charter members talking about the genesis years of 1910-1920.

The setting was charter member Ida Lightcap’s (Mrs. D.S.) parlor in 1920 with Lightcap played by Broome discussing with fellow charter members and friends the past ten years of the club. Other characters were: Hall as Miss Perdue, a school teacher and principal of the local grammar school who never married; Holcombe was Mildred White Wallace (Mrs. Wales), one of the early presidents of the club, and Clarice Luck (Mrs. Paul) played by Justice.

The foyer of the Jeannette Niven House is filled with artifacts from 1910-1920 for the month of October till Nov. 12.

Among the many items on display are: an exquisite white dress that belonged to Holcombe’s grandmother; old family photos; ledgers of Broome’s ancestors including her grandmother’s certificate to register vote dated 1922; Justice’s book c. 1919, History of World War I; Hall’s grandmother’s turkey platter; Justice’s childhood bonnet made by her grandmother and a cousin’s mourning black dress from the period.

The remainder of the programs which will all have memorabilia of the time on display for public viewing include: “Roaring through the 20s and 30s” by Ouida Mayfield, Linda Cundiff, Shelby Patrick and Brenda Tidmore beginning Nov. 12; “From the War Years to Happy Days, 1940-1960’s” by Carolyn Knowles, Linda Wren and Anne Davis beginning Jan. 14, 2010; “The Times They Were A-Changing, 1960–1980’s” with hostesses Judy Quick, Karen Sweeney, Mary McNeillie and Carolyn Mundy starting on Feb. 11, 2010, “Golden Girls and Designing Women, 1980-2000’s by Olivia Kalin, Helen Phillips, Amanda Bradley and Joyce Jones; and last, “The Dawn of a New Century, 2000 to the present,” with Lucy Turner, Ann Head and Nancy Vincent.

The centennial will culminate with a 100 year celebration tea in May for invited guests.

Phoebe Donald Robinson can be reached by e–mail at phoeberobinson@bellsouth.net.