 | Houston Heights Woman's Club |
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The Houston Heights Woman's Club offers a a variety of community service and social activities. Whether you're looking for outreach service in our community, an engaging book club discussion, an arts outing, or a happy hour get-together, the club offers something to match the diverse interests of our membership. Club members look forward to our annual events:
The Houston Heights Woman's Club proudly sponsors many charitable causes. When our founding members adopted a Constitution and By-Laws in 1905, they added the clause "to aid and encourage charitable and educational interests of Houston Heights" as an integral part of the Club's purpose. Community outreach continues to be a vital part of our organization. Many of our events are free and open to members and guests, and one of the many benefits of membership is reduced pricing for some of our annual events. Learn more about our Signature Events and view upcoming events on the Events Calendar or learn more about our events. |
The Women’s Studies Library Initiative (WSLI) continues the club's tradition of literacy and women's history by ensuring our local public school libraries have a rich collection of books on women's history. We typically host a reception for our local school librarians in March of each year.
Our club meets on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm. Traditionally, we meet at the clubhouse over snacks and drinks provided by that month's group leader, but we are currently meeting over Zoom due to the ongoing pandemic. The books we read are suggested by members at a meeting in January and then chosen by member vote. We usually choose about 12 books and fill the schedule in advance for the year. If a member's suggested book is chosen, she generally leads the discussion that month, although other members also volunteer to lead meetings depending on the circumstances. Our December meeting is a holiday party instead of a book discussion. In January we usually host a special Books and Tea event on a Sunday afternoon, when we serve snacks and tea and a local author comes to speak to the group. Any member of the HHWC Evening Group is welcome to join the Literary Club! We are a casual group; you can come to one meeting or all of them, and you are welcome to come to meetings even if you have not read the book. We read books from all genres: fiction, non-fiction, short stories, essays, memoirs, and occasionally poetry. To give you an idea of the type and variety of books we read, here are a few of the selections from previous years: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens The Round House by Louise Erdich The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover The Library Book by Susan Orlean Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mary Hartnett, and Wendy Williams |
This Hortense Ward Scholarship is presented annually to a female law school student from a Houston area law school, including:
The chosen recipient is selected based on exemplifying qualities of public service and commitment to social causes, especially those involving women. The $2,500 scholarship, which may be used for direct school expenses or for living expenses. is presented and the recipient introduced at the HHWC Founder's Day reception.  Since 2012, Club members, have welcomed their dear friend, Santa Claus, to the clubhouse the first weekend in December. The Jolly Old St. Nick listens to the wishes of children of all ages from the Heights community at this free community event, photos are self-taken. You may recognize some of Santa's elves! |
The HHWC began as The Houston Heights Literary Club at the turn of the last century. The original sixteen members were women looking for a place for "study and enlightenment" and met weekly, when they spent all day giving presentations and discussing the readings. Our modern incarnation of this club was started in 2006 by local writer and historian Anne Sloan with the goal of creating a space to read award-winning, important, and/or controversial books that would spark engaging discussions among the members. 