Women’s education is one of the important contributions of Elva Ferguson.  Likewise, the P.E.O. has promoted women’s education and service.  The Friends of the Ferguson Home Museum salute the P.E.O. on January 21, National P.E.O. day.  This date marks their founding in 1869 in Iowa Wesleyan University and serves as International P.E.O. Day.  P.E.O. has been a great friend of the Ferguson Home Museum.

Mrs. Elva Ferguson “We must not neglect our minds”.

“Many of the women of the town were like myself, little more than girls, who had gone with their husbands on this adventure.  We felt that while we made or families comfortable in material things, must not neglect our minds.  So a culture club was organized for mental improvement, and we took it seriously, writing papers upon solemn subjects.

Cultivate our minds

We met at the homes of various members, and if some of us had to sit on upturned boxes in lieu of sufficient chairs and our refreshments consisted of molasses cookies and lemonade without ice, it did not detract from our determination to cultivate our minds.

Mother of Fleta Cambell Springer

One of the charter members was Mrs. Anna Campbell, mother of Fleta Campbell Springer, who was later to become a prominent writer.”* 

Mothers’ Self Culture Club

Mrs. Ferguson was a founding member of the Watonga Culture Club and of Federated Women’s Clubs (1899), the forerunner of the Mother’s Self Culture Club, an important educational club in Watonga.  Years later, it was the Mother’s Self Culture Club that raised the funds to buy the Ferguson Home in 1969 and raised funds for its renovation and museum, which opened in 1972. 

Elva Ferguson member of the P.E.O.

I am told that Mrs. Ferguson was a member of P.E.O. in the 1930s. So, we salute the educational and service goals of P.E.O. who continue in the style of Elva Ferguson in educating women.

Springer wrote several novels/books

*Footnote: Fleta Campbell Springer grew up in Watonga and wrote: Gregg, a Novel, 1916;  Where’s your wife, a Broadway play of 1919; Solitaire, a short story published in Harper’s Magazine, 1919; According to the Flesh, A Biography of Mary Baker Eddy”, 1930); N.R.A. Goes into Action,1933 and others.