By 1879, the year the Pioneers club was founded, the women's "self-culture" club movement had been under way for just over a decade. In New York, Sorosis, a women's club formed in 1868, studied literature, art, drama and music, primarily to assess culture's effects upon the welfare of women. The Pioneers' early founding predated that of both the Wednesday Club, perhaps the most prestigious of St. Louis' women's clubs, and the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the national association for such groups, by 11 years. The Pioneers club first met on January 24, 1879 when Rosa Sonneschein, wife of Rabbi Solomon H. Sonneschein, brought together a group of 15 young Jewish women, both single and married. The Preamble to the Pioneer's constitution of 1896 reads, "The Jewish Women of St. Louis, with a view of advancing literary taste and cultivating general knowledge, and with a desire to create more social intercourse, formed a Society to be known as 'The Pioneers'..." In the club's early years, its' members commitment to the Jewish community was reflected in activities which included donations to local Jewish organizations like the Hebrew Free School Society. In 1882 the Pioneers presented a "public entertainment" to raise money for the purchase of a Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites. The shared Judaism of the Pioneers appears to be more a result of informal friendship patterns and kinship (there were numerous mother/daughter pairs in the club) than a conscious effort to be exclusive. No club rule ever required that a member must be Jewish, nor did the club's name in any way identify its members' adherence to any specific religion. By 1917, the preamble to the Pioneer's constitution no longer included the opening phrase, "The Jewish Women of St. Louis..." Through the years friendship and kinship ties have kept the club's membership largely Jewish. In its early days, the Pioneers' meetings typically consisted of recitations, readings, and debates on topics ranging from "novel reading is more beneficial than injurious" (1880) to woman suffrage (1881). These discussions were interspersed with music, usually piano or vocal solos performed by members including Carrie (Mrs. Joseph) Glaser, Lizzie (Mrs. A.L.) Drey, Nettie (Mrs. J.P.) Weil, and Emma (Mrs. August) Frank, the Pioneer's first president. Their interest in the study of music was strong enough that in 1882 these four women organized a separate group, the Ladies Friday Musical Club (LFMC). The LFMC was not intended as a rival club. In fact, its founders remained members of the Pioneers, some for years to come. The LFMC parallels the Pioneers in several ways. The organization of the two is similar in their division between active and associate members. Likewise, the LFMC's membership was entirely Jewish until the mid-1890s, and the club still has a large number of Jewish members today. Both clubs dutifully preserved their records. Beginning in 1896, the Pioneers' 14 yearly meetings, from October through April, centered on a common theme chosen by the members for the year. The 1896-1897 season focused on social problems and reforms. As the years progressed, the meeting format became standard: a member presented a paper she had written on her topic, a 20-minute tea break followed, and then a second member presented a paper. The meeting ended with a discussion of the papers by members and their guests. In the early decades of the 1900s, the Pioneers engaged in work under the auspices of the Missouri Federation of Womens' Clubs (MFWC), of which they were a member organization in District 8. The Pioneers gave money for and helped to organize the Biennial Meeting of the Federation at the World's Fair in 1904. Each year, several members of the Pioneers served on committees of the MFWC, involving themselves and by extension the club in legislative work and research into such issues as civil service, tenement reform, and pure food laws. Somewhat less formally, in 1908 at the suggestion of the MFWC, the Pioneers took 100 children from the "settlement district" near Jefferson School to O'Fallon Park for an outing. The Pioneers took a deep interest in the issues of the day, including woman suffrage. In 1912, club member Rose Newman wrote the "Pioneer Suffragette Song," which the group performed at a public meeting. The Young Men's Hebrew Association wrote requesting a repeat performance, but "after due consideration" the Pioneers voted against the idea. While the club as a whole appears to have supported the woman suffrage movement, the Pioneers never formally endorsed the local or state equal suffrage organizations, preferring to leave that decision to its individual members. During World War I the club maintained a high level of activity as a member organization in the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense. This body coordinated the work of women's clubs to ensure that wartime needs were efficiently met, without any overlap of activity. The Pioneers bought hundreds of dollars in bonds during the Liberty Loan drives, gave money for the Soldiers and Sailors Club in St. Louis, supported the food conservation effort, and sold war saving stamps. Club members also paid weekly visits to Jefferson Barracks to "bring cheer to the soldiers and to perform motherly acts in the sewing line for them." In the years immediately following the war, the Pioneers remained active, now directing their energy to the Americanization movement that both the MFWC and the Woman's Committee strongly advocated. The club gave money and time assisting with citizenship education. The group's literary endeavors both spurred and reflected this postwar interest. For two seasons, from 1919 to 1921 the Pioneers' theme was "a study of democracy." The members studied and discussed topics including the extension of the franchise, the rights of the minority, capitalism, and socialism from a Marxist perspective. But with the development of professional organizations and agencies that performed specialized services, women's clubs were less called upon for charitable work. During the later 1920s, the Pioneers focused on being a literary society. Through its studies the club has provided its members an education in the significant and relevant issues of the times. The 1944-1945 season theme "One Tenth of a Nation" illuminated African American history and life in the United States. Fannie (Mrs. Jerome) Cook, Pioneer member and social activist, wrote her novel Mrs. Palmer's Honey, about African American life and civil rights in St. Louis in 1946. When the book won the George Washington Carver Memorial Award that year, some of Cook's fellow Pioneers joked that the club, not Cook herself, should have received the award for providing the background material for the novel. At this writing (1999), the Pioneers, 71 members strong, continue to meet the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Temple Emanuel, in St. Louis County. After 120 years of shared wit, wisdom, and caring, both for each other and for the St. Louis community, the Pioneers are still alive and well.