Local

Charter members of Holyoke’s Sorosis Club, organized in 1907, are pictured from left, front row, Verna Mowry, Harriet Young and Mae Shepard; middle row, Lila Johnson, Mary Slack, Ida Kelsey, Jennie Mock and Melissa Heginbotham; and back row, Anna Irwin, Arpey Garland, Isabel Mowry, Anna White, Mae Mowry, Grace Mowry and Anna Foster. Sorosis was the first professional women’s club in the U.S., created to further the education and social activities of women, because women were often excluded from membership in professional organizations. The word “sorosis” means “aggregation” and is the botanical name for a fruit formed from the consolidation of many flowers, like a pineapple. It may also have been derived from the Latin word “soror,” meaning sister, like the word “sorority.”