Women’s Shakespeare Clubs

In 1929, a member of the Hathaway Shakespeare Club of Philadelphia explained that what drew her and her fellow club members together to discuss and analyze the works of the Bard each week was “the strong bond of fellowship due to our common literary interest and singleness of purpose.” In her 2000 book, Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth, Camille Bacon- Smith detailed the purpose of ‘fandom’ communities, noting “the clubs in fandom are run by the fans, for the love of the source products— the books, comics, television and movie series around which fans rally— and for the community.” These two women are connected by more than just their “common literary interest” and their “love of the source products.” The structures upon which modern fan communities stand and the products they put forth are also found in the women’s Shakespeare clubs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the comradery of spirit and foundations of female community women found in Shakespeare clubs continued into the female fan communities of television shows like The X-Files and Star Trek. This essay examines the correlations between these two groups of women, using case studies pulled from newsletters such as the Shakespeare Association Bulletin and Shakespeariana, as well as internet fan sites and blogs. It shows how women have utilized and continue to utilize specific touchstones in popular culture as a means of forming community, especially in areas where they have been intellectually barred.