Company's A-Comin' To the Santa Maria Valley

Santa Maria California: (The Minerva Library Club). Very Good. 1951. First Edition. Softcover. Stiff Card with black comb binding. First Edition. First Printing. Uncommon. 224 pages. Numerous local advertisements throughout; pictorial map advertisement for "Hitching Post" inside the front cover. All recipes with contributors names. Sections titled to engage the imagination; i.e., "Ranch Life (Meats & Poultry, Casserole and Luncheon Dishes, Hot Bread)". Pictorial covers edge worn with creases; comb binding is not broken, the covers are firmly attached but worn. A wonderful and uncommon piece of Californian, specifically the Santa Maria Valley Community History. The Minerva Club, the oldest continuing women's club in California, was established in 1894 calling themselves "The Ladies Literary Society of Santa Maria." Their purpose was to 'feed their own thirst for knowledge and make the town a better place to live.' The club became instrumental in the incorporation of Santa Maria in the early 1900's. Long without a club home, a contract was signed with Julia Morgan (the architect who designed world famous Hearst Castle) to design the future Minerva Library Club building in 1928. In 1951, the club published a cookbook, with the proceeds going toward the funding of a scholarship fund. The first scholarship of $535 was awarded to Marilyn May in 1952. In 1952 the name of the Minerva Library Club was changed to the Minerva Club. "In October, 123 years after 25 women met at the home of Mollie Smith, the ladies of the Minerva Club are still working for the good of the community. The history of the Minerva Club is the history of Santa Maria, with the club's own history being made on a daily basis in each of its acts of humanitarianism." (Shirley Contreras, Santa Maria Valley Historical Society.) ; 8vo .