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History

  

The Junior League of Omaha (JLO) is currently in its 88th year of operation.  An organization of 68 women founded by Harriet Smith Whiting, Rachel Kincade Gallagher and Elizabeth Davis was granted status as a Junior League in 1919.  The Omaha League was the 26th League created in the United States. 

  

The first activity of the Junior League of Omaha (JLO) was to provide volunteers for Visiting Nurses Association, the University of Nebraska Hospital dispensary, the Salvation Army, and other charitable organizations.  The first couple of decades as a Junior League, the Omaha Junior League established the Junior League Baby Station which was managed by the Visiting Nurses Association and financed by The Junior League.  The League also adopted the "Day Nursery" from the Women's Service League which operated for more than twenty years before being turned over to the Community Chest, purchased a new home for The Day Nursery, sponsored stage productions and money-raising revenues, took over the Children's Theater from the Omaha Community Playhouse and annually produced a play with League members as the cast.  

  

Since then the Junior League of Omaha (JLO) has been the force behind creating and sustaining organizations that address the problems of women and children, health, education, domestic violence, mental health and physical disabilities.  

  

To read more about our history, take a look at our timeline, dating back to 1919: 

  

 1950's - 1970's  |  1980's - 1990's  |  2000 - present  

  

1919 

·      The Junior League of Omaha (JLO) was founded by Harriet Smith Whiting, Rachel Kincade Gallagher and Elizabeth Davis, becoming the twenty-sixth League in the national chain. Sixty-eight Charter Members formed the group. The first activity was to provide volunteers for Visiting Nurses Association, the University of Nebraska Hospital dispensary, the Salvation Army, and other charitable organizations.  

  

  

1922  

·      Established Junior League Baby Station-managed by the Visiting Nurses Association-financed by the Junior League of Omaha. 

·      Adopted "Day Nursery" from Women's Service League.  The Day Nursery of the Junior League operated for more than twenty years before being turned over to the Community Chest.  $51,324. 

   

  

1920-30's  

·      Participated in the formation of the Community Chest; purchased new home for The Day Nursery; sponsored stage productions and money-raising revenues. 

  

   

1933 

·      Took over Children's Theater from the Omaha Community Playhouse and annually produced a play with League members as the cast. 

  

   

1935-40's 

·      Produced Follies-style shows, horse and dog shows and rummage sales. 

·      Initiated radio program "Answer Please". 

  

   

1944 

·      Held Golf Exhibition and organized Telethon to raise funds for Children's Memorial Hospital and presented $1,000 war bond to the fund. 

  

   

1946 

·      Began Volunteer Association with the Joslyn Art Museum. 

  

   

1947 

·      Assumed operation of "The Jumble Shop of the Junior League" from the Nebraska Society of Colonial Dames". 

  

   

1948 

·      Opened Hospitality Shop at Children's Memorial Hospital, turning it over to Friends of Children's Hospital in 1956.  $16,500. 

  

   

1950's

  

  

   

1950's 

·      Instrumental in the establishment of the Omaha Junior Theater. 

  

   

1953 

·      Began classes in "Adventure in Foreign Lands" for gifted children, at the Joslyn Art Museum and continued the project for seven years. 

·      Aired a series of radio programs on episodes of Nebraska history called "Board The Bus". 

  

   

1955 

·      Co-sponsored Volunteer Bureau with UCS, turning it over to that agency in 1960.  $21,710. 

·      Produced "Challenge", a series of teenage discussions on problems of the day, televised on KMTV. 

  

   

1957 

·      Organized Omaha Symphony Guild and sponsored "The Viennese Ball" to help this two-year project.    

·      Co-sponsored Film Library with the Omaha Public Library.  $19,640. 

  

   

1958 

·      Televised a series of educational programs for children in cooperation with the Joslyn Art Museum. 

·      "Keys to the City", four sessions on the community portion in the Provisional Course, was presented on WOW-TV as an educational service. 

  

   

1959 

·      Began five-year operation of "The Gallery", a gift and snack shop at Meyer Therapy Center.  $4,400. 

  

   

1960 

·      Co-sponsored Omaha Hearing School with financial assistance for a four-year period.  $16,000. 

  

   

1961 

·      Purchased two films, "Dangerous Stranger" and "Name Unknown," aimed at the prevention of crimes against children.  After being televised, these films were donated to the Omaha Police Department. 

·      Co-sponsored the Omaha Charity Horse Show for two years. 

  

   

1963 

·      Co-sponsored Haven Academy, a school for emotionally disturbed children, as a four-year project. $20,000.  

·      Voted financial assistance toward the construction of a Children's Zoo. $7,500.  

·      Co-sponsored the Legal Aid Society as a three-year project with the Omaha Bar Association and UCS, $14,500.  

·      Purchased film on the retarded child titled, "The Innocents" for television viewing and then donated it to the Film Library.  

  

   

1965 

·      Televised a Christmas Puppet Show. 

  

   

1966 

·      After a thirty-year interim, the League produced a Cabaret, netting approximately $17,000.  

·      Contributed financially toward the Fontenelle Forest Association over a three-year period, for expanding their program and hiring a full-time director for the Nature Center. $10,000.   

·      The Provisional Class researched and produced, "The Proud Man's Land," a film about the Omaha Indians, in cooperation with KMTV.  

  

   

1967 

·      Introduced a live puppet show, "A Team For Safety," which was trouped to Omaha Schools and won the OPPD Safety Award for the year. 

  

   

1968 

·      Provided the funds to help establish "Crisis Intervention, Inc.," as sanctioned by the Eastern Nebraska Mental Health Association.  

·      Began Newborn Hearing Screening Bureau's "Focus-1968—Facing a Changing Omaha," an educational conference. 

  

   

1969 

·      50th Anniversary Year.  

·      Sponsored International Indoor Tennis Tournament, netting $19,491.  

·      Pledged $40,000 for physical improvement of the Nature Center at Fontenelle Forest.  

·      Sponsored "Mary Cassatt and the Impressionists" exhibit at the Joslyn Art Museum with a $9,000 grant.  

·      Provided $1,500 to the youth phase of a three-part Volunteer Training Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. 

  

   

1970 

·      Initiated sponsorship of "Way of a City," a community education course, in cooperation with UNO.  

·      Established the Fontenelle Forest Guild.  

·      Pledged $9,000 for a Cultural Education Series to be produced for Omaha Schools in cooperation with the Omaha Junior Theater, the Omaha Ballet Association and the Nebraska Arts Council.  

·      Sponsored Family Day at the Joslyn Art Museum, drawing record attendance.  

·      Sponsored and promoted a four-program series on Drug Abuse Education for students in cooperation with ETV Channel 26 and MOEBA. 

  

   

1971 

·      Sponsored and promoted a four-program series on Drug Abuse Education for students in cooperation with ETV Channel 26 and MOEBA.  

·      Pledged $20,821 as a two-year commitment for Community Legal Education in cooperation with the Legal Aid Society and Lawyers' Wives, Inc. 

  

   

1972 

·      Voted to sponsor a Bus for Handicapped, Inc. Commitment not to exceed $5,000. 

  

   

1973 

·      Voted $1,900 to sponsor "Discovering Art," an art lecture series for 6th grade students. 

  

   

1974 

·      Deposited $10,000 in the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union.  

·      Voted $17,000 and a three-year volunteer commitment to a Goodwill Industries Model Volunteer Program.  

·      Co-sponsored a pilot Creative Workshop for children with City Parks and Recreation and UNO.   

  

   

1975 

·      Voted to publish an inventory and guide of historical buildings, homes, and neighborhoods, entitled "Historic Omaha - 1976."  

·      Initiated the Sustainer Distinguished Service Award.  

·      Voted to sponsor Volunteers in Diversion and Advocacy.  

·      Voted to develop Parent Assistance Line in conjunction with Family Service of Omaha-Council Bluffs. 

  

   

1976 

·      Received a $20,000 L.E.A.A. grant for project VIDA.  

·      Voted $41,000 toward the restoration of the General Crook House at Ft. Omaha with a three-year volunteer commitment.  

·      Voted to publish Omaha City / Architecture in conjunction with Landmarks.  

·      Initiated an evening course "Kaleidoscope" with UNO. 

  

   

1977 

·      Voted $6,425 and a two-year volunteer commitment for the development of a Girls Club of Omaha Expansion Program.  

·      Selected by AJLI as one of the ten national demonstration sites to develop a paralegal model for Project VIE (Volunteers Intervening for Equity).  Voted $5,000 and a three-year volunteer commitment.  

·      Voted $7,500 to bring the American Wind Symphony to Omaha in the summer of 1978.  

·      Inclusion of the VIDA project in the Association Impact Handbook as one of the nine top national criminal justice projects.   

  

   

1978 

·      Voted $4,000 and a one-year volunteer commitment for a Hands-on Exhibit for the Children's Museum.  

·      Voted $7,220 and a one-year volunteer commitment for "From Downtown With Love."  

·      Voted to adopt two position statements: (1) to support a coordinated school volunteer program; (2) to support government and private funding of programs designed to protect and assist abused and neglected persons.  

·      Sponsored the appearance of the American Wind Symphony Floating Arts Center.  

·      Developed Project VIE (Volunteers Intervening for Equity), a paralegal demonstration project of AJL, and established a Community Advisory Board.  

·      Helped secure a $17,727 grant from the Independent Order of Foresters for the full funding of the Parent Assistance Line project, enabling the project to be turned over to Family S