Club marks 50th anniversary of women as members Sept. 16 at Fall Hoot

The National Press Club’s Silver Owls will mark the celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Club admitting women as members at their Fall Hoot Sept. 16. While the 50th anniversary was last year, this is the first Hoot since the coronavirus pandemic.

Vivian Vahlberg, who in 1982 became the Club's first female president , will talk about her experiences both as president and as a reporter for The Daily Oklahoman. She covered the 1971 vote from the balcony, where women were still confined. Gil Klein, chair of the Club’s History and Heritage team, will present an illustrated account of the struggle for women to gain membership.

Joining Vahlberg will be Ann McFeatters, a president of the Washington Press Club, which formerly was the Women’s National Press Club. The Washington Press Club merged in 1985 with the National Press Club.

Presiding over the dinner will be Molly Sinclair McCartney, the first female chair of the Silver Owls, and Jerry Zremski, deputy chair.  They were unanimously elected in February 2020 by the governing Council of Wisest Owls. McCartney is a former staff reporter for The Washington Post, and Zremski, former Washington bureau chief for The Buffalo News, just accepted an academic post at the University of Maryland’s journalism school.

Silver Owls are members of more than 25 years. But all members and their guests are invited. The reception starts at 6 p.m. The three-course dinner is $35 with a cash bar. Find more information and order tickets online.

The Club was founded in 1908 as an all-men’s organization during the heyday of single-sex professional and social groups. But within a few years, it had gone beyond its role as a refuge for men to relax while not working. As it drew top newsmakers to its podium, women journalists sought access.

When they were denied, the women, fresh from the battle for suffrage, formed the Women’s National Press Club in 1919, attracting its own newsmakers and organizing its own entertainment. As the National Press Club continued to draw top newsmakers, women journalists kept up their fight fir membership for more than a half century.

The vote came on Jan. 15, 1971, as the women’s movement for equality intensified on the streets, in courtrooms, on college campuses, in clubs and in Congress where the House voted for the Equal Rights Amendment (which has not yet been ratified by the states). The NPC vote was 227-56 in favor of admitting women. Two months later, the first 24 women members were sworn in.

The Silver Owls are seeking out as many of those original members as they can find to invite them to the dinner.