calsfoundation@cals.org
January 16, 1883
The Aesthetic Club, one of the oldest women’s clubs west of the Mississippi River, began when a group of young women wishing to start a reading club organized in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Aesthetic Club founders immediately expanded their objectives “to present programs of a literary, artistic, musical, and timely trend” in order to “assist in educational uplift, and to bring its members together for social enjoyment.” The name of the club was borrowed from the Aesthetic Movement, which was “emulous of cultivating ‘the beautiful’ in all things.” Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s comments on art and beauty (“Aesthetics…are the science of the beautiful”), the club adopted Wilde’s favorite flower, the Easter lily, as its club flower.