)
"The other day, when a few of us happened to be together, it occurred to us that it might be both pleasant and profitable for the newspaper and magazine women of Washington to have some means of getting together in informal and irregular fashion.)
"
Those words launched a September 1919 gathering of six women in Correspondent Cora Rigby's Christian Science Monitor office to organize the Women's National Press Club. Barred from membership and participation in the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club, within months of this first meeting, the club was operating with 28 charter members. It was the quality of the membership, the voice it raised for the importance of equality in the newsroom to ensure a balanced, free press that helped win distinction for the Women's Press Club.
The Washington Press Club Foundation is the organizational heir to the proud legacy of the Women's Press club, created as a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation to promote the ideals of equality, excellence and opportunity in journalism, the same ideals that inspired the founders of the Women's National Press Club more than 85 years ago. )
The Foundation's signature event, the Annual Congressional Dinner (Click here for more information), allows for the working press corps and the members of Congress they cover to gather for a light hearted, non-partisan evening, Washington style.
)
)