Putnam Club

This Salem club started with a first meeting in April of 1916 by a group of professional men. The group met for a quarter of a century and ultimately produced a volume of 13 collected essays or "papers" written by its members in honor of Massachusetts Tercentenary. Contributions to the volume "Sketches about Salem people" included essays on Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, on Roger Williams and Stage Point and thereabouts.

Members of the club, which was kept small in keeping with meeting in each others' homes, met monthly, hosting dinner and then a paper was presented to the gathering.

Some of the original members of the club were Putnam, Pew, Felton, Harlan Kelsey and Samuel Henry Batchelder. Later George S. Parker, historian James Duncan Phillips and inventor Ralph Cowan Browne would join.

In 1930, the Putnam Club published a collection of 13 papers, all but one was written by its members, in honor of the Massachusetts Tercentenary. These are gathered in a book called Sketches about Salem People in the Salem Collection.

The founder was Alfred Putnam of 34 Summer Street, also known as "Put", so the club was named the Putnam Club or the nickname, "Put's Club".

See Also

Vertical File in Salem Collection - Putnam Club

"The start of a tradition; Gatherings in 1916 came to be known as The Putnam Club or Put's Club in honor of Alfred Putnam" Salem Evening News, Aug. 4, 1999, p. A3

Sketches about Salem People the Club