Clayton House Book Club

A new book club organized by the Clayton House will provide an opportunity to study the past in the perfect setting: the past. Attendees of the “Knox Street Book Club” will meet in the formal parlor of the restored circa 1882 family home of frontier prosecutor William H. H. Clayton. The name “Knox Street” is from the past, as well; it is the former name of Sixth Street, on which the historic house museum is found.
Historical fiction and nonfiction books written or taking place during the 1800s will be featured. Books will be studied over the course of three meetings. Sheryl Flanagin will lead the first book club, occurring March 21, April 4 and April 11, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. She will review and lead discussion of the book, “Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: The Friendship that Changed the World.” The deadline to sign up for this first book club is March 1; books will be ordered for attendees and distributed at the initial March 21 meeting. A fee of $50 includes the book, a museum tour, and light refreshments during the three meetings.
A high school English teacher for 30 years and now a realtor, Flanagin has long been interested in women’s – or human – rights. She immensely enjoyed the book about the two pioneering suffragists.
“The author, Penny Colman, brings to life the remarkable story of this 50-year-long friendship that did, in fact, change the world,” Flanagin says. “When Stanton and Anthony met in 1851 in Seneca Falls, it has been said that ‘lightning bolts came out of the sky.’ The book was written with young adults, even teenagers, in mind. However, everyone my age who has read it also enjoyed it.”
Flanagin serves as a district advocacy chairman for Zonta International, which works to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. She recently enjoyed a Women’s Rights Historic Bus Tour that visited 10 homes and historic sites of the early women’s rights movement in New York.
The Knox Street Book Club will occasionally be in the format of a one-session book review. Dr. Mike Crane, a history professor at UA Fort Smith specializing in 19th century America, will provide a book review Thursday, May 2, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. He will review and lead a discussion of the book, “Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America,” by Mark C. Carnes. Copies of this book will be available for sale at the Clayton House. A $5 donation for attending will be suggested.
In its 35th year of operating as a historic house museum, the Clayton House offers programs for all ages in its mission to provide education and earn income to maintain the preservation of the authentically restored, 6,000-square-foot mansion. Saved by citizens from the wrecking ball in 1969 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Clayton House is open Wednesday through Sunday, providing guided tours as well as serving as a rental venue for private events. Weddings have taken place at the Clayton House for more than 100 years, with daughter Ann Clayton marrying in the formal parlor in 1894. Mr. Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the famed court of Judge Isaac C. Parker, and his Southern belle wife, Florence, raised six daughters and one son in the home for 15 years before moving to Indian Territory in 1897, where Mr. Clayton then served as a federal judge.
For more information, call the Clayton House at 479-783-3000 or email [email protected].

Cutline:
Showing her spirit for the book about 19th century women’s rights pioneer Susan B. Anthony, Sheryl Flanagin wears Anthony’s trademark red shawl and unsmiling expression.

The Clayton House
514 North Sixth Street
Fort Smith, AR 72901
479-783-3000