University at Buffalo Libraries

Finding Aid for the Westwood Country Club Records, 1945-1995

MS 201

State University of New York at Buffalo. University Archives

Finding aid prepared by Chana R. Kotzin.
Finding aid encoded in EAD by Karen Morse, February 2011.
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid prepared using local best practices.

Funding for the initial encoding was provided through the Regional Bibliographic Databases Program administered by the Western New York Library Resources Council.

© 2011. State University of New York at Buffalo. All rights reserved.

Collection Overview

Administrative Information

[Description and dates], Box/folder number, MS 201, Westwood Country Club Records, 1945-1995, University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo.

See the Special Collections' preferred citations instructions for additional information.

The collection was donated by the Westwood Country Club in October 2010. The materials were deposited at the University Archives, Special Collections, by the Jewish Buffalo Archives Project in January 2011. The Jewish Buffalo Archives Project was founded in late 2007 under the auspices of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Buffalo with a seed grant from Jewish Philanthropies. The Archives Project collects mainly twentieth century documentation relating to the diverse histories, religious traditions and cultures of Jewish communities within the Greater Buffalo area of Western New York, encompassing the geographic areas of Erie and Niagara Counties and partners with the University Archives at the University at Buffalo to make these records accessible. The records of the Westwood Country Club were first surveyed in 2009, which was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.

The Westwood Country Club Records, 1945-1995, are open for research.

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Processed by Chana R. Kotzin, December 2010.

Accruals are expected to this collection.

Historical Note

The Westwood Country Club or “The Westwood” is a country club located in Williamsville, New York. The Westwood was founded in 1945 by 200 members who paid an initiation fee of two hundred dollars, The certificate of incorporation for “The Westwood” was signed by the nine “Directors” on March 14, 1945 and stated that the purpose of the club was to “organize, equip, operate and manage a Country Club for the pleasure and recreation of its members, and in connection therewith to maintain a club house, golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool and any and all means of recreation which its’ Directors may consider advisable.”

While the Westwood Country Club began in the 1940s, its roots lie in two predecessor Jewish Country Clubs at the same geographic site: Willowdale Country Club and the Wilmont Town and Country Club. The Willowdale Country Club was organized in 1919 and began operation two years later in 1921 with a nine-hole golf course in a lot on Sheridan Drive near North Forest in what was then a pastoral setting in Williamsville. It was established in a wider period of country club building and boom in Buffalo during the 1920s and was also initiated in response to the difficulties Jewish applicants had in gaining entry into other established Country Clubs in Greater Buffalo. Within a decade, Willowdale had raised enough money to build a formal mock Tudor style clubhouse that opened in 1928, and remains in use by the current Westwood Country Club (with building additions). The Wall Street Crash and subsequent Great Depression saw revenues plummet dramatically as many members relinquished memberships due to financial hardship. In an effort to save both the Willowdale and the Montefiore Club (a Jewish Men’s City Club based in Buffalo), the two combined to create the Wilmont Town and Country Club, a name formed out of a combination of their distinct entities. This action was not enough for Willowdale however, and for a few years the Country Club ceased to operate while the Montefiore Club resumed its independence.

During the early 1930s the site was opened as the Blossom Heath Country Club, with ownership based in Chicago, Illinois. After WWII, the club revived and emerged as the Westwood Country Club (WCC), working in cooperation with the Forest Road Corporation (FRC) that owns the land and leases it to the WCC for a nominal fee. In 1995, “The Westwood” celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a Presidential Ball.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the Westwood Country Club consist of administrative records and club programming. Bylaws, membership rosters are located in Series I, as are drafts and final unbound printer ready copy of the club’s fiftieth anniversary booklet that includes a brief history. Series II consists of correspondence materials with club members. The largest grouping of materials is found in Series III which is subdivided into three subseries: Minutes (subseries A), resolutions and amendments (subseries B) and annual report (subseries C) arranged by year.

Event activities are organized by year and are located in Series IV. Events include Memorial Day Balls, various “Theme Nights, including “French Nights,” Alex Leiper Day (named after a golf professional who worked at the club), the Annual Invitational Golf Tournament that started in 1957, various tennis tournaments, Westwood Poolside Theatre productions, as well other events including the Presidents Ball, Labor Day weekend events. Event files include publicity and planning materials such as calendars, invitations, fliers, photographs and clippings.

The Scrapbooks (series V) contains a range of materials dating from 1949 to 1984. Contents include invitations for various programs and theme nights, rules listings, minutes, circulars, form letters, new year cards, calendar of events for each month, samples of a newsletter (News from WWC Club) theater programs and playbill posters, film showings and notices, as well as a small amount of clippings featuring weddings and clippings featuring information about the club. Menus are included in large quantities and range from children’s menu, Mothers Day menus, Thanksgiving Menus, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) menus and other event menus.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in five series:

Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog.

Contributors

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