| Honored by: | Sally Pederson |
| Brick location: | G:24 map |
Proteus Club was founded in October 1896 in Des Moines, Iowa. The seven founding women defined the purpose and goal of the organization as "intellectual improvement." They chose the club name from mythology: Proteus a son of Neptune was a learned sage with knowledge of all things past present and future. His peculiar power was that of changing his shape at will. Proteus has met regularly since 1896. The Iowa Women's archives at the University of Iowa Library contain the papers and yearbooks from the past 100 years of Proteus. In 1995 Proteus members voted to amend the by-laws to allow men to be proposed for membership but for the first 100 years Proteus was exclusively a women's club.
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