High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Women’s clubs, also known as woman`s clubs, first arose in the United States during the post-Civil War period, in both the North and the South. As a result of increased leisure time due to modern household advances, middle-class women had more time to engage in intellectual pursuits. They established numerous women’s clubs, many with a primary function of "study clubs and reading circles". They also frequently supported social welfare goals, such as building of schools, public libraries and hospitals. They founded 75-80 percent of the libraries in communities across the nation. These clubs were an integral part of a cultural building of institutions that occurred around the years 1870-1930 throughout the United States. It led to the formation of the General Federation of Women`s Clubs (GFWC).