...they allowed me to lecture on Hegel and Spinoza and Schopenhauer, in spite of the fact that they were nearly all the wives and the mothers of professors in a learned College. Nor did those kind 'Iris Club' women ever protest, thought my lectures always went on for an hour and a half.

It [the club] had been founded in January of 1895 with several objects in mind: 'To form a recognized centre for social and mental culture, to further the education of women for the responsibilities of life, to encourage all movements for the betterment of society, and to foster a generous spirit in the community.'

....In founding the Iris Club, Lancaster women were partaking of a nationwide impulse that had led to the inauguration of women's clubs throughout America....In this way the activity of women's clubs ran parallel to the activity of the ASEUT; in the introduction to an 1898 history Ellen M. Henrotin asserted that 'The woman's club movement represents a part of the great popular educational movement which is sweeping like a tidal wave over the country, and of which Chautauqua, summer schools, night schools, university extension, etc., are all manifestations.' But such clubs were also providing an opportunity for women to find their own voices and pursue their own interests and abilities. (John Cowper Powys at the Iris Club, by Constance Harsh, Powys Notes 1992)