The recruitment, retention, deployment and termination of members produced a variety of documentation. Potential members were pre-vetted, an existing member would sponsor the potential new member, who would be asked to attend a meeting as a guest and then perhaps invited to apply for membership. Once the formal application was received a further investigation into the suitability of the applicant was made by the membership committee which then forwarded the application to the full Board of Directors which then voted on each application. If approved, the new member would receive a packet of information about dues, fees, expectations of service on committees, expectations of attendance, etc. Membership could end by resignation, non-payment of dues, and death. Much of Series 5 -- Correspondence deals with membership issues, as do the minutes of the Board of Directors. The main documents in this series are: 1) Members’ Information Sheets, which deal with biographical information, and 2) Members’ Ledger Sheets, which deal with the payment of dues, fees and contributions.

Members’ Information Sheets: These files contain Membership Information Sheets, Proposals for Membership, and Approvals by the Board of Directors. Many sheets are annotated with dates of joining, resignations, deaths, etc. Also attached to some of the sheets are standardized forms which indicate dates of joining and sometimes dates and reasons for leaving the club. The data collected by these sheets include: Full name, nicknames, home address, home phone, firm name, type of business, business address, business phone, title of your position, where do you prefer Kiwanis mail sent (home or business), are you a former Kiwanian, name of former club, how long have you lived in our community, who was your Kiwanis sponsor, birthday, wedding anniversary, wife’s birthday (changed to spouse’s after women were allowed to join), wife’s first name (later spouses name), first names and ages of children, membership in business and professional organizations, in what sports do you engage (outdoor and indoor) what musical instruments do you play, do you sing? Solo? Quartet? What are your hobbies, to what committees do you want to be assigned, what do you see as the most important need(s) of the community? Some Newspaper clippings are included in these files, and a few changes of addresses.

Member’s Ledger Sheets: These sheets contain the member’s name, dues and fees paid, attendance record for three years, birthday and birth place, name of spouse, home address and telephone number, work place and telephone number and classification of employment. There is some overlap in years of coverage.