The first Kiwanis club was organized in Detroit, Michigan. The group received a charter from the state of Michigan on January 21, 1915, and this is regarded as the birth date of Kiwanis.
The first clubs were organized to promote the exchange of business among the members. However, even before the Detroit club received its state charter, the members were distributing Christmas baskets to the poor. A lively debate ensued between those who supported community service as the Kiwanis mission and those who supported the exchange of business. By 1919, the service advocates won the debate.
Kiwanis became international with the organization of the Kiwanis club of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1916. Kiwanis limited its membership to the United States and Canada until 1962, when worldwide expansion was approved. Since then, Kiwanis has spread to all inhabited continents of the globe.
Kiwanis was defined as
Six Canadians have served as Kiwanis International President. The first International President elected from outside the two founding nations of the US and Canada was Ian Perdriau AM from Australia, who served in 1994-95. Eyjólfur Sigurðsson of Iceland was the 1995-1996 International President, and Juan F. Torres Jr., MD, of the Philippines, was president in 2002-2003.
Source: Kiwanis International Web site: http://www.kiwanis.org/about/history/ (Accessed 2002)
This 1933 scrapbook of prominent San Antonio sites and structures was created by the San Antonio Kiwanis Club to persuade Kiwanis International to hold its 1935 convention in San Antonio, Texas. The scrapbook contains black-and-white photographic prints of the Alamo, San Fernando Cathedral, Old Spanish Governor's Palace, Mission San Francisco de la Espada, Mission San Jose de Aguayo, Mission La Purisima Concepcion de Acuna, Alamo Courtyard with the Medical Arts Building in the background, Alamo Plaza, view from North St. Mary's Street with the Nix Professional Building in the background, Gunter Hotel, St. Anthony Hotel, San Antonio skyline, Houston Street looking east, Plaza Hotel, Municipal Auditorium, view of the San Antonio River, North St. Mary's Street Canyon, view on Alamo Plaza with the U.S. Post Office in the background, Majestic Theatre, zoo at Brackenridge Park, Sunken Garden, Randolph Field, and Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston.
This collection is housed at UTSA's Main Campus and must be accessed via the John Peace Library Special Collections reading room. To request access, please use the
Permission to publish material from the scrapbook must be obtained from University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.
San Antonio Kiwanis Club scrapbook, 1933, MS 110, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.
The scrapbook was separated from the Joshua L. Johns Papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and transferred to University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections in May 2002 (Acc. 2002-029). Joshua L. Johns had received the album as President of Kiwanis International in 1933.
Processed by Toni Jeske, June 2002.