Junior League of Los Angeles's Centennial

April 21, 2026

2026 marks the centennial celebration of when the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) was accepted into the Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. The JLLA is celebrating 100 years of women making a meaningful contribution to the Los Angeles community through volunteer service, community improvement projects, and educational events.

In 1925 Mrs. Katherine Jacomini (née Thomas), Mrs. Henriette Braly (née Janss), Mrs. Pauline Welborne (née Schoder), and thirty-one other like-minded women formed a group known as the Convalescent Children's League (CCL). children from the convalescent home, 1931 Having researched the community needs, CCL piloted the operation and support of a twelve-bed children's convalescent home on Ingraham Street, which became part of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. This original founding group was admitted to the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) in 1926 and became the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA).

Today, JLLA’s early history is preserved at CSUN Special Collections & Archives, where archival materials provide valuable insight into the organization’s development. In honor of the centennial, highlighted here are a few key documents from the Junior League of Los Angeles’s early years.

The original list of charter members from 1925 resides in the archives. 1926 JLLA Charter Members List It documents the inaugural officers for 1926-1927 including the first president: Mrs. Charles Gardner Bullis. This document reflects social conventions of the time, when it was accepted practice in the United States to call married women by their husbands’ names, with the honorific “Mrs.” attached. Wherever possible we have reinserted their full names.

Meeting minutes from the League’s early years illustrate how the organization quickly established itself as both a service provider and a leadership training ground. Minutes from their first year as a Junior League document the election of delegates to travel to the National Conference, the establishment of committees, membership counts of up to 75 members, quarantines at the Convalescent Children's home, event planning including a horse show fundraiser, planning for the opening of a Junior League gift shop, and much more.

In 1927, the League's community engagement extended to the “Players Group”, a performance group members formed to put on live shows for children in Los Angeles. Two of the founding members, Miss Katherine Thomas and Mrs. John Lind Rollins, performed as Cinderella and Prince Charming respectively in an early production of Cinderella.

In 1932 Los Angeles hosted the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Association of the Junior Leagues of America. Pictured are conference attendees at a luncheon held at MGM Studios after which they embarked on a sight-seeing tour of Beverly Hills and Hollywood, offering a glimpse of the League’s connections to cultural life in the region.

The JLLA’s publications document its evolving work and priorities over time. It produced the Los Angeles Junior League News from 1926 to 1976. Pictured here are members holding an Members holding a freshly printed issue of the Los Angeles Junior League news issue fresh off the printing press! CSUN also has a number of other resources and publications produced by the JLLA including recipe books, bulletins, and magazines.

Come to the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room at the University Library to view these gems and other materials, including administrative files, meeting minutes, scrapbooks, event files, and philanthropy records documenting a century of the Junior League here in Los Angeles. Their work continues today to advance women's leadership for meaningful community impact through volunteer action, collaboration, and training.