The Junior League Movement:
A History of Growth and Community Service

In 1901, Mary Harriman, a 19-year-old New York City debutante with a social conscience, founded the first Junior League. Moved by the suffering she saw around her, Harriman mobilized a group of 80 other young women –hence the name “Junior” League – to work to improve the squalid conditions in which immigrants were living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Mary Harriman’s vision for improving communities by using the energy and commitment of trained volunteers caught on. The second Junior League was started in Boston in 1907 and was soon followed by the founding of the Brooklyn, New York Junior League in 1910. The rest is history…

For a downloadable PDF version of the AJLI Fact Sheet, please click here.