Press release from The History Center:
History Center to sell Quest Club centennial book
(October 18, 2010) – To mark the centennial of Fort Wayne’s Quest Club, a book of essays by members has been published and will go on sale November 8 at the History Center.
“Quest Club: The First 100 Years” is a compilation of some of the more noteworthy essays given by members.
The book retails for $25 and has a limited printing.
The book includes a foreword written at the age of 102 by the late Allen Steere. Steere was an executive of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, who knew some of the founding members.
Eighteen essays are contained in the work, illustrating the breadth of topics discussed by the club over the years.
These include city councilman John Shoaff’s paper, “Are the Classics Still Relevant?”, Judge Roger Cosbey’s paper on Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, Joan Goldner’s paper on Stephen Sondheim, the late News Sentinel editor Ernie Williams’s paper on Kurt Vonnegut, library director Jeff Krull’s paper on Greeks, Geometry, and the Golden Ratio and papers on many other subjects such as stem cell research, jazz, James Joyce, poetry, civil religion, and cosmology.
“Quest Club was founded by a group of local Fort Wayne businessmen in December 1911 as a means of establishing a forum where they could hear lectures on topics that would improve their management and marketing skills,” said John Beatty, History Center board member and Quest Club member.
“Over time, the club’s membership expanded to include physicians, lawyers, clergy, teachers, and other professionals. Members began presenting papers on a great variety of topics, including cultural, artistic, literary, scientific, and economic subjects.”
The club now has 112 active members and meets most Fridays from October through April to hear papers presented by members on a variety of assigned topics. The membership then engages in an active, dynamic discussion afterward.
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