Welcome to The Ebell Society of Santa Ana, CA

Origins

The Ebell Society of the Santa Ana Valley was organized in November 1894. It owes its plan of organization and its inspiration to the Ebell Club of Oakland, CA, which was founded by Dr. Adrien Ebell in 1876. Every member of Ebell should know just why Dr. Ebell’s name was given to many clubs for women throughout the state.

Dr. Ebell was born in Ceylon of mixed German-British-Dutch ancestry. He was brought to America while very young and was educated, for the most part, in the United States. He attended Easthampton and Yale before going to Europe to study. Because of his mixed ancestry and broad education, he may be regarded as an international character.

When a very young man, he became deeply convinced that the great need of the feminine mind was the systematic study of the exact sciences. including music, art, and languages. He therefore founded an “International Academy”, with headquarters in Berlin, designed to establish “chapters” all over the world. The first of those was the result of a lecture he delivered in Oakland.

At the time of his death, he was putting into execution a plan for the formation of groups of study classes combined under one organization for women all over the world. Shortly after his death, the Oakland ladies decided to change their name to the Ebell Society and to sever its connections with Berlin.

The following year, the system of study in classes was inaugurated, which has secured the performance and success of the institution. In 1894, several members of the Oakland Society, who had moved to Southern California, united with the Los Angeles ladies to form an Ebell Society there. A month later, The Ebell Society of the Santa Ana Valley was organized.

In a limited way, many women’s clubs have endeavored to follow the plan conceived by Dr. Ebell, and have therefore deemed it fitting to follow the example of the women of Oakland in bestowing on such clubs the name Ebell.

The name Ebell is pronounced with the accent on the last syllable.