Club Luís de Camões Peabody Institution [1923-2018]

Please note that the dates in the title (1923-2018) refer to the date range of the items in this collection, not the establishment dates of the club itself. The club opened in 1917 and still remains open in Peabody today.

This collection includes photographs and documents from the Club Luís de Camões, one of the oldest Portuguese social clubs in Peabody, Massachusetts. This collection includes photographs of the CLC band, folclórico dance troupes, Ladies' Auxiliary group, soccer teams, and officers of the club; as well as books containing meeting minutes from the General Assembly and the Board of Directors' meetings from 1960 to 2018 and other documents related to the extensive history of the Club Luís de Camões.

There are over 630 membership applications and over 380 Cadastro files for the Club Luís de Camões that have been digitized by the PADA archivist. A select few have been published online in this collection. Researchers and users can view the additional digital scans upon request.

Historical Overview:
Information sourced from the Historic Summary of Club Luís de Camões in the 100th anniversary brochure, written by Mário Costa. Additional information has been added by the archivist.

In 1917, most Portuguese immigrants lived in boarding houses, and found that their lives had become monotonous without a proper space to socialize with their fellow community members. The Portuguese immigrant community of Peabody had already outgrown the capacity of the Portuguese Benefit Society of Our Lady of Help— which had been established in 1904—and so a group of members decided to create a Portuguese social club where they could host recreational activities for the community. On June 10th, 1917, the club was formed and given a name: the Club Luís de Camões (occassionally spelled Clube or Luiz), and its first meeting was held five days later, where the club officers would be elected: President Abílio S. Bento (the records of these early meetings are inconsistent, so some name Ludvino Manuel as the first elected president), Treasurer João Correira Lobão, and Secretary José Sequeira de Sousa. As of 1967, there were only two surviving founders: Augusto Peres Gomes and Henrique Paulino.

Meetings were held at 98 Tremont Street and lated moved to a house on Sprague Street, where the club remained for years. The first priority of the club was to start a library and a school, both of which they accomplished later on in the club's history. In 1930, one founder member, Alberto Cunha, organized the club's first soccer team which would be known as the "Ideal Soccer Team." In March of 1932, members wanted the club to have its own building where they could hold meetings and host events and social gatherings. Under the leadership of President Francisco P. Saraiva, the club purchases land on Collins Street for $800, though the club only had $75 to its name. Friends of the club and other community members pooled together donations as construction began on the plot of land, and the foundation was laid by volunteers. Finally, on June 10th of 1932, the new building on 10 Collins Street was inaugerated as the headquarters of the Club Luís de Camões. Peabody's Portuguese American community continued to support the club's growth, and in September of 1932, club members and the Portuguese government donated a small library of Portuguese and English books—inaugurated by the Consul General of Portugal in Boston: Dr. João Camuesas.

That same month, the Club Luís de Camões was officially incorported in Massachusetts—though it would eventually be discovered that another club in Stoughton, Massachusetts had been incorporated under the same name earlier, and in 1965, the club would re-incorporate under the new name: Club Luís de Camões Peabody Institution.

Many recreational and cultural groups were created by the members and directors of Club Luís de Camões, including Os Modestos (a performance variety theater group led by Francisco Saraiva); the Os Beiros, Provincias de Portugal, and Aldeias de Portugal folclórico groups; a philharmonic band which played alongside the dance troupes during their performances around Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and the Peabody CLC Soccer Team, which was founded in 1946 by brothers Alberto and Américo Lopes and went on to win multiple league championships and competitions.

In 1948, under Alberto Cunha's presidency, construction was done to the building to create a new façade and increase the Club's overall capacity.

By its 50th anniversary in 1967, under the leadership of Cesar Lourenco, the club had become a popular location for the new wave of Portuguese immigrants who had come to America in the 1960's and 1970's thanks to changes in the United States immigration laws. In 1974, the Club's Board of Directors appointed a cultural commission and a sports commission. The cultural commission, led by Tavares Branquinho, founded the Luis de Camões Folkloric Club, which won the Spring Festival competition in Fall River in 1975. The sports commission led by Antonio Nunes, Joaquim Cunha, Avelino Sousa, Mario Costa, José Silva, and Luis Albuquerque made a proposal in November 1974 to join the existing CLC soccer team with the Futebol Académica group from the Portuguese American War Veterans Post #1, and though the Futebol Académica group agreed, the proposal did not go through due to disagreements among the CLC and PAWV board members.

Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, the Club Luís de Camões remained the central hub for social events and culture in Peabody's Portuguese American community. In 1994, CLC members Paulo Geraldes, Francisco Toste, José Cordeiro, and Paulo Correia founded the ameteur radio station Radio Group Luis de Camões de Peabody (KBlCFN), and it became an important broadcast that would link together other Portuguese communities around the world.

From the early 2000's to present time, the club has continued to support the social and cultural growth and gatherings of the Portuguese American community. 10 Collins Street is home to social meetings, dinners, dances, wedding parties, birthdays, baptisms, anniversaries, shows by artists from both Portugal and the states, and other civic activities. The Club Luís de Camões celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017, and even 108 years later, it continues to be an important cornerstone of Peabody's Portuguese history.