A lot has changed since the Lawrence Literary Guild got together for its first meeting in 1882.

The earliest members, for example, saw William Shakespeare’s popularity peak and wane.

“They used to meet every Tuesday, and the first Tuesday of every month was set aside for reading Shakespeare,” said Marion Willey, a guild member since 1967.

“And then, sometime in the 1890s, the decision was made to stop,” she said. “Well, there was a Mrs. Roseburgh who let it be known that — I’m reading from the guild’s 100-year history — ‘she should spend the fourth Tuesday with Shakespeare in her own home and, presumably, she did so.'”

Willey joined four other longtime guild members — Rosalyn Douglass, Jane Jewell, Betty Bowman and Edith Bogart — at Bogart’s rural Lawrence home for an informal review of the guild’s history as part of Lawrence’s ongoing sesquicentennial celebration.

Lawrence Literary Guild is one of city’s oldest social organizations. Its membership is restricted to women, most of whom are somewhere between 50 and 80 years old. All are avid readers. Membership is by invitation only and capped at 16.

Nowadays, the guild meets twice a month from September through April. Meetings are well-attended.

At each meeting, each member is expected to shake hands with all those present.

Though the group chuckled at Mrs. Roseburgh’s old-fashioned ways, Willey recalled how some trends die hard.

“When I joined I was told to dress as if I were going to church,” Willey said. “And then when pant suits were in vogue, we all kept wearing dresses to guild meetings. No one wanted to take that first step.

Lawrence Literary Guild members, from left, Edith Bogart, Rosalyn Douglass, Jane Jewell, Betty Bowman and Marion Willey, discuss some of the most recent books they've read. The guild, one of the oldest social clubs in Lawrence, has been in existence since 1882.

“But one day someone — I remember it was a minister’s wife — wore a pant suit,” she said. “Nobody said anything, but I remember that at the next meeting nine-tenths of us wore pant suits!”

Another change: The guild directory used to list members by their husband’s name, followed by their name in parenthesis. Today, the husband’s name is in parenthesis.

As in the past, today’s Lawrence Literary Guild meetings revolve around a member reporting on a book she has read.

The book can’t be more than 5 years old. A steering committee ensures variety.

Recently reviewed books included:

• “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.

Lawrence Sesquicentennial stories

• “Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America,” by former MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour cohost Robert MacNeil.
• “Year of Wonders” by Geraldine Brooks.
• “Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest,” by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

An early photo of the guild was a gift to current club members.

This summer, guild members are reading Sue Monk Kidd’s “The Secret Life of Bees.”

By long-standing mutual agreement, the group steers clear of religion and politics.

Members don’t spend much time talking about television either. Few watch it.

“We watch the news — Channel 6 first, then public television,” Bowman said, noting she’d rather read. “I read at least two books a week.”

Willey said she, too, read two books a week.

Jewell, a 20-year volunteer reader for Kansas University’s Audio- Reader Network, does not. “I’m a slow reader,” she said. “I tend to read until I fall asleep.”

She got a lot of sleep while reading Umberto Eco’s novel “The Name of the Rose.” Jewell said, “That was a very difficult book to get through.”