By Mike Pound

mpound@joplinglobe.com

The auction would be worth it for the curiosity factor alone.

I mean, what could it be? It’s listed as “an 1877 aerial view of Joplin,” which raises a few interesting questions.

Question No. 1: Really? 1877? So how does someone produce an aerial view many years before the invention of the airplane?

And.

Question No. B: Who cares? I just want to see it.

That’s the thing about the Joplin chapter of the American Association of University Women’s annual auction: You never know what’s going to turn up for auction or how much you might wind up paying for whatever turns up. One year, longtime member Marj Boudreaux paid $7 for a love seat and two end tables.

“It was at the end of the auction, and I guess no one else wanted them,” Marj said.

The AAUW auction kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday at the First Community Church, 2007 E. 15th St. As usual, it will offer a little something for everyone, Marj said.

“(AAUW) members and people in the community donate most of the things,” she said. “This year, one of the neat things is a Dickens Christmas village.”

The proceeds from the auction are used to pay for the organization’s annual Missouri Southern State University scholarship. Lorraine Whittington is the president of the Joplin AAUW chapter. She said the scholarship is awarded to a “nontraditional” female college student. The recipient must be at least a junior in college. That way, Lorraine said, the organization gets a sense that the student is serious about completing her degree work.

The main criterion for joining the AAUW is having either an associate or undergraduate college degree. All the members of the group know what it’s like to struggle through school, Lorraine said. Because of that, the members get a sincere kick out of seeing the scholarship winners graduate.

“Oh, it is such a thrill,” she said. “They (the scholarship winners) are so grateful, and we are so glad to be able to provide the scholarship.”

I didn’t know this (actually, there is a lot I don’t know), but Mary Ellen Johnston told me that one of the earliest Missouri AAUW chapters was formed in 1923 in Carthage. Mary said that shortly after women won the right to vote, a number of groups like the AAUW were formed. One of the first AAUW chapters was created in 1920 in St. Louis. In the group’s 80-plus-year history, the AAUW has championed a number of causes important to women.