Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. The club was organized in New York City with 12 members in March 1868, by Jane Cunningham Croly. Among its founding members were Josephine Pollard, a children's author, and Fanny Fern Parton, a popular columnist who had been angered at newspaper women being excluded from the all-male New York Press Club when it had an honorary dinner for the author Charles Dickens the month before. Sorosis was incorporated in January 1869. Alice Cary was the first president. Within one year, Sorosis had 83 members.
Sorosis meant "aggregation". Its object was to further the educational and social activities of women, and to bring together for mutual helpfulness, representative women in art, literature, science, and kindred pursuits.