The Society of Arts and Crafts is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of fine craftsmanship, and awards an annual Medal of Excellence in Craft. Women were active in the Society from the beginning. Painter and art patron Sarah Choate Sears was a member of the original incorporating committee and, along with Sarah Wyman Whitman, was an early officer. Early recipients of the Medal of Excellence included Mary Crease Sears (bookbinder), Josephine H. Shaw and Margaret Rogers (jewelers), Sister Magdalen, Winifred Crawford, and Beatrix Holmes (illuminators), Lydia Bush-Brown (batik dyer), and Louise Chrimes (needleworker).
