Ossoli Circle
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| Motto | Strength in union |
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| Formation | November 20, 1885 |
| Purpose | education and service |
| Headquarters | Knoxville, Tennessee, USA |
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Ossoli Circle Clubhouse
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| Location | 2511 Cumberland Avenue |
| Nearest city | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Built | 1933 |
| Architect | Charles I. Barber |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 85000620 |
| Added to NRHP | March 21, 1985 |
| Website | GFWCOssoliCircle.org/ |
General Federation of Women's Clubs
The Ossoli Circle is a women's club located in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1885 as a literary society, the club is a charter member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and the first federated women's club in the South. Ossoli has long played an active role in obtaining economic and educational opportunities for women in Tennessee, and its members campaigned for the passage of the 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote) in the early 1900s. The club currently sponsors over two dozen projects and organizations.
The Ossoli Circle was founded by women's rights activist Lizzie Crozier French (1851–1926), who had been inspired by a visit to New York's Sorosis Women's Club, a literary and book club organized in 1868. The first meeting was held at the East Tennessee Female Institute on November 20, 1885, with 12 of the 25 women invited by Crozier-French responding to the invitation. At the suggestion of its first president, Mary Boyce Temple (1856–1929), the club was named in honor of feminist Margaret Fuller Ossoli. Initially a literary society, Ossoli set as its goal the intellectual and moral development of its members.
Early Ossoli members included Knoxville's most educated women. Lizzie Crozier French was director of the East Tennessee Female Institute, and had been educated at the Convent of the Visitation in Washington, D.C. Mary Boyce Temple was a graduate of Vassar College, and Angie Warren Perkins (1858–1921) had been a professor at Wellesley College. Mary Faith Floyd McAdoo (1832–1913) was a noted regional author, and Annie Booth McKinney (1855–1926) was a frequent contributor to magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Munsey's Magazine, and Vogue.
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