The first Junior League was founded in 1901 by an 19-year-old New York City debutante with a social conscience named Mary Harriman. Moved by the suffering she saw around her, Mary mobilized a group of 80 other young women to work at a settlement house in lower Manhattan. The news of their work and accomplishments spread so rapidly that more and more women in cities across North America began forming their own Leagues. Today the Association of Junior Leagues International has 294 member Leagues throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain and 171,000 individuals members.

Locally, the Junior League of Harrisburg, Inc. (JLH) was formed in 1929. Since its foundation, the Junior League of Harrisburg has been at the forefront of identifying and fulfilling community needs. JLH provided the area’s first childhood immunization awareness campaign, which was offered before such programs were federally mandated and funded. Additionally, JLH founded the Museum of Scientific Discovery in 1981, which is now part of the Whitaker Center, to provide educational science programs for children.