Research Catalog

Title

Community Service Society records, 1842-1995

Author

Community Service Society of New York

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

423

Summary

• Correspondence, reports, memoranda, case records, photographs and printed material. The archive include central and district administrative records; cammittee correspondence and minutes; and files on the various programs--such as sheltered workshops, tuberculosis sanitariums and health centers, public baths and employment bureaus--run by the two organizations. The archive also contains hundreds of photographs, including works by Lewis Hine and Jessie Tarbox Beals; extensive casework files from the beginning of social work (originally referred to as "friendly visiting among the poor"); and copies of masters and doctoral theses from the New York School of Sociel Work and other schools. Much of the research for these theses was based on the CSS files
• Among the major correspondence are: Jane Addams; Cornelius N. Bliss; Robert W. DeForest; Edward T. Devine; Irving Fisher; Homer Folks; Harry L. Hopkins; Florence Kelley; Paul U. Kellogg; Fiorello La Guardia; Josephine Shaw Lowell; Frances Perkins; Lawson Purdy; Jacob Riis; Beardsley Ruml; Alfred E. Smith; Lawrence Veiller; Lilliam Wald; and Alfred T. White.
• Series XIV continues the files from the time of the merger in 1939 until 1960, and contains the same types of materials as the original gift; similarly, Series XV covers primarily the period from 1960-1970. Series XVI contains the additions to the files for the years 1970-1984, but there are also files for the period ca.1935-1969. Series XVII contains additions primarily for the period 1970-1986, but also contains some files for ca.1945-1969. Series XVIII contains legal and financial additions primarily for the period 1970 & following, and the files of H. Dogue.

Subjects

• Women photographers
• Women social workers
• Theses
• Photographs
• Reports
• minutes (administrative records)
• Ledgers (account books)
• Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944
• White, Alfred Tredway, 1846-1921
• Bliss, Cornelius Newton, 1833-1911
• Addams, Jane, 1860-1935
• Veiller, Lawrence, 1872-1959
• Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932
• Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965
• Fisher, Irving, 1867-1947
• Kellogg, Paul Underwood, 1879-1958
• Wald, Lillian D., 1867-1940
• Beals, Jessie Tarbox
• Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940
• De Forest, Robert W, 1848-1931 (Robert Weeks)
• Hopkins, Harry L, 1890-1946 (Harry Lloyd)
• La Guardia, Fiorello H, 1882-1947 (Fiorello Henry)
• Riis, Jacob A, 1849-1914 (Jacob August)
• New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor
• Charity Organisation Society (London, England)
• Education
• Health
• Public health
• Social problems
• Public welfare
• Child welfare workers
• Photographers
• Social workers
• New York (N.Y.)
• Annual reports
• Case files
• indexes (reference sources)

Genre/Form

• Annual reports
• Case files
• indexes (reference sources)
• Ledgers (account books)
• minutes (administrative records)
• Reports
• Photographs
• Theses

Access (note)

• This collection is located on-site. The 2015 accession, boxes 1-102, is located at ReCAP.
• General Director, Evaluation of His Performance (box 489); "Joey" Admission Records (box 494); Supplemental Security Income (box 509); Trustees, Study Data (box 541); and Special Administration Committee Meeting, Dec. 1951 (box 549) are: closed.
• Readers must sign a special agreement form, kept in a folder at the Reference Center.
• Box 424 is missing as of December 2021. kws

Cite As (note)

• Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Community Service Society records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Original Location (note)

• Josephine Shaw Lowell letters; Interview book (Box 180); and Handbook for friendly visitors (Box 182); Index of New Cases, 1906-1908 (leger book) are on: microfilm.

Terms of Use (note)

• CSS strictly forbids the citing or quoting of the real names or addresses of family and individual cases, which appear in the casework files and throughout the entire collection.
• Community Service Society photographs are restricted. Readers must use photocopies available at the Reference Desk. For the originals, consult the Curator of Manuscripts.
• Material from casework files may not be photographed or photocopied.
• No photographs or photocopies may be made of images in the Community Service Society Records.
• Readers must use microfilm of materials specified above.
• Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Source (note)

• Source of acquisition--Community Service Society. Method of acquisition--Gift, 1979-1988; Date of acquisition--1979. Accession number--M-1979-1988.
• 8 annual reports: Source of acquisition--CSS. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--12/04/1996. Accession number--M-96-12-04.

Biography (note)

• The Community Service Society, a large, private, New York City social service agency. The society was established in 1939 from a merger of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and the Charity Organization Society, whose separate files make up most of the collection.

Provenance (note)

• Gift of the Society, 1979, 1981, 1986& 1988.

Processing Action (note)

• Entered in AMC 09/10/1990.
• 8 annual reports Processed HR 10/08/1998.

OCLC

• 122422022
• ocn122422022
• SCSB-4798143

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries