Henry Street Settlement: Certificate of Incorporation
The 1903 official document authorizing the name of the proposed corporation: Henry Street Settlement
Continue Reading »Henry Street Settlement Pioneers: Lillian Wald and Helen Hall
For its first 74 years Henry Street had but two directors, one served 40 years, the other 34. Our current executive director, Bertram M. Beck, follows the tradition of Lillian Wald and Helen Hall by living in the House at 265 Henry Street.
Continue Reading »Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America
Blacks who were interested in starting their own branch of the Odd Fellows had discussions with whites in these unincorporated lodges. While these efforts were unsuccessful, they were able to secure incorporation with the Order through a lodge in England. They officially started activities in 1843, and the early membership drew from two established black groups who lacked mutual benefit components: the Philomethan Literary Society and the Philadelphia Company and Debating Society. One of the key players in the development of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America was Peter Ogden. He reportedly swayed American blacks interested in the Odd Fellows to focus their attention on gaining affiliation with an English lodge rather than lodges in the United States. Ogden presented the admission application in person to the appropriate committee during one of his voyages while in England.
Continue Reading »Brown Fellowship Society
Mutual aid societies were maintained by blacks throughout the United States. The goal of the groups was to provide much needed benefits to their communities that whites controlled and often withheld. In the south, it was particularly difficult to sustain a black organization of any kind since assemblies of non-whites were considered dangerous. Still, some southern cities, including Charleston, SC, stratified individuals by three race descriptions: white, black, and mulatto. Those considered mulattoes were sometimes able to avoid the most severe oppressive measures carried out by whites while having to adhere in the majority of ways. The Brown Fellowship Society (BFS) was a response to this three-race cultural environment of Charleston and came together in 1790. Those who joined usually considered themselves mulatto…
Continue Reading »Social Unit Plan
The social unit plan aims to bring about a genuine and efficient democracy by showing the rank and file how to secure for themselves a clear idea of their own needs and by helping them to organize for the satisfaction of those needs the best skill and the wisest advice available. Practical health work is the point of attack because it is one of the sorest immediate needs and the one of which people are most conscious.
The laboratory chosen for the working out of this new concept of democracy is a typical district of Cincinnati containing approximately fifteen thousand people. In this district, under the control of the citizens who reside in it and with the co-operation of citizens throughout the entire city as well as of the city government, it is planned to develop an organization which, if successful, may later, with minor modifications, be capable of application in other sections of the city and in cities throughout the country.
Continue Reading »Council on Social Work Education: Dr. Kendall’s Appointment
Dr. Katherine A. Kendall Appointed New Executive Director of CSWE President Roger Cumming opened the meeting of the Board of Directors on October 26, 1963, with this announcement: “Today we begin our work with a happy event emerging from the Committee on Search and Selection for an Executive Director to replace Dr. Ernest Witte. In…
Continue Reading »National Recreation Association Philosophy
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE NATIONAL RECREATION ASSOCIATION PHILOSOPHY By Weaver Pangburn (Circ. 1936-1940) Ed. Note: The National Recreation Association was originally founded in 1906 as the Playground Association of America. Over the years, reflecting the organization’s changing mission, it changed its name to the Playground and Recreation Association of America (1911-1930) and the National Recreation…
Continue Reading »Playground Association of America: Early Days
Founding and early history of The Playground Association of America.
Continue Reading »Playground Association of America Progress Report: January 20, 1910
Playground Association of America Report of the Secretary to the Executive Committee covering the period: September 1, 1909 – January 20, 1910 at their Meeting on January 20, 1910 Ed. Note: Over the years, reflecting the organization’s changing mission, the Playground Association of America evolved. The organization changed its name to the Playground and Recreation…
Continue Reading »National Recreation Association
National Recreation Association Introduction: The National Recreation Association was founded in 1906 as the Playground Association of America (PAA) by eighteen men and women from playground associations, public school and municipal recreation departments, settlements, teachers’ colleges, the kindergarten movement, and charity organizations. Industrialization and growing urbanization prompted a perceived need to encourage positive citizenship through…
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