Mary McDowell Settlement (Chicago, Ill.) records,
1894-1970, bulk 1930-1962.
Descriptive Inventory for the
Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Blanche Jentzen, 1957; rev.
by Archie Motley, 1965; rev. 1990, 2007.
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601
North Clark Street
Chicago,
IL 60614-6038
Web-site:
http://www.chicagohistory.org/research
© Copyright 2007, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 North Clark
St., Chicago, IL 60614-6038
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Mary
McDowell Settlement (Chicago, Ill.) records, 1894-1970, bulk 1930-1962.
Main entry: Mary
McDowell Settlement (Social settlement : Chicago, Ill.)
Inclusive dates: 1894-1970 (bulk 1930-1962).
Extent: 25.5
linear ft. (54 boxes)
Restriction:
In order to consult certain boxes that may contain personal information,
researchers must sign the form "Request for Research Access to
Confidential Case Records." In part 1, this material is in folders
7A, 8, 10, and 14.
Restriction:
Boxes 16-18, 27 (1 folder only), 30-32, 34-36, 38-45, 49-51 in part 2, the more
recent portion of the collection, are closed to researchers.
Provenance statement: Gift of the Mary McDowell Settlement beginning in 1956
(M1957.0006; M1965.0496).
Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or
their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless
otherwise noted.
Please cite this
collection as:
Mary McDowell Settlement (Chicago, Ill.) records (Chicago History Museum) plus
a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.
This descriptive
inventory contains the following sections:
Biographical/historical
note,
Summary
description of the collection,
Description
of some material related to the collection,
List
of online catalog headings about the collection,
Arrangement
of the collection,
Detailed
description of archival series in the collection,
List
of contents of the collection.
Biographical/historical
note:
Mary Eliza McDowell, head
resident of the University of Chicago Settlement from 1894 to 1936, was the daughter
of Malcolm and Jane Welch (Gordon) McDowell. She born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on
Nov. 30, 1854. Her father moved his family to Chicago at the close of the Civil
War and established a steel rolling mill here. Mary McDowell witnessed the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 and participated in the relief and rehabilitation work
that followed. Her family later moved to Evanston, Illinois, where she met
Frances Willard and became active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
She also taught Methodist Sunday School, graduated from the school of
kindergarten training conducted by Elizabeth Harrison, and observed the work of
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr at Hull House. She moved to Hull House in
1890, intending to become a permanent resident and kindergarten worker there,
but family illness recalled her to Evanston.
Meanwhile, the Philanthropic
Committee of the Christian Union of the University of Chicago had decided to
establish a settlement as a laboratory for the university's Department of
Sociology. The laboratory was to be a window for first-hand observation of an
industrial, immigrant neighborhood. The neighborhood selected was the Packingtown
area in the vicinity of the Chicago Union Stock Yards. The laboratory, the
University of Chicago Settlement, was established in January 1894 although it
never officially belonged to the University of Chicago. Initial work of the settlement
was carried on by faculty members and graduate students of the university. In
the fall of 1894, upon the advice of Jane Addams, the Philanthropic Union
invited Mary McDowell to direct the settlement. She accepted the invitation and
became head resident of the settlement as the age of 39. She held this title
until her death in 1936.
During her years as head resident,
Miss McDowell was particularly effective in improving economic, educational,
living, and health conditions in the Packingtown area. She was also active in
labor affairs, especially those involving labor disputes at the Union
Stock-Yards. She was the first President of the Illinois Women's Trade Union
League and was officially connected with the National Trade Union League from
1903 until her death. She also served as the Commissioner of Public Welfare of
the City of Chicago from 1923-1927 during Mayor William E. Dever's
administration.
The Packingtown area was
mostly inhabited by Irish Americans and Germans Americans in the 1890s. Shortly
thereafter, Bohemians, Poles, Lithuanians, and Slovaks began to work and live
in the area. During and after the First World War, many Mexicans and Negroes
also came into the neighborhood. Miss McDowell was a friend to end helper of
all these peoples. She worked with the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, the Immigrants' Protective League,
the League of Women Voters, the Y.W.C.A., and other organizations. Miss
McDowell suffered a paralytic stroke in 1935, and died in Chicago on October
14,1936, at the age of 81. On November 30, 1956, the name of the University of
Chicago Settlement was officially changed to the Mary McDowell Settlement.
Later, the organization merged into Chicago Commons Association.
(Most of this information was
taken from Louise C. Wade's biographical sketch of Miss McDowell in the Dictionary of American Biography,
Supplement Two).
Summary description of the collection:
Letters, speeches, etc. of
Mary McDowell, head resident,1894-1936, of the University of Chicago
Settlement, which later became known as the Mary McDowell Settlement, and other
administrators; board minutes, reports, letters, and financial papers of the
settlement. The board minutes contain related reports and letters. Early papers
relate to McDowell's social-work career and family; the settlement's
objectives, activities, and organization; and to economic and social conditions
in the Packingtown area, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Considerable data on labor conditions at the stockyards and on unemployment is
present, along with information on immigrant groups in Chicago, chiefly those
of Slavic and Mexican descent. The papers contain many items on recreational
facilities operated by the settlement for adults and children and about mothers
clubs and other clubs that met at the settlement.
Part one of the collection is
organized by folders; part two is organized by boxes and folders.
Includes the collection
formerly known as the Mary McDowell papers and the materials formerly known as
the University of Chicago Settlement records at the Research Center, Chicago
History Museum.
Description of
some material related to the collection:
Related materials at Chicago
History Museum, Research Center, include the Mary McDowell Settlement
photograph collection (1980.0163).
List of online
catalog headings about the collection:
The following headings for
this collection were placed in the online catalog:
Subjects:
McDowell, Mary
E.,1854-1936--Archives.
Mary McDowell Settlement (Social
settlement : Chicago, Ill.)--Archives.
University of Chicago.
Settlement--Archives.
Masaryk, Alice Garrigue,
1879-1966.
Union Stock Yard &
Transit Company of Chicago--Employees.
University of Chicago. Settlement--Archives.
4630 South McDowell Street (Chicago,
Ill.)
Community
centers--Illinois--Chicago--19th century.
Community
centers--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Community
organization--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Czech
Americans--Illinois--Chicago.
Families--Illinois--Chicago--Statistics.
Mexicans--Illinois--Chicago.
Mexican
Americans--Illinois--Chicago.
Packinghouse
workers--Illinois--Chicago--19th century.
Packinghouse
workers--Illinois--Chicago-20th century.
Polish
Americans--Illinois--Chicago.
Slavic
Americans--Illinois--Chicago
Social settlements--Illinois--Chicago--19th
century.
Social
settlements--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Stockyards--Illinois--Chicago--19th
century.
Stockyards--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Census, 1930.
Chicago (Ill.)--Census, 1934.
Women social
workers--Illinois--Chicago--19th century.
Women social
workers--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Economic
conditions--19th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Economic
conditions--20th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Social
conditions--19th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Social
conditions--20th century.
Chicago (Ill.)--Census, 1930.
Back of the Yards (Chicago,
Ill.)
New City (Chicago, Ill.)
Form/genre:
Case files.
Census, 15th, 1930.
Census, 1934.
Correspondence.
Financial records.
Minutes.
Reports.
Statistics.
Added entries:
McDowell, Mary E., 1854-1936.
Masaryk, Alice Garrigue,
1879-1966
University of Chicago.
Settlement
Mary McDowell papers.
University of Chicago
Settlement records.
United States--Illinois--Cook
County--Chicago.
Card catalog headings for small
groups of items within the collection:
Chicago. Census. 1930.
Chicago. Census. 1934.
Chicago. Churches.
Chicago. Communities. Near
North Side.
Crime and Criminals. Chicago.
Education. Chicago.
Housing. Chicago.
Hygiene. Public. Chicago.
Social Settlements. Chicago.
Olivet Institute.
Strikes and Lockouts.
Chicago. Union Stock Yards, 1904.
Masaryk, Alice, 1879-
Arrangement of
the collection:
The
collection is arranged in two parts. Part 1 is described folder by folder. Part
2 is described by box.
List of contents
of the collection:
Part One. List of folders:
folders:
1 Mary E.
McDowell biographical material (60 items, 1904-1941)
2 Mary E.
McDowell memorial services (100 items, 1936-1937)
3-3b University of
Chicago Settlement establishment (35 items, 1908?-1944), includes folder 3:
"Beginnings"--Autobiographical
3c University
of Chicago Settlement history & by-laws (15 items, 1924-1942)
3d University
of Chicago Settlement 50th anniversary (50 items, 1944)
4 University
of Chicago Settlement handbook (2 items, 1932- ?)
5 University
of Chicago Settlement annual dinners (60 items, 1925-1944)
5a University
of Chicago Settlement memorials (25 items, 1922-1943)
6 University
of Chicago Settlement: Alice Masaryk (50 items, 1937-1940)
7-7a University of
Chicago Settlement studies & surveys (50 items, 1924-1938)
[7A
has restricted case records: Researcher must sign Confidentiality agreement
before conculting this material.]
8 University
of Chicago Settlement: Back of the Yards (25 items, 1934)
[8
has restricted case records: Researcher must sign Confidentiality agreement
before conculting this material.]
9 University
of Chicago Settlement census data, 1930 & 1934 censuses (20 items,
1933-1934)
10 University
of Chicago Settlement delinquency (25 items, 1924-1927)
[10
has restricted case records: Researcher must sign Confidentiality agreement
before conculting this material.]
11 University
of Chicago Settlement education (60 items, 1932-1934)
12 University
of Chicago Settlement foreign population (15 items, undated)
13 University
of Chicago Settlement health (15 items, 1908-1933)
14 University
of Chicago Settlement housing (15 items, 1912-1931)
[14
has restricted case records: Researcher must sign Confidentiality agreement
before conculting this material.]
15-15c University of
Chicago Settlement labor--stock-yards (160 items, 1902-1949)
16 University
of Chicago Settlement unemployment committee, emergency relief (25 items,
1930-1932)
17-17a University of
Chicago Settlement unemployment correspondence (120 items, 1930-1935)
18-18a University of
Chicago Settlement unemployment statistics (90 items, 1930-1939)
19 University
of Chicago Settlement political matters (40 items, 1903-1934)
20 University
of Chicago Settlement recreation (50 items, 1904-1933)
20a-b University of
Chicago Settlement gymnasium building funds (70 items, 1922-1933)
21 University
of Chicago Settlement religion (25 items, 1904-1939)
University of Chicago
Settlement board minutes & reports (3 volumes, 1896-1930)
(Vol. 1 contains sundry account entries 1894-1895)
filed between folders 21 and 22
22-34 University of
Chicago Settlement board minutes & reports (530 items, 1931-1957)
35-39 University of
Chicago Settlement letters, financial reports, etc. (270 items, 1920-1945)
Part Two:
box 1 Historical data
box 2 Board minutes 1944-1968
box 3 Board correspondence
1934, 1941-1967
box 4-5 University of Chicago Settlement, Woman’s
Club 1896-1947
box 6 University of
Chicago Settlement newsletters 1938-1956
box 7-9 General papers 1925-1970 and undated
Consists mainly of
correspondence, the bulk of which deals with the work carried on at the settlement.
1940’s papers include printed
material from the Council of Social Agencies in Chicago regarding the Chicago
Group Work Agency Study.
1941 correspondence includes
letters proposing the setting up of a National Citizenship Education Program at
the Settlement to be sponsor by the WPA.
1940’s papers include printed
material and letters of the Chicago Recreation Commission.
1943-1945 papers include
letters from former Settlement participants now in the military commenting on
their impressions of the settlement and military life.
Sept. 1945 minutes of the
Committee on Minority Groups discusses kind of services rendered by social
agencies to Mexicans, Jamaicans and other minority groups in the Chicago area.
Feb. 1963 address by Guido
Tardi, executive director of the settlement given before the University of
Chicago Service League commenting on the Service League’s contribution to the settlement
and community. Also remarks on the interracial problems in the community,
particularly discrimination against Blacks and Mexicans in the community.
box 10-11: Financial material
& contributions 1923-1961
Letters to and from
prospective donors regarding requests for financial support of the settlement.
box 12: Financial material
1 folder Mary McDowell Salary
Fund 1927-1931
Letters requesting
contribution for a salary for Miss McDowell
1 folder Douglas Smith Fund
1937-1942
Fund to provide health care
and social needs of the working girl. Includes minutes and letters.
1 folder Cash reports 1963-1964 bank statements
4 folders Budget and audit reports 1924-1966
1 folder Treasurer’s reports 1927-1928, 1945-1956
1 folder Financial statements 1963-1965
box 13a: General financial correspondence
1921-1945
2 folders contain salary
schedules, lists of charitable foundations, minutes of finance committee,
letters regarding bequests.
box 14: Community Fund 1928-1966
Correspondence and monthly
financial reports concerning annual funds
box 15: Fund raising material
1 folder General fund raising material 1960,
1962
1 folder Annual bazaars 1939-1952
1 folder Benefits 1939-1959
1 folder Tag day 1943-1953, 1960
box 16-17: Personnel 1920’s-1960’s
--CLOSED
Letters from individuals
seeking employment at the settlement; letters of recommendation; letters
concerning salary increases; and resignations (arranged alphabetically by last
name)
box 18: Personnel --CLOSED
1 folder Correspondence with participants in
the National Youth Administration, WPA, and Voluntary Workers programs who were
former workers in the Settlement.
2 folders Personnel evaluation 1934-1965
Outgoing letters of
recommendation for former settlement workers; arranged alphabetically by last
name.
2 folders General personnel material on salaries,
work schedules and job descriptions.
1 folder Antioch College Work-Study Program 1960-1961
Correspondence concerning
work-study program whereby undergraduates worked and lived in the settlement
for three month periods.
box 19
2 folders Annual reports 1918-1930, 1934-1948
Annual summary of settlement
programs and activities, statistical summaries of activities and statements on settlement
income and expenditures. Most of the reports also comment on the changing ethnic
composition of the Back-of-the-Yards community. Found throughout the reports
are observations on the attitudes and social and economic status of primarily
the Mexicans but also their Polish, German and Yugoslav neighbors that resided
in the area. Also included are ethnic breakdowns of people that used the
settlement. Mid 1930’s reports include comments on the effect of the depression
on the settlement operations.
6 folders Monthly reports 1934-1953
A more detailed account of settlement
activities in areas of adult education, health care, social services and
recreational activities is given in these monthly reports. Comments on Mexican
and Polish participation in settlement activities are interspersed throughout
the monthly reports.
1 folder Annual service reports 1950, 1958-1968
Summarizing progress and
direction of the settlement program; agency’s purpose and objectives.
box 20: Social service and departmental
reports
3 folders Social service reports 1936-1946
Monthly reports written by
social workers describing case work being done in the area. Most of the reports
given dramatic accounts of the problems encountered by the people living in the
settlement area during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Problems of relief, unemployment,
inadequate housing, lack of food and clothing come up frequently in the
reports.
2 folders Residents reports 1936-1949
Monthly reports by the
residence manager summarizing building improvements on the Settlement House,
events held in the settlement and changes in staff.
3 folders Adult Dept. reports 1935-1960
Monthly reports including
comments on adult education, citizenship and English classes, Mexican work and
various arts and craft classes.
box 21: Departmental reports
1 folder Kindergarten reports 1936-1942
Monthly reports on enrollment
and attendance along with progress reports on children enrolled at the settlement
Kindergarten.
1 folder Library reports Feb.-May 1946
1 folder Mexican work (reports) 1929-1933,
1936
Monthly reports written by
case workers summarizing work being done for the Mexican participation in settlement
activities.
3 folders Nursery and playschool reports 1936-1954,
1960-1961
Monthly reports on
enrollment, attendance and progress reports on children attending nursery school.
1 folder Boys’ Dept. reports 1945-1959, 1956
1 folder Girls’ Dept. reports 1938-1949, 1956
2 folders Clubs and groups 1923-1925, 1945-1960
Monthly and annual summaries
of the various clubs and classes offered to the people of the settlement
community.
box 22: Group work statistical
reports 1930-1946
3 folders Composite statistical reports on
Settlement activities listing numbers of groups, sessions and enrollment sent
to the Chicago Council of Social Agencies.
box 23: Programs and activities
1926-1968 and undated
Contains brief descriptions
of programs, club membership lists, fliers, and small amount of letters.
box 24: Clubs and Groups 1950-1954
Composed of club minutes,
notes and attendance records arranged alphabetically by group names.
box 25: Adult Dept.
3 folders General Adult Dept. material 1932-1954,
1959-1961
Program for adults in the
Settlement neighborhood. Includes correspondence, fliers, club membership
lists, articles, citizenship and English class material, and material on the
Adult Education Program.
1 folder Mary McDowell discussion group 1930-1945,
1950
Conducted informal
discussions centering around political, social, and economic problems of today.
Includes correspondence, membership lists, minutes, and articles.
1 folder Mexican work 1930-1937
Minutes and correspondence of
various Mexican clubs meeting at the settlement. Includes letters requesting
contributions for the continuation of Mexican work.
1 folder Study of Mexican families of the stockyard
district
The survey provides a
comparison of immigrant Mexican families in the United States to families of
similar social status in Mexico.
1 folder Mothers’ Club 1948-1952
1 folder Mexican Mothers’ Club 1933-1934 Correspondence
& minutes, in Spanish.
box 26: Adult activities attendance
records 1933-1945
box 27: Camp Farr material
1 folder General information and history of
Camp Farr
2 folders General camp information 1937-1959
1 folder Staff employment applications 1944-1964
--CLOSED
3 folders Camp Farr Committee notes and camp reports
1921-1945
box 28: Camp Farr material
1 folder Camp Farr Committee notes and camp reports
1946-1962
1 folder Camp records 1933-1934
3 folders Various summer camps and Camp Farr budget
reports 1915-1964
1 folder Contributions 1923-1964
box 29: Camp Farr material
3 folders General correspondence 1924-1964
1 folder “Camp Farr News” and “Farr Cry” newsletters
1941-1948, 1955-1957
1 folder Photographs
1 folder General camp material
1 folder American Camping Association material
1939-1958
box 30-32: Camp Records --CLOSED
Contains registration forms
and activity reports. Records often include casework done with the families of
children sent to camp.
box 33: Halfway House
Program for training and
rehabilitation services for mentally retarded adults at Illinois state schools
1 folder General information
3 folders Correspondence 1961-1965
1 folder Professional advisory planning committee
1 folder General mental health information
box 34: Halfway House group session
reports 1963-1966 --CLOSED
Monthly progress reports of
residents participating in the Halfway House project.
box 35-36: Halfway House patient
records --CLOSED
box 37: Nursery school material
1 folder Nursery school attendance records 1944-1955
1 folder Correspondence 1938-1954
3 folders Nursery school material (general)
box 38-45: Nursery School
Case Records 1935-1955 --CLOSED
Includes progress reports,
ethnic background of the parents, family history and economic status. Arranged
by year and alphabetically by child’s last name within each year.
box 46: Topical material
2 folders Housing
Includes 1930’s
correspondence re. Wagner-Steagall low rent housing bill; Chicago Housing
Authority news releases.
1 folder Social Service Employees Union (Local
39) 1939-1950
Bulletins, fliers, news
releases and form letters regarding such matters as personnel practices,
endorsement for collective bargaining.
box 47: Chicago
Congregational Union minutes 1946-1947, 1950
Organization to supervise and
support various religious institutions and houses in the Chicago area. One of
the houses under its supervision was the South Chicago Community Center. Everett
Cope, assistant head resident of the Settlement in 1949 was asked by the
General Directory of the Chicago Congregational Union to accept the position of
director, which he did in Aug. 1949.
box 48
3 folders Newspaper clippings on the settlement
and public housing 1931-1965
1 folder Photographs of 1960, 1962 annual dinner
Printed material
1 scrapbook Newspaper clippings on settlement
activities, 1937-1940 plus a few loose 1966 clippings.
box 49-50: --CLOSED
Plus 3 card files measuring
12 in. of case work records providing such data as ethnic, religious, and
educational background material and economic status of families in the
community. Also giving are descriptions of casework done for families. Arranged
alphabetically by last name. Dated primarily in the 1950’s
box 51: --CLOSED