| Creator | Boston Children's Friend Society |
| Title | Boston Children's Friend Society records |
| Dates | 1837-1954 |
| Identification | CC 10 |
| Quantity | 0.5 linear feet (1 manuscript container) |
| Collection Abstract | The papers of the Boston Children's Friend Society (1837-1954) consist of records of donations, annual reports, and a minute book. An account of the daily workings of the Society can be found in the minutes along with the names of Society members and some information on the children housed at the institution. The annual reports contain the constitution, list of members and donations, and the treasurer's report. The reports also include a statement by the corresponding secretary on the activities of the Society and many of the later reports offer sketches of children the Society has helped. Also included is a copy of Boston Children's Friend Society: 1833-1933, which provides a detailed history of the Society. |
| Historical Abstract | The Boston Children's Friend Society was founded in 1833, to provide a home for orphaned and neglected children. At the time, there were already two orphan homes in Boston, one for boys and one for girls, but neither of these homes allowed brothers and sisters to stay together or provided care for neglected rather than orphaned children. The Society received a land grant from the city of Boston in 1845, for the property at 48 Rutland Street upon which the Society built an $18,000 brick building. By 1885, the Society had already outgrown this building, and as a result the Society decided to receive only girls and small boys under the age of five at the Rutland Street home. In 1886, a home surrounded by eight acres of land was purchased in Dedham and was used to house the older boys. |
| Language | Material in English. |
| Location | Collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Archives staff for more information. |
Collection is open.
Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.
Please contact the College Archivist with requests to publish any material from the collection.
[Identification of item: description and date], Boston Children's Friend Society records, CC 10, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
Transferred from the Simmons College School of Social Work Library, 1991
Accession number: 78.023, 81.010
Processed by Frances Overcash, June, 1995
Supervised by Peter Carini
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Frances Harrell, August 2012
The Boston Children's Friend Society was founded in 1833, to provide a home for orphaned and neglected children. At the time, there were already two orphan homes in Boston, one for boys and one for girls, but neither of these homes allowed brothers and sisters to stay together or provided care for neglected rather than orphaned children.
The first wards of the BCFS, three little girls "found in poverty," came to the Society in 1833. These children occupied the first "home," an old building on Sheafe Street given to the Society by the owner. In the first year, however, the number of children grew from three to twenty-nine and the Society changed residences several times during the subsequent years as the number of children continued to grow.
The Society received a land grant from the city of Boston in 1845, for the property at 48 Rutland Street upon which the Society built an $18,000 brick building. By 1885, the Society had already outgrown this building, and as a result the Society decided to receive only girls and small boys under the age of five at the Rutland Street home. In 1886, a home surrounded by eight acres of land was purchased in Dedham and was used to house the older boys.
The Society not only cared for the children but also provided them with instruction in general education and religion. When the children were old enough they were given practical training in the manual arts; domestic for girls, carpentry and printing for boys. Certain older boys and girls were also apprenticed or indentured to local families.
The Home was maintained with funds received from some parents whose children were in the custody of the Society and from the community. A bequest in 1850, from the estate of the Count of Rumford, established the Rumford Fund for the Care of Orphaned Children and helped to further endow the Society. During this time the numbers of immigrants in Boston grew rapidly. In response to the subsequent increase in destitute and neglected children, the Society broadened its policies in 1850, to admit poverty-stricken foreign born children.
A new General Secretary of the Society, Sherman Kingsley, was appointed in 1900. Kingsley was instrumental in implementing a program to find individual homes in rural and suburban districts for the children. Kingsley believed that normal children should grow up in a family not an institution. During Kingsley's tenure the financial income of the Society also greatly increased. The Orphan's Home was abandoned, and with the children being placed in foster care, the Society was able to care for more children, eventually taking in Roman Catholics and non-Christians as well. The Society was also influential in proposing laws to protect illegitimate children and children exploited by industry. One such law provided public assistance for single women with dependent children and another proposed to hold the fathers of illegitimate children liable for the child's support. A third law, the Uniform Child-Labor Law, was enacted by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1913.
Since 1949, the Society has been acting exclusively as an adoption agency although adoption has been part of its work since the first adoption laws were enacted in Massachusetts shortly after the Civil War. In 1958, the Society merged with the Boston Children's Aid Society.
All information taken from Boston Children's Friend Society: 1833-1933 1933, Boston Children's Friend Society, and the Boston Children's Friend Society Eightieth Annual Report, 1913.
The papers of the Boston Children's Friend Society (1837-1954), divided into four series, consist of records of donations, annual reports and a minute book. The first series contains the first record book of the Society's Board meetings, October 8, 1841 - September 4, 1846. An account of the daily workings of the Society can be found in the minutes along with the names of Society members and some information on the children housed at the institution. The cover and first eighteen pages of the minute book, however, are missing. The annual reports, 1837-1954 (with gaps), comprise the second series. These reports contain such information as the constitution, list of members and donations and the treasurer's report. The reports also include a statement by the corresponding secretary on the activities of the Society and many of the later reports offer sketches of children the Society has helped. The third series is composed of publications such as "Boston Children's Friend Society: 1833-1933," which provides a detailed history of the Society. Also included, is a discourse on the care of the poor delivered before the Society in 1837. Account books, 1859-1886, containing the names of donors and the amount of their donations make up the fourth series. The Society received donations not only of money but also of food, clothing, medicine, toys, books and furniture.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Arranged into four series:
Part of the School of Social Work Library Charities Collection.
Contains the first record book of the Society's Board meetings, including an account of the daily workings of the Society can be found in the minutes along with the names of Society members and some information on the children housed at the institution. The cover and first eighteen pages of the minute book, however, are missing.
Box 1
Annual reports contain information such as the constitution, list of members and donations and the treasurer's report. The reports also include a statement by the corresponding secretary on the activities of the Society and many of the later reports offer sketches of children the Society has helped.
Box 1
Consists of publications such as Boston Children's Friend Society: 1833-1933, which provides a detailed history of the Society. Also included is a discourse on the care of the poor delivered before the Society in 1837.
Box 1
Account books contain the names of donors and the amount of their donations to the Society. The Society received donations not only of money but also of food, clothing, medicine, toys, books and furniture.
Box 1
