| Creator | Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson, 1860-1949 |
| Title | Jeffrey Richardson Brackett papers |
| Dates | 1728-1955 |
| Identification | MS 8 |
| Quantity | 5.5 linear feet (5 manuscript containers, 2 oversized containers) |
| Collection Abstract | Collection documents Brackett's professional and personal life, including biographical materials gathered by his biographers, Katherine D. Hardwick, Louisa deB. Bacot Brackett, and Rose W. Bull. Personal materials contain genealogical research notes, childhood memorabilia, a student journal written by George B. Morison, who studied with Brackett at Adams Academy of Quincy, Massachusetts, and correspondence and other materials on the Harvard University Class of 1883, for which Brackett served as lifetime class chairman. Professional materials span his career and include some materials from various charity and social work organizations as well as materials from academic endeavors, including the School for Social Workers. Also included are his writing and speeches, published and unpublished and special subject files organized by Brackett on "Poor Law and Custom" and "scope and organization of Charity," two areas of study in which he was interested throughout his career. |
| Historical Abstract | Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, pioneer in the field of charity and social work, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University, graduating in 1883 and Johns Hopkins University where he received his Ph.D. in 1889 in history. He remained at Johns Hopkins as a lecturer and served many of Baltimore's charitable and philanthropic organizations. In 1904, Brackett was called upon by the presidents of Harvard University and SImmons College to head the Boston School for Social Workers (later the Simmons College School of Social Work). The school was run cooperatively between the two school until 1916 when Harvard resigned from the arrangement. Brackett remained the director until 1919. For the thirty years Brackett was in Boston, he was involved with a number of organizations including the Massachusetts State Board of Charities, the Department of Public Welfare of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Conference of Social Work, the Boston Associated Charities, and the Massachusetts Civic League. After resigning from Simmons, he spent mean y years giving service to charitable organizations in Quincy, Massachusetts, including the Quincy Women's Club, the Quincy Associated Charities and serving as Director of the Family Service Society from 1921 to 1933. In addition to his social work, Brackett was active in church activities. He served as vestryman and clerk for Trinity Church in Boston, including the editing and compilation of a bicentennial history of the church in 1933. |
| 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], Jeffrey Richardson Brackett papers, 1728-1959, MS 8, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
The bulk of the Jeffrey Richardson Brackett papers were donated to the Simmons College School of Social Work by Louisa deBerniere Bacot, second wife of Brackett. The remainder were gathered over the years by librarians at the School of Social Work and placed in open, vertical files or in boxes in a cabinet in the basement of the School of Social World Library. The papers were transferred to the Simmons College Archives in 1978, 1981, 1984 and 1987.
Accession number: 78-112; 81-13; 84-18; 87-37
Porcessed by Brenda M. Favreau, December 1985 and September 1987
Supervised by Megan Sniffin-Marinoff
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Katherine M. Wisser, October 2012
Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, pioneer in the field of charity and social work, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts to Jeffrey Richardson and Sarah Cordelia Richardson Brackett on October 20, 1860. Brackett attended Adams Academy in Quincy and graduated from Harvard University in 1883. After studying and travelling in Europe the year following his graduation, he resumed his studies at Johns Hopkins University where he received the Ph.D. in 1889 for work in history. His doctoral thesis, The Negro in Maryland: A Study of the Institution of Slavery was published as a book in 1889. (1)
Brackett remained at Johns Hopkins as a lecturer in philanthropic and social work. During his years in Baltimore, Brackett was involved with many charitable and philanthropic organizations in this city as well as other national organizations. In 1893, he was named Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Relief Commission. In 1895, he helped found the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association (IVNA) of Baltimore City. (2) He remained with the IVNA until 1904.(3) In 1897, he wrote of the "Care of Certain of the City Poor" and was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of City Charities of Baltimore. He was a member of the Board of Charity Organization Society of Baltimore for twenty-one years, a member of the Henry Watson Children's Aid Society, Baltimore, and served as a member of the committee for the pioneer summer training course under the New York Charity Organization in 1898. (4) He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the New York School of Social Work, where he had lectured since its early days, until 1939. Brackett was a Trustee of the Poor of the City of Baltimore from 1896 until 1898. In 1900, he became the first president of the Board of Supervisors of City Charities, a position he held until 1904.(5) In 1903, Brackett's second book, Supervision and Education in Charities, was published. In 1904, he was named President of the National Conference of Charities and Correction and was instrumental in getting its name changed to the National Conference of Social Work in 1917.
In 1904, Bracket was called upon by the presidents of Harvard University and Simmons College to head the Boston School for Social Workers (later the Simmons College School of Social Work), the first academically affiliated school of social work in the United States.(6) He was named Instructor in Charity, Public Aid, and Corrections at Harvard and Professor of Theory and Practice of Philanthropic Work at Simmons College.(7) In 1913, he was named Instructor of Social Ethics at Harvard and Professor of Social Economy at Simmons.(8) The school was run cooperatively between the two schools until 1916 when Harvard resigned from the arrangement. Bracket remained the director until 1919.
During his time in Boston, from 1906 until 1935, Brackett was a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Charities. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Public Welfare of Massachusetts from 1906 until 1937, serving as chairman from 1919 until 1937. He organized the Massachusetts Conference of Social Work and was a member of the Boston Associated Charities and the Massachusetts Civic League.(9) In 1909, he was elected incorporator of the National American Red Cross.(10) In the same year, with Ida Cannon, Brackett was instrumental in the formation of the Department of Social Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1910 he was named chairman of the Committee on Education in the Department and in 1912, he assisted with the obtainment of a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation for a program in the training of medical social workers.(11) He remained in this position until 1930.(12)
After his resignation from Simmons College, Brackett spent many years giving service to charitable organizations in Quincy, Massachusetts. He was closely associated with the Quincy Women's Club and the Quincy Associated Charities (later the Quincy Family Society) and served as Director of the Family Service Society from 1921 to 1933. In 1943 he was elected their first honorary president.(13) IN 1926, he was named an honorary member of the American Association of Medical Social Workers.
In addition, Brackett was active with the church. He served as vestryman (1924-1935) and clerk (1927-1935) for Trinity Church in Boston and in 1920 was named to the Social Service Commission of the Diocese where he remained for 13 years. As President of the Trinity Club, Brackett was also responsible for editing and compiling a bicentennial history of the church in 1933.(14)
Brackett married Susan Katharine Jones in 1886. She and Brackett spent their winters in Baltimore and later in Boston and their summers on Job's Island in Dark Harbor, Maine where Brackett had built a house named Pentagoet. They discontinued their visits to the island in 1911 due to Mrs. Brackett's ill health and began visiting Peterborough, New Hampshire as their summer home in 1913. Mrs. Brackett died in 1931. In 1935, Brackett married Louisa de Berniere Bacot of Charleston, South Carolina. The Bracketts then moved to Richmond, Virginia where Louisa Brackett was headmistress of St. Catherine's School. Brackett gave weekly services in the chapel and taught a religious education course. He remained in Richmond for his winters and continued to spend his summers in Peterborough. Brackett died on December 4, 1949 at the age of 89.(15)
The Jeffrey Richardson Brackett papers cover his professional and personal life until his death in 1949. Included are biographical materials gathered by Katharine D. Hardwick , Louisa de Berniere Bacot Brackett and Rose W. Bull for the compilation of their biography, Jeffrey Richard Brackett: "Everyday Puritan", published in 1956. copies of the biography are included in the collection.
Papers contain biographical and genealogical materials, published and unpublished writings, correspondence, clippings, notes, speeches and addresses, and a scrapbook including materials on Brackett's professional career from 1889-1927. The majority of the materials were donated to Simmons College School of Social Work by Louise deBerniere Bacot Brackett, second wife to Brackett and author of his biography. As a result, significant portions of the collection are materials gathered for the publication of the biography: notes, drafts, interviews, and correspondence. In addition, much of Brackett's materials, particularly correspondence, contain notes, comments and marks for what would be quoted in the biography.
The collection is arranged in two series, personal and professional. Personal materials include records relating to the research and writing of the biography, genealogical materials, childhood memorabilia, papers relating to his role as lifetime class chairman of the Harvard University Class of 1883, correspondence and unpublished writings. Professional materials include information on charity and social work organizations in Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Included are records from his association with institutions the Boston School for Social Workers (later Simmons College School of Social Work), Trinity Church, and St. Catherine's School. Also included are published and unpublished writings by Brackett, speeches and addresses and a scrapbook. A final subseries represents an addendum to the collection made in 1987. Materials cover the topics of "Poor Law and Custom. U.S. PUblic Relief Poor Laws" and "Scope and Organization of Charity," labels provided by Brackett and subjects that were of interest to him throughout his career.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Collection is arranged into 2 series with further arrangement into subseries:
Personal materials include information gathered for the writing of Jeffrey Richardson Brackett: "Everyday Puritan", memorial tributes and genealogical materials; childhood memorabilia; materials from his role of lifetime chairman for the Harvard University Class of 1883; personal correspondence and unpublished writings, including research notes on various historical figures such as Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington.
Box 1
Oversized 2
Childhood memorabilia includes an 1879 journal written by George B. Morison, who went to school with Brackett. The journal gives a detailed account of his studies at Adams Academy in Quincy, Mass.
Box 1
Brackett was a member of the Harvard University Class of 1883 and its lifetime class chairman. Contains correspondence from members of the class, general and reunion materials and financial information. Materials are sketchy and related only to Brackett's role in the class functions.
Box 1
Box 1
Box 3
Box 3
Papers span Brackett's career and include materials from various charity and social work organizations as well as materials from the School for Social Workers, later the Simmons College School of Social Work. Materials include mention of organizations such as the National Conference of Social Work, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare, Massachusetts Civic League, and the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Social Service. Materials about the School for Social Workers and the social work agencies relate primarily to Brackett's role in them. Also included are writing and speeches by Brackett. The published writings are not a complete set of Brackett's works. Special subject files comprise the last subseries, organized by Brackett, on "Poor Law and Custom" and "Scope and Organization of Charity," two areas of study in which he was interested throughout his career.
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Oversized 6
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Oversized 2
Box 3
Oversized 2
Box 3
Box 3
Box 4
Box 4
Box 5
Box 5
Oversized 6
Box 7
Box 7
Oversized 6
Box 7
