These collection guides are documents to assist researchers in navigating collections held by the University Archives, providing context for the collection creators and describing the specific materials in each collection.
Please contact the Archives staff to arrange an appointment to view the contents of a collection.
The School of Social Work Library Charities Collection is composed of the donation made by The Boston Children's Aid Society's library to the Simmons College School of Social Work (SSW) in 1911, and the collection of Donald Moreland. The SSW Library Charities Collection contains annual reports, pamphlets, and sermons of private charities, public welfare agencies, and hospitals in Boston, throughout Massachusetts and the eastern United States, and England, from the 1790s to ca. 1950. The SSW maintained this distinct collection in their library. As a result, the SSW Library Charities Collection is important not only for its content, but also as a piece of history reflecting the social work curriculum at SSW during the first half of the twentieth century.
This Collection is of significant research value, providing a unique window into the operations and management of social welfare organizations. In many cases, these materials are not duplicated elsewhere.
The SSW Library Charities Collection is organized by agency. Selected agency collections have been processed and assigned a Charities Collection number (CC); finding aids for these collections are available below.
The majority of collections are unprocessed; while no detailed finding aids are available, these materials are open to researchers. Please consult the complete listing of the unprocessed collections in the Guide to the SSW Library Charities Collection.
The Simmons University Archives' manuscript collections document the history of Simmons University and women's education through collections donated to, or on deposit to the Simmons University Archives. Personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia illustrate the lives of Simmons students, faculty, staff, and alumnae. Additional collections of individuals and organizations are acquired in areas of particular interest to the University, including social work and librarianship. Finding aids and other collection guides are available for many collections. The University Archives also houses an oral history collection of interviews conducted with past Presidents, Trustees, and faculty members of Simmons University.
The collections are available to all members of the Simmons University community and other interested scholars and researchers. In accordance with institutional policy, parts or all of some collections may be restricted. Interested researchers are encouraged to contact the University Archives staff for clarification and guidance.
