| Creator | Hardwick, Katharine D., 1886-1974 |
| Title | Katharine Davis Hardwick papers |
| Dates | 1908-1974 |
| Identification | MS 7 |
| Quantity | 1.0 linear feet (2 manuscript containers) |
| Collection Abstract | The Katharine Davis Hardwick papers document the prolific career of a woman who was actively involved in social work in the Simmons College community, as well as in the much wider New England area. The collection traces the career of Hardwick, including her tenure at the Simmons College of Social Work from 1925 to 1952 and with the Boston Department of Public Welfare from 1908 to 1974. |
| Historical Abstract | Katharine Davis Hardwick, born January 8, 1886, was a pioneer in the field of social work. A 1907 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Boston University, Hardwick entered the field of social work as a case worker in the Boston Family Welfare Society in the city's North End neighborhood. During World War I, Hardwick worked as a field worker with the National Red Cross in Maine and later as the head of the Field Service Department for the New England region. Following her work with the Red Cross and ten years of service as the District Secretary to the Boston Family Society, Hardwick joined the Simmons College School of Social Work as the assistant director in 1925. Even when Hardwick "officially" retired to Marston Mills on Cape Cod, she worked for the board of the State Mental Health Center at Pocanet. Hardwick died on July 23, 1974, in Marston Mills. |
| Language | Material in English. |
| Location | Collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Archives staff for more information. |
Collection is open. Some restrictions apply
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], Katharine Davis Hardwick, 1908-1974, MS 7, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
Papers were donated to the Simmons College Archive by Rachel Hardwick Burgess and John Morehouse in May, 1978.
Accession number: 78.113; 78.115; 85.005; 92.028; 97.037
Processed by Meg Moughan, February 1997
Supervised by Joan Gearin
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Kendra Ciccone, March 2013
Katharine Davis Hardwick, a pioneer in the field of social work, was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on January 8, 1886. A 1907 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Boston University, Hardwick entered the field of social work as a case worker in the Boston Family Welfare Society in the city's North End neighborhood. The organization later transferred her to South Boston, where she conducted most of her life's work in the field of social work.(1)
During World War I, Hardwick worked as a field worker with the National Red Cross in Maine and later as the head of the Field Service Department for the New England region. Following her work with the Red Cross and ten years of service as the District Secretary to the Boston Family Society, Hardwick joined the Simmons College School of Social Work as the assistant director in 1925. In 1929, Hardwick assumed the role of director of the school, a position she held until her retirement in 1952. Hardwick took a one-year leave from Simmons during the Great Depression when she received an appointment to Boston's Board of Public Welfare; with this one exception, her work at Simmons continued uninterrupted.(2)
Hardwick's commitment to preparing students for professions in the field of social work was evident, as was her interest in protecting the rights of those individuals and families in the city of Boston who were recipients of public and private aid. Even after her retirement from Simmons, Hardwick remained active in Boston social work efforts. The Department of Public Welfare rewarded her with a full-time consultant position on a team that was instrumental in directing the reorganization of the Boston Welfare Department.
Even when Hardwick "officially" retired to Marston Mills on Cape Cod, she worked for the board of the State Mental Health Center at Pocanet. Throughout her life, Hardwick played an integral role in the development of field work and theory. Hardwick died on July 23, 1974, in Marston Mills.(3)
Papers document the prolific career of a Katharine Davis Hardwick who was actively involved in social work in the Simmons College community, as well as in the much wider New England area. The collection traces the career of Hardwick, including her tenure at the Simmons College of Social Work from 1925 to 1952 and with the Boston Department of Public Welfare from 1908 to 1974.
The collection contains biographical materials, an oral history interview with Hardwick, newspaper clippings, notes, and scrapbooks. It also contains several reports that document Hardwick’s experiences with the Boston Department of Public Welfare, a letter from Anna Freud and a partial letter from Richard Cabot, information pertaining to the incorporation and status of many Boston-area charitable organizations, and two histories in manuscript form -- one pertaining to the history of the Cape Cod Mental Health Association and the other pertaining to the history of the Simmons College School of Social Work. The history of the School of Social Work includes copies of correspondence pertaining to the founding of the school written by Alice Higgins, Henry Lefavour, Dr. Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, Robert Woods, and Richard C. Cabot. The collection also contains materials used in the Day Report, a study of graduates of the Simmons College School of Social Work conducted between 1931 and 1935, as well as curriculum material from the School of Social Work dated 1919 and 1940.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Collection is arranged into 4 series:
Arranged topically in original order.
This series contains a great deal of background information pertaining to Hardwick. Of particular interest is the oral history interview (two tapes, no transcription) conducted on June 28, 1971. Sally H. Lunt (Mrs. Horace Gray Lunt), an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Social Work and a doctoral student at Harvard, conducted the interview (See the Reference/Control File for Hardwick). In it Hardwick shares many of her recollections of her tenure at Simmons and at the Boston Department of Public Welfare, her thoughts on the then current state of the profession of social work, and her opinions of some colleagues and professionals in the field. The two scrapbooks in this series detail Hardwick’s professional life; however, they were compiled by her family probably for personal use. Her sister (Alice Hardwick Davis, 1882-1946) and mother (Anne Clapp Hardwick, 1854-1936) originally gathered the information. Over time, Alice Hardwick Davis passed the information along to her daughter, Theodosia Davis Morehouse (1907- 1952). Ultimately, Theodosia's son, John Morehouse (b. 1940), pulled all of the clippings, photographs, and memorabilia together into a scrapbook for his own daughter, Elizabeth Ann Morehouse (b. 1967). At some point, the scrapbooks were dismantled and some of the information was photocopied to ensure the preservation of the information.
Box 1
Arranged topically in original order.
This series includes several published articles as well as addresses composed and delivered by Hardwick in the 1940s. Her "Histories: Boston Private Charities" contains information reflecting incorporation dates and mission statements pertaining to many Boston-area charitable organizations. "As Long As Charity Shall Be a Virtue," published in 1964, is a written history of Boston Private Charities from 1657 to 1800 Also included are two unpublished manuscripts written by Hardwick ("History: Simmons College School of Social Work," undated and History: Cape Cod Mental Health Association, 1970). History: Simmons College School of Social Work (probably written around 1970) is a comprehensive history of the school from its earliest association with the Boston School for Social Workers and subsequent incorporation as its own school in 1904 through the early 1950s. At the end of this manuscript, there are copies of correspondence to and from individuals involved in the founding of the school. These individuals include Alice Higgins, Dr. Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, Robert Woods, Henry Lefavour, and P.C. Cabot.
Box 1
Arranged chronologically
This series contains accounts of ongoing activities within the Boston Department of Public Welfare to restructure social work policies and procedures. It also contains information pertaining to the 1933-34 "Study of Public Welfare Cases in Charlestown and Hyde Park." Two Simmons College School of Social Work professors, Alice Channing and Kate McMahon authored a report in this series.
Box 2
Arranged topically and in a loose chronological order.
This series contains a limited amount of curriculum information as well as two pieces of correspondence: one a letter to Hardwick from Anna Freud dated January 5, 1950 and the other a partial, undated letter presumably written to Hardwick from Richard C. Cabot, M.D. The bulk of this series consists of information pertaining to the "Day Report on Graduates, 1931-1935." The Simmons College School of Social Work commissioned Mrs. Hilbert (Elizabeth) Day to do much of the research and analysis that comprised this effort to determine whether or not the school should remain a combined undergraduate and graduate program or become a solely graduate level program; it also looked closely at the success recent graduates experienced in the field of social work in the Boston area. The information includes many annotated drafts, statistics pertaining to students and alumnae, questionnaires, meeting notes, and correspondence. There is no final version of the report in this collection, and it is not known whether the school ever utilized the study.
Folders 14-17 are restricted
Box 2
