Florence Crittenton Collection

Summary Information

Title: Florence Crittenton Collection
Dates: 1895-1990
Creator: Florence Crittenton Association of American and National Florence Crittenton Mission,
Extent: 28.75 linear feet
Language: English
Collection Number: SW0006
Abstract:

The collection comprises the records of two organizations--the National Florence Crittenton Mission and the Florence Crittenton Association of America--that provided residential homes and other services to unmarried mothers. Included are board of trustees and committee records, conference proceedings, reports and other publications, financial records and files on Crittenton homes in approximately 60 cities.

Repository: University of Minnesota Libraries. Social Welfare History Archives

Access and Use

Access Restrictions:

Open for use in Social Welfare History Archives reading room.

Copyright:

Please contact the Archivist for copyright information.

Arrangement

The Florence Crittenton Collection comprises two related groups of records from two Crittenton organizations. The National Florence Crittenton Mission (NFCM) records consist of 13.75 linear feet of material dating from 1895-1990. The documents include board of trustees and committee records, reports and other publications, financial records, and files on Crittenton homes in approximately 60 cities. The NFCM was chartered by Congress in 1898. Florence Crittenton homes were maternity homes and hospitals established in cities throughout the U. S. and Canada to provide residential care for unmarried mothers and their children and to undertake preventive and protective work for young girls. After the creation of the Florence Crittenton Homes Association in 1950, the NFCM gradually reduced its involvement in the operation of the homes throughout the country. It gave up its extension and clearing-house services and focused primarily on maintaining and supervising its invested funds, providing the chief means of support for the new association (and, later, for the Florence Crittenton Division of the Child Welfare League of America) and awarding grants to individual Crittenton agencies.

The Florence Crittenton Association of America (FCHA) records consist of 15 linear feet of material dating from 1951-1976. Included are board of trustees and committee records, conference proceedings, reports and other publications, and financial records. The FCHA was established at a 1950 meeting of the National Florence Crittenton Mission, upon recommendation from a special committee appointed to study the future of the mission. The FCHA was an autonomous federation of Crittenton homes financed partly by the national mission and partly through dues paid by the member homes. It operated as a separate agency from the NFCM and assumed the responsibility for work with individual homes as well as the extension and clearing house services that had previously been provided by the national mission.

Historical Note

Florence Crittenton homes were maternity homes and hospitals established in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada to provide residential care for unmarried mothers and their children and to undertake preventive and protective work for young girls. In 1960, many of the agencies discontinued their maternity care to emphasize counseling, education, public information, and advocacy services on behalf of teenagers, and, particularly, unmarried parents.

The National Florence Crittenton Mission, organized in 1895 and chartered by Congress in 1898, directed the development of homes in cities throughout the country, and remained closely involved in their daily operations. After 1950, the Mission became more detached from the operation of the homes and functioned more as a foundation, managing its invested funds, providing financial support to the Florence Crittenton Association of America, and awarding grants to individual Crittenton agencies.

The Florence Crittenton Association of America (known until 1960 as the Florence Crittenton Homes Association) was organized in 1950 as an autonomous federation of Crittenton Homes. Its responsibility for coordination and program planning and support increased as the National Florence Crittenton Mission withdrew from those areas. It oversaw the transition from residential homes to counseling agencies during the 1960s and 1970s as societal attitudes toward unmarried parenthood changed. In 1976, the Association became the Florence Crittenton Division of the Child Welfare League of America.

Additional information on the history of the National Florence Crittenton Mission is available in Fifty Years Work with Girls by Otto Wilson. The book contains a history of the Mission, information on its founders and early leaders, and brief histories of individual member homes.

Collection Scope and Content Note

The collection comprises the records of two organizations--the National Florence Crittenton Mission and the Florence Crittenton Association of America--that provided residential homes and other services to unmarried mothers. Included are board of trustees and committee records, conference proceedings, reports and other publications, financial records and files on Crittenton homes in approximately 60 cities. The records reveal attitudes toward illigitimacy and trace changing programs and services for unmarried mothers in the twentieth century. Kate Waller Barrett, Robert South Barrett, and Adm. John P.B. Barrett are represented in the records as the long-time presidents of the National Florence Crittenton Mission.

Related Material

In addition to the National Florence Crittenton Mission records (SW0006m) and the Florence Crittenton Association of America records (SW0006a) , please see the files of the Child Welfare League of America's Florence Crittenton Division in the Child Welfare League of America Records (SW0055) in the Social Welfare History Archives.

Unpublished inventory available. Please contact Archives for more information.

Subject Terms

Index Terms

• This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
• National Florence Crittenton Mission--Archives
• National Florence Crittenton Mission--Archives
• Florence Crittenton Association of America--Archives
• Florence Crittenton Homes Association--Archives
• National Florence Crittenton Mission
• Florence Crittenton Association of America
• Florence Crittenton Homes Association
• Unmarried mothers--Services for--United States--History--Sources
• Sex counseling--United States--History--Sources