gr03567.xml Social Security Department: Social Welfare Division: An Inventory of Its Child Welfare Records at the Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota Historical Society
St. Paul, MN.

Government Records

 Finding aid encoded by Sonja Isaacson and Meagan Kellom January 2021 and February 2026 Finding aid written in English. OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota. Division of Social Welfare. Child Welfare Records. 1920s-1946 (bulk 1943-1945). Materials in English. Correspondence, memos, reports, and other records apparently generated or received by the Services to Private Agencies Section, primarily its directors: Mary Connery (prior to 1944), Morris Hursh (1944-1945), and L. Merritt Brown (1945-1946). 0.75 cubic feet (2 partial boxes). See Detailed Description for shelf locations. SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Includes minutes of staff meetings; correspondence regarding specific child welfare cases (access restricted); correspondence and other materials relating to proposed legislation, particularly juvenile court reform; records relating to the development of standards for boarding homes and child caring institutions (1920s-1940s); and records relating to day care services for working mothers during World War II, particularly in Minneapolis and Duluth.

 CATALOG HEADINGS Topics: Child welfare -- Minnesota. Children -- Institutional care -- Minnesota. Day care centers -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis. Day care centers -- Minnesota -- Duluth. Foster home care -- Minnesota. Juvenile courts -- Minnesota. World War, 1939-1945 -- Women -- Minnesota. Persons: Brown, L. Merritt. Connery, Mary. Hursh, Morris, 1906- Organizations: Minnesota. Division of Social Welfare. Services to Private Agencies Section. Functions: Protecting. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Access Restrictions:

Open except for one folder of correspondence concerning individual cases involving guardianship and adoption as well as dependent and neglected children. Access to adoption records less than 100 years old is available only with a court order. Please consult library staff for more information.

 Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota. Division of Social Welfare. Child Welfare Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: none

 Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017037790104294

 RELATED MATERIAL

For later files, see Public Welfare Departement: Child Welfare Division: Subject files (cataloged separately).

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION 109.I.6.13B1Administrative, 1943-1946.

Primarily intra-divisional memos.

 Child Welfare, 1944-1945.

RESTRICTED.

Deals with cases involving guardianship and adoption as well as dependent and neglected children.

 Child Welfare Administration Committee, 1944-1945.

Minutes of the Child Welfare Bureau committee that was intended to meet weekly to discuss general information and policy matters.

 Legislation: 1945 (proposed), 1943-1945. 2 folders.

Includes considerable correspondence with William Lee, probate judge in Yellow Medicine County, regarding juvenile court reform and the activities of the Probate Court Association and the County Attorneys Association.

 Minutes of (Field) Staff Meetings, 1943-1944.

Apparently involving field staff of the entire Social Welfare Division.

 Seminars, 1943-1944.

Minutes of staff meetings apparently involving all Child Welfare Bureau staff.

 Standards: Institutions (Development), 1940-1945 (mainly 1944-1945).

Material regarding the development, revision, and printing of standards for children’s institutions.

 Historical Materials Regarding Development of Boarding Home Standards.3 folders: Boarding Home Standards, 1922-1942. Boarding Homes: Minneapolis and St. Paul Boarding Home Committees, Twin City Boarding Home Council, 1930-1942. Historical Material, 1920s-1940s. Child Caring Institutions: Development of Standards, approximately 1941-1942. 109.I.6.14F2Civilian Defense, Office of, 1943-1946.

Relating primarily to programs for day care services for working mothers.

 Duluth, 1945.

Regarding day care services in Duluth.

 Minneapolis, 1942.

Regarding day care services in Minneapolis, especially the work of the Child Care Center Committee of the Minneapolis Defense Council, Welfare Division.