Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 27

Repository:

German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library

Extent:

0.83 linear feet (5 boxes + 1 oversize folder)

Language:

German

Preferred Citation:

Austro-American Relief Society records, Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library, German Society of Pennsylvania

Date:

1916-1942 (inclusive)

Creator:

Austro-American Relief Society. (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Form:

Clippings (information artifacts), Correspondence, Donor lists, Financial records, Inventories, Invitations, Membership lists, Printed ephemera, and Souvenir programs

Abstract:

Records of the Austro-American Relief Society of Philadelphia, Pa., mainly documenting its charitable work from 1916 to 1941, including fundraising in behalf of war relief for Austro-Hungarian and German civilians and prisoners of war during and after World War I. The collection includes financial records, membership and donor lists, inventories, correspondence, ephemera, and clippings.

Founded in 1890; incorporated in 1914; annual anniversary celebrations (Stiftungsfest) enumerated from 1916. During the period covered by these records, the Society had its headquarters at 921 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia. It had about 150 members in the mid 1920s. Through at least 1918 it was known as the Austro-Hungarian American Relief Society and used the motto Viribus unitis, the personal motto of Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef I. By the mid 1920s it had become known as the Austro-American Relief Society, or the Austrian-American Relief Society; on letterhead, the Society also identified itself secondarily with the German phrase: Deutsche der früheren Oesterr.-Ung. Länder (Germans of the former Austro-Hungarian nations). During World War I and its aftermath, it gathered charitable aid to relieve suffering of civilians and prisoners of war; in 1916 over $8,000 in aid was collected and sent primarily to Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Siberia, with lesser amounts to Turkey, Bulgaria, England, and France. In 1920 the Society raised $902 for the relief of Austrian prisoners of war just then returning home from Siberia. In later years the aims of the Society turned toward general charitable purposes; it provided employment assistance and aid to the sick and needy in Philadelphia, and offered English classes and instruction in citizenship for immigrants. It customarily sponsored an annual Grand Charity Ball until at least 1927. It also had a women's auxiliary.

Records of the Austro-American Relief Society of Philadelphia, Pa., mainly documenting its charitable work from 1916 to 1941, with financial records that detail donors, contributions, and the recipients of aid. Among the records are membership lists (1918-1927); inventories of property (1917-1919); an undated listing of books of a small library; a small amount of correspondence (1917-1926); and several newspaper clippings (1920-1921). One set of clippings were used to create a poster, dated 1920, which highlights the donors to the Society's Siberian prisoners relief fund, the amount collected, and the conveyance of the money raised to the Swedish Consulate of Philadelphia. Also included are several items of printed ephemera: an election ballot (1919); invitations related to the annual Grand Charity Ball (1925, 1927); a souvenir program (1927), which lists officers for the women's auxiliary (Frauenzweig); and special tax stamps for retail dealers in fermented malt liquors (issued 1934-1942). Officers of long tenure who sign some of the records include William Indicher (president); Charles Baumgartner (treasurer); and John Walter (secretary). Adolph Timm ran the Society's English and citizenship classes for immigrants in the 1930s; included is a pamphlet from him on German language instruction, from 1934.

A sheet tipped in on the front flyleaf of the first volume of records, "Contributions" (Box 1), mainly pertaining to abbreviations used in the records, is helpful for the overview it gives of the Society's recordkeeping. Eight recordkeeping books are listed, and these correspond to eight of the nine bound volumes in the present collection; the only volume that is not listed here is the most recent one, containing membership and financial records from 1923 to 1941 (Box 3). The names of the books are given in both English and German:

Aiding = Unterstützungsbuch [see Box 2]

Cash Ledger = Kassen-Hauptbuch [see Box 4]

Contributions = Geld-Spendenbuch [see Box 1]

Inventory = Einrichtungsbuch [see Box 4]

Membership-dues = Mitglieds-Beitragbuch [see Box 1]

Merchandise = Waren-Spendenbuch [see Box 2]

Office Supplies = Kanzleimaterial- und Portobuch [see Box 3]

Record & Ledger = Hauptbuch-Register [see "Cash Book," Box 3]

Festival account = Fest-Abrechnungsbuch [see Box 3]

The same sheet also contains abbreviations for noting languages of members, and a note that, if indicated, correspondence with that member should be carried out either in his mother tongue, or in English; the languages listed are German, German-Austrian, German-Hungarian, English, Italian, Croatian, Polish, Rumanian, Ruthene/Ukranian, Slovak, and Hungarian. Only occasionally, however, is there any note about language next to a member's name.