Philadelphia County Board of Assistance records on employees dismissed for alleged Communist affiliations

The Philadelphia County Board of Assistance (PCBA) was created in 1937 under policies established by Pennsylvania’s Board of Public Assistance and Department of Public Welfare. These two entities supervised and regulated the county boards, which attended to the social welfare and financial needs of their respective populations. In October and November 1941, the PCBA dismissed some of its employees due to their alleged connections to and affiliations with the Communist Party. Several dozen discharged employees subsequently filed appeals—transcripts from these hearings make up the bulk of this collection. Between November 1941 and April 1942, these hearings were held before a reviewing board of the PCBA, which was chaired by W. W. Montgomery and whose members included Charles M. B. Cadwalader, Joseph E. Beck, Boyd L. Spahr, and James Edgar Gibson. Also present were William C. Ferguson, special counsel for the Department of Public Assistance, and other lawyers for various appellants. In addition to chronologically arranged hearing transcripts, there is a 1940 Report of Assembly Relief Investigating Committee [California] (Box 1), an early finding of facts report (Box 1), and a similar report of findings with conclusions (Box 4).