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Martha McAvoy King collection on Chester County (Pa.) human services
Notifications
Held at: Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area [Contact Us]204 Church St., Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 19460
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Martha McAvoy King (1904-1997) of Phoenixville, Chester County, Pennsylvania was a life-long activist-volunteer and leader in local civic affairs. Specifically, she was involved in numerous social service programs relating to health and human services, education, and housing.
A graduate of Phoenixville High School and Smith College, King's community service started during World War II when she was first chairwoman of the Valley Forge Army Hospital Corps of Gray Ladies from 1943 to 1945. Subsequently, King served as first president as well as director of the Northern Chester County Community Nursing Service (previously the Community Nursing Service), 1946-1971; president and member of the Schuylkill Township School Board, 1950-1955; first president of the Advisory Committee to Chester County Children's Services, a committee that she served on for 17 years; chairwoman and secretary-treasurer of the Housing Authority of Chester County, 1963-1978; chairwoman of major gifts of the Phoenixville Hospital Fund Drive, 1980-1981; Blue Ribbon Committee member for Chester County Commissioners, 1982-1983; and member of the Advisory Committee to Chester County Services for Senior Citizens.
King was also active with Family Services of Chester County, Phoenixville Area United Fund, and Phoenixville Area Human Relations Advisory Committee. King founded the Pickering Council of Republican Women and was elected to serve as a delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention from the Fifth Congressional District. She received several awards for her service and volunteer efforts.
Martha King was the daughter of Thomas Bell McAvoy of Schuylkill Township. In 1928, she married Shane H. King (Capt. USNR) (1903-1993) with whom she had three children.
Bibliography:
Various clippings found in Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area subject files.
This collection includes papers relating to Martha McAvoy King's volunteer activities from the 1950s to the 1980s, primarily her involvement with Chester County's Children's Services Advisory Committee and the county's housing authority. Materials include reports, correspondence, minutes, financial papers, and membership lists. Also included in the collection are some materials relating to her husband, Shane H. King, and to Schuylkill Township.
Gift of Martha McAvoy King Estate, 2005 (accession #2005.284).
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area directly for more information.
People
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area for information about accessing this collection.