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Mary Lincoln Council No. 168, Daughters of America (Lansdale, Pa.) minutes and officers' roll books
Notifications
Held at: Lansdale Historical Society [Contact Us]137 Jenkins Ave., Lansdale, Pa., 19446
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Lansdale Historical Society. 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
The Daughters of America, still believed to be in existence as of 2012, is a secret, nativist society and mutual benefit society dating from the late 19th century. It was founded in 1891 as a women's auxiliary of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, though it did not receive recognition from its male counterpart until 1926.
The first charter of the Daughters of America was issued in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania as the "The National Council Daughters of America." By 1930, it reported having over 160,000 members. The organization's numbers were reduced to about 19,000 in 26 states by 1978.
The society, open only to white women of "good moral character," promotes extreme patriotism, the public school system, and the reading of the Bible in schools. According to its 1978 regulations, the Daughters of America professed the following principles for its members:
1. Promoting and maintaining American interests by shielding the country from unrestricted immigration
2. Helping Americans find employment
3. Encouraging American businesses
4. Providing support for the American public school system in upholding Bible reading in the public schools
5. Opposing sectarian influences in state and national affairs
6. Promoting and advancing the Junior Order of United American Mechanics
7. Establishing the funds to support orphans of deceased members of the organization
8. Establishing funds to provide for the aged and infirm members of the order.
The Lansdale, Pennsylvania chapter of the Daughters of America, Mary Lincoln Council No. 168, opened in 1934.
The collection consists of five minute books, 1934-1973 (with some gaps), and two officers' roll books, 1946-1966.
Gift of Nancy Wall, 2010.
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 Lansdale Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Lansdale Historical Society
- 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 Lansdale Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.