Call Number:

2003.095

Repository:

Old York Road Historical Society

Extent:

5.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1903-2003 (inclusive)

Creator:

Jenkintown Day Nursery.

Abstract:

The Jenkintown Day Nursery was established in 1903 by Mrs. Theodore B. (Annie W.) Culver (1867-1957). The Jenkintown Day Nursery records, 1903-2003, consist of board minutes, financial records, administrative records, and scrapbooks.

The Jenkintown Day Nursery was established in 1903 by Mrs. Theodore B. (Annie W.) Culver (b. 1867, d. 1957). Its 1908 charter states that "The purpose or object for which the corporation is formed is the shelter and care of the young children of poor working women, regardless of race or color, whose employment calls them from their homes; to help these mothers in every way possible and to promote the general welfare of the community by stimulating it through the means at hand to a higher appreciation of Godliness, cleanliness and the use of the hands in honest labor." By 1986 the Nursery was described as "a non-profit social service Day Care Center established for the purpose of providing educational and recreational programs to children who, for compelling reasons, cannot be cared for at home."

The nursery was and is financed by fees paid by parents (6 cents a day in 1903, eventually a sliding scale according to ability to pay), investment income, contributions, fund raising activities, and contributions of services, food, clothing, and other material donations. In 1974 the cost per child was $1500, about half of which was supported by the parent. It is governed by a Board of Directors. In 1965, after a successful fund raising campaign, it moved from Thomas and Water Streets, where it was at full capacity of 30 children, to a newly erected building at Baeder and Hilltop Roads, where it accommodates 90 girls and boys.

This collection consists of early Board minutes, 1906-1925 (4 volumes, 3 of which largely duplicate one), report on finances, donations, matron’s report on attendance, meals served, visits to families made, and other statistics. The minutes and published annual reports reflect on the Nursery’s activities in varying degrees of detail. In its formative years the Nursery provided cooking, sewing, millinery, dress making, and embroidery classes, basketry, choral groups (one for white children, one for colored), and a Boys Club. Through its membership in the Association of Day Nurseries it obtained information relating to health, diet and other management issues.

Later minutes, 1933-1992 (very fragmentary, mostly for the 1980’s), report on finances, membership, donations, fund raising activities, and house and property, with brief Executive Director reports on activities at the school.

There are account books and other financial records, printed brochures, Rags and Riches fund raising auction material, and other ephemera, clippings, photographs, and miscellaneous files.

Much of the material consists of the files of Ruth MacKenney who was a Board member and comptroller.

A series of scrapbooks and photograph albums, 1903 (1940-1986) 1986 (14 volumes), includes formal photographs of classrooms and children for promotional brochures, snapshots of the school, directors, and volunteers, clippings that become increasingly about fundraising events in the late 1960’s, and some ephemera.

Box 1 Directors minutes, 1906-1925 (4 volumes, 3 of which largely duplicate one) Directors minutes, 1933-1992 (very fragmentary, mostly for the 1980’s) Donation Books, 1934-1938, 1957-1963 (listing material donations)

Box 2 Annual Reports, 1904-1928, 1954-1974 Ephemera, 1905-2003, including 60th Anniversary and other fund raising material, brochures, Rags & Riches catalogs, invitations, etc.

Box 3 Miscellaneous correspondence and other material, 1905-1990 Histories By-Laws Photographs, 1940’s-1980’s Clippings, 1920-2000

Box 4 House Committee financial reports, 1903-1921, with list of material donations (1 volume) Account books, 1919-1925, 1943-1963

Box 5 Account book, 1965-1983 Contribution books, 1967-1983

Box 6 Auxiliary fund raising reports and ideas, 1958-1962 Auxiliary financial papers, 1971-1981

Box 7 Scrapbooks, 1903 (1940-1968) 1968 (4 volumes, with loose pages and clippings taken from contents), includes early snapshots of children and 1965 photo album

Box 8 Scrapbooks, 1963-1979 (3 volumes, with loose pages and clippings taken from contents), mostly clippings

Box 9 Scrapbooks, 1982-1993 (3 volumes), with 3 receipted bills, 1910, 1913, and clippings, photographs and snapshots;

Box 10 Scrapbook/photograph album (disassembled) with clippings and board reports, 1959-1970, and snapshots of Board meetings and Rags and Riches, 1983-1984, n.d. Photograph albums, 1986 (2 volumes) with snapshots of April Showers, annual meeting, staff lunch, MacKenney retirement and Rags and Riches, Board Meeting, 1986, Christmas parties, n.d. Photograph albums, n.d. (2 volumes) Remembrance Books, 1974-1975, 1978-1984 (2 volumes), record of donations made in memory or in honor of people

Bibliography Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, volume 38 (1978), pp. 13-25