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Friends Housing Cooperative, Inc. records
Notifications
Held at: Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. 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
In the mid-1940’s two Quaker Organizations, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Friends Neighborhood Guild (FNG) were both concerned about urban housing.
Based upon the foresight of Mr. Francis Bosworth, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Friends Neighborhood Guild (FNG) began to explore a possible joint venture with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and the newly created Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
The new 1949 Housing Act gave promise of a new era in urban housing. After long and extensive delays because of Federal and Municipal reluctance to support an integrated housing attempt, material shortages, etc., The American Friends Service Committee and the Friends Neighborhood Guild formed the Friends 'self-help' Housing Corporation (now called Friends Housing Cooperative, Inc.) in 1952, with the mission of creating affordable, urban housing for a diverse community.
The Friends Housing Cooperative is an incorporated body and as such is governed by a Board of Directors. This board is composed of fifteen members, ten of whom are stockholders and are elected each year for a two-year term, and who may be reelected for a second term. The other five members are appointed by the sponsoring agencies, the Friends Neighborhood Guild and the American Friends Service Committee. The Board has regularly scheduled monthly meetings to discuss matters pertinent to the administration of the cooperative.
Today, the Friends Housing Cooperative is located in the Northern Liberties and consists of a city block of 1850s brick townhomes.
The collection, consisting of 3 linear feet, covers the time period from 1948 to 2009, with a bulk of the materials dating from 2001 to 2009. The materials in the collection document the financial, legal, promotional and administrative operation of the Friends Housing Cooperative. There are also records documenting the membership of the cooperative and projects undertaken by the cooperative, specifically the West Poplar and East Poplar neighborhoods. The bulk of the material relates to the finances of the Friends Housing Cooperative, documenting particularly well the costs for major renovations to the corporation’s properties.
For additional materials on the Friends Housing Cooperative, researchers should request the Friends Housing Cooperative, Inc. records, 1945-1981, Accession 993, to which these records are an extension, with some overlapping of dates.
This collection is arranged in seven series: “Administrative,” “Correspondence,” “Financial,” “Legal,” “Membership,” “Projects,” and “Publications.” See series notes for further information on contents.
The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
Organization
- American Friends Service Committee.
- Friends Housing Cooperative, Inc.
- Friends Neighborhood Guild.
- Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
- Philadelphia. Redevelopment Authority.
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Beth Cackowski, Curt Chinnici, Mary Alice Cicerale, and Grace Lee
- Finding Aid Date
- 2011.02.07
- Sponsor
- The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project. Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Temple University Libraries Special Collections Research Center with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
Collection Inventory
The Administrative series comprises materials covering the general management of the Friends Housing Cooperative from 1961 to 2009. The bulk of the materials are minutes from Board of Directors meetings from 1992 to 2009 and reports from 1988 to 2000, including stockholder reports. Two of the stockholders were Albert V. Walker and Ellen J. Streibel. Other reports include information related to general maintenance and fire inspections. Some notable reports in this series are the Friends Housing Cooperative Handbook (1988), prepared by Marquette L. Cannon-Babb, (a Friends Housing Cooperative Treasurer), a membership training manual, and capital needs assessment reports composed by Sherick Property Management, Inc.
The bulk of this series is correspondence from Jeffrey D. Servin, Esq. The Cooperative’s correspondence begins with collection notices. These are letters from the property management company to tenants regarding amount owed to the Friends Housing Cooperative. There is correspondence from Albert Foster, who was a vice president of the Board of Directors. The letters address problems between Friends Housing Cooperative and Cooperative and Management Co., a property management company. Another set of correspondence is from the Philadelphia Councilman at Large, the Honorable Darrell Clarke, regarding a block matter. The next set of letters includes manuscript letters from a tenant in House of 705 Rear (a property located at 705 N. 8th St.) concerning a complaint about allotment. There is also general tenant correspondence, composed of maintenance requests. Finally, there is correspondence to Jeffrey D. Servin, Esq. regarding legal issues that affect the Friends Housing Cooperative. The documents in this series span the years 1998 to 2007.
This series includes sub sections of Account Ledgers, Audit Committee notes, Budget Proposals and Reports, Check reports, an Expense Report, Friends Housing Cooperative Financial Tests, Finance Committee Notes, Financial Statements, a Management Report, Receipts, Reserve Withdrawals, Account Statements and Friends Housing Cooperative Stock Certificates. The Financial series continues into Box 7, Folder 1 where oversized stock certificates are housed. The documents span the years 1953 to 2008, with the bulk dating between 2001 and 2005.
This series includes tax notices and a Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy Notice. The organization and persons involved are Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson LLP, Ellen Streibel, and Marcus and Mary Cannon. The bulk of the material relates to a filing for bankruptcy in 2008, but the series spans the years 2005 to 2008.
This series includes a membership application, dating from 2002 to 2005; a membership check-list for an application; and a list of registered cooperative managers.
This series is divided into information about the West Poplar and East Poplar Neighborhoods. Included are flyers; newsletters; maps of the West Poplar neighborhood; a report by Master of City Planning students at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design; manuscript notes; a West Poplar Neighborhood Advisory Committee presentation; a development agreement; an East Poplar Redevelopment Area Plan (August 1948); a community briefing; hard-copies of Power-Point presentations, such as “Neighborhood Alternatives;” pamphlets; and other property maps. One folder of this series is located in Box 7, folder 2 and contains oversize newsletters and an architectural site plan for West Poplar (4/21/08). Notes from the Conservation Committee comprise the third folder in this series. This series spans the years 2005 to 2008.
Folders 11 & 12 include an advertisement and flyers for Friends Housing Cooperative to recruit new members; a Friends Housing Cooperative memo from Micki Rozario, a site manager to tenants; other memos; research information on energy conservation; an impassioned letter of appeal from Celeste M. Johnson, a vice president of the board; Friends Housing Cooperative handbook materials; formal complaints; newsletters; and various notices on electric use, washing machines, and exterminators. These two folders range in date from 1997 to 2007. Examples of newsletters include “Friend’s Connection: a Friends Housing Cooperative Newsletter” (v. 1, issues 3, 6, & 7, dating from 2002 to 2003) and “Friends Housing Cooperative Newsletter,” (2006). Folder 12 includes the Friends Housing Cooperative Marketing Committee, extermination reports, complaints, harassing phone calls, newsletters and flyers, a RCM (Registered Cooperative Manager) code of ethical conduct for property managers and miscellaneous items. Folder 13 in Box 6 consists of newspaper clippings regarding legal issues with a separate co-op (Weavers Way), property taxes, and other miscellaneous topics, spanning the years 1947 to 2007. Oversized newspaper clippings are houses in Box 7, folder 3 at the end of the collection.