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Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Records

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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. 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 Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer was a Quaker women's organization founded in 1818 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to provide relief for impoverished sick children and their mothers from the crowding and oppressive heat during the summer months. The Association was proposed by Casper Wister, M.D., (1801-1867) and was originally housed in a wing of the City Hospital.

The collection contains minutes, 1818-1854 (gap 1819-1821) and other records, including acting committee minutes and workbook, 1843-1851.

The collection is organized into two series. The series are:

  1. Minutes
  2. Miscellaneous

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Minutes, 1818-1854 (gap 1819-1821) available on microfilm: Film Org.-H (film on roll with Home for Moral Reform)

Deposited by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1975.

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Author
FHL staff
Finding Aid Date
1975
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

This collection has been digitized and is available in our Digital Library. Explore this collection online.

Use Restrictions

Friends Historical Library believes all of the items in this collection to be in the Public Domain in the United States, and is not aware of any restrictions on their use. However, the user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status before reproducing. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/.

Collection Inventory

A00180615. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 1, 1818-1819.
Scope and Contents

35 pages. First book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Introduction states the reasoning for forming the Association and the appeal to the Board of Health to utilize all or part of the city hospital for such purpose. Includes minutes regarding the funding of programs intended to help sick children, and list of names of philanthropists, donors and women involved, as well as names of doctors willing to work for the cause. Contains a list of rules for women participating in the program, ranging from visitation to alcohol consumption.

Subjects: Temperance; Public health; Hospitals; Sick children; Cost accounting; Quaker women; Charities; Minutes (Records); Wistar, Caspar, 1801-1867

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.)

A00180616. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 3, 1821-1823.
Scope and Contents

51 pages. Third book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Includes discussion of withdrawal of funds from donors, as well as overall business regarding the program.

Subjects: Wistar, Mary Waln, 1765-1844; Wistar, Caspar, 1801-1867; Public health; Sick children; Cost accounting; Quaker women; Charities; Minutes (Records)

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.)

A00180617. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 4, 1823-1842.
Scope and Contents

24 pages. Fourth book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Includes a breakdown of funds and what they have been allotted to, in addition to explaining the appointment of positions to individuals over the period of nine years.

Subjects: Hospitals; Cost accounting; Quaker women; Sick children; Public health; Charities; Minutes (Records)

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.)

A00180618. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 5, 1843-1845.
Scope and Contents

37 pages. Fifth book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Includes a list of women who are members of the Association. There are also a few pages dedicated to rules for members of the Association, as well as documentation of children admitted, with the death and convalescence rates included.

Subjects: Hospitals; Cost accounting; Quaker women; Sick children; Public health; Charities; Minutes (Records); Wistar, Caspar, 1801-1867; Klapp, William H. (William Henry), 1808-1855

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.); Germantown (Philadelphia, Pa.)

A00180619. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 6, 1845-1848.
Scope and Contents

34 pages. Sixth book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. The amount of children benefited by the program is noted, along with the allocation of funds for transportation for mothers to bring their sick children.

Subjects: Cost accounting; Quaker women; Travel; Sick children; Public health; Charities; Minutes (Records); Wistar, Caspar, 1801-1867

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.); Germantown (Philadelphia, Pa.); Haverford (Pa.)

A00180620. Minutes of the Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer Book No. 7, 1849-1854.
Scope and Contents

41 pages. Seventh book of minutes from the meetings of the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Discusses money spent for traveling mothers and their sick children, as well as the Association's hope that as their recognition goes up, applications to the program will go up as well.

Subjects: Quaker women; Sick children; Cost accounting; Public health; Charities; Minutes (Records); Collins, Rebecca Singer, 1804–1892

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.); Red Bank (N.J.); Germantown (Philadelphia, Pa.)

A00180621. Annual Assoc. for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer, Acting Committee minutes and workbook, 1843-1851.
Scope and Contents

62 pages. Discusses regular business operations of the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer. Includes names of new members of the Board over a period of eight years.

Subjects: Quaker women; Sick children; Travel; Cost accounting; Public health; Charities; Minutes (Records); Collins, Rebecca Singer, 1804–1892

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.); Camden (N.J.)

A00180622. J. Bryan letter to Dr. Caspar Wistar, 1862-10-21.
Scope and Contents

2 pages. J. Bryan, M.D., wrote to Dr. Caspar Wistar expressing regret that he was unable to give money to the Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer and relaying a message of how grateful some mothers were for the ability to have travel tickets paid for in order to bring their ill children to get medical help.

Subjects: Sick children; Public health; Annual Association for the Relief of Sick Children in the Summer (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Relevant locations: Philadelphia (Pa.)

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