Summary Information
- Prepared by
- Kaiyi Chen
- Preparation date
- 2002
- Date [inclusive]
- 1872-2002
- Extent
- 7.0 Cubic feet
PROVENANCE
Transferred to the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and 2002.
The 1997 accession of the Ladies Aid Society records came mixed with the records of the Presbyterian Medical Center. The latter group is to be processed as a separate collection under the code UPC 500.
ARRANGEMENT
The collection has been organized into four series: Corporate Governance Records, 1872-2002; General Administrative Files, 1883-2002; Financial files, 1872-2001; and Photographs and Artifacts, 1922-1992. The records are basically arranged in an alphabetical order within each series (except for the series of “Photographs and Artifacts”).
AGENCY HISTORY
The Ladies Aid Society of the Presbyterian Medical Center was founded in October 1872. The mission of the Society, as mapped out in its first Constitution, was to “aid the [Presbyterian] Hospital by soliciting funds, assisting the sick, procuring supplies of clothing, lint, bandages,” etc., “subject to the direction of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital and the Medical Board.”
The Society became gradually a major source of funding for various projects of the Presbyterian Hospital. In 1921, the Society was involved with a fund-raising drive among the local churches to collect $100,000.00 for a new Dispensary-Laboratory Building. In the 1960s, the Society pledged $40,000 to the building and redevelopment fund of the Hospital and made another gift of $50,000 for the purchase of equipment in the Food Service Center. In 1970, it pledged and raised $75,000.00 for the Pediatric Medical Services. From 1985 to 1994, the Ladies Aid Society raised over three quarters of a million dollars for the Presbyterian Medical Center.
During its over 125 years of existence, the Society has received numerous legacies and bequests, most of which have been invested. While the interest from these investments form the bulk of the its revenues, the Society has also embarked on a number of money-raising enterprises to augment their income. It sponsors various sales, bazaars, concerts, recitals and fashion shows. Outstanding in its retail ventures have been the Cubby Hole Gift Shop which started in 1932 and is still operating; the Rittenhouse Flower Market, to which the Ladies Aid Society was first invited in 1927 and from which the Society raised thousands of dollars for the sick children at the Presbyterian Hospital, including setting up a Child Health Clinic in 1928. In addition, a Co-operative Shop which was formed in 1923 and sold in 1975; and a Thrift Shop at the hospital which closed in 1987.
Apart from fund-raising operations, the Society has been active in various kinds of training and social services for the Presbyterian Hospital. Shortly after its founding, the Society organized Visiting and Benevolent Committees to visit patients at the hospital. The first official “visitor” for the committee was Caroline Farnum, who had been trained as a nurse. By 1889, she had combined her training skills and her visiting activities into a new system which provided opportunities for potential nurses to do off-site visiting for practice. That year the hospital board of trustees named Farnum its “Directress of Nurses,” and thus, was born the Presbyterian School of Nursing. The Ladies Aid Society was generous from the outset to the new school, giving gifts through its Benevolent Committee to the patients being visited, and even providing its students with their first uniforms. In addition to visiting the sick and sewing sheets, pillow cases, patient clothing and operating room linens, early members also performed useful tasks patients could not yet deal with physically, helped find them employment, made temporary monetary loans and even helped send some convalescents to the sea-shore to speed their recovery, until the Cathcart Nursing Home was opened in Devon in 1892.
For all of its fund-raising and service activities, the Society depended heavily on the good-will and reliability of hundreds of volunteers from its own membership. In 1957, it oversaw the formation of the Medical Auxiliary, which was created primarily as a volunteer fund-raising group for the hospital. The Auxiliary officially separated itself from the Society by 1959, but the two groups still co-operate in a number of different activities. Despite the modern downward trend in membership for most volunteer organizations, the current membership of the Ladies Aid Society has stayed at about 200. Its operations, however, have increasingly concentrated on raising funds for the hospital in recent decades.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Collection documents the history and development of the Ladies Aid Society of the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia since its founding in 1872. The Corporate Governance Records series includes all corporate documents as well as the Annual Report of the Society from 1872 to the present and minutes of its Executive Committee, Board of Managers and annual and quarterly meetings. The General Administrative Files comprise administrative correspondence and files of such major subjects as book donations, directory and mailing lists, handbooks, history material, and legacies and wills. The Financial files consist of audit report, annual financial statement, Treasurer report, documentation of gifts received and made, records of its investment and banking transactions, income and expense ledgers, tax exempt status, and its business related to the Rittenhouse Square Flower Market and the Cubby Hole Gift Shop. The Photograph and Artifact Series include a couple of photograph images of its activities and a ceramic Florence Nightingale lamp.
Controlled Access Headings
- Corporate Name(s)
- Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company.
- Presbyterian Hospital (Philadelphia, Pa.). Ladies Aid Society.
- Presbyterian Hospital (Philadelphia, Pa.).
- Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing (Philadelphia, Pa.).
- Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia. Ladies Aid Society.
- Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia.
- Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.
- Rittenhouse Square Flower Market.
- University of Pennsylvania Health System. Presbyterian Medical Center. Ladies Aid Society.
- University of Pennsylvania. School of Medicine.
- Genre(s)
- Annual Reports.
- Minutes.
- Photographs.
- Subject(s)
- Hospitals–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.
- Nursing–Study and teaching–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.
General Note
The agency history of the Ladies Aid Society of the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia is partially based on the Historical Notes prepared by Sandy VanDoren, former Archivist of the Presbyterian Medical Center.
Inventory
Corporate Governance Records, 1872-2002 |
Box |
Folder |
|
Annual Report |
|
|
|
1872-1897 in a bound volume |
1 |
1 |
|
1898-1916 in a bound volume |
1 |
2 |
|
1912 |
1 |
3 |
|
1917-1931 in a bound volume |
1 |
4 |
|
1931-1933 (printed) |
1 |
5 |
|
1932-1943 |
2 |
1 |
|
1932-1953, in a bound volume |
2 |
2 |
|
1950-1954 (printed) |
2 |
3 |
|
1955-1956 (printed) |
2 |
4 |
|
1957-1958 (printed) |
2 |
5 |
|
1959-1969, typescript |
2 |
6 |
|
1970-1974, typescript |
2 |
7 |
|
1975-1977, typescript |
3 |
1 |
|
1978-1989, typescript |
3 |
2 |
|
1998-1999, 2002, with Newsletter, 1999-2002 |
3 |
3 |
|
Articles of incorporation (original), 1929 |
3 |
4 |
|
Charter, constitution and by-laws, 1893, 1929-1993 |
3 |
5 |
|
Charitable Organization Registration, 1993 |
3 |
6 |
|
Executive Board (Committee) meeting, Correspondence and supporting documents, 1902-1922 |
3 |
7 |
|
Incorporation seal, 1929 |
3 |
8 |
|
Minutes |
|
|
|
Founding meeting, 1872 Oct. 10, and Constitution Committee meeting 1872 Oct. 12, with constitution draft, list of founding members (?) and their addresses |
3 |
9 |
|
Board of Managers |
|
|
|
1879-1887, bound |
3 |
10 |
|
1888-1895, bound |
3 |
11 |
|
1896-1901, bound |
3 |
12 |
|
Executive Board, Annual and Quarterly meetings |
|
|
|
1896-1909 (bound, with hand-written notes by Isabella Talley, 1937) |
4 |
1 |
|
1918-1926, bound |
4 |
2 |
|
1927, unbound |
4 |
3 |
|
1928, unbound |
4 |
4 |
|
1929, unbound |
4 |
5 |
|
1930, unbound |
4 |
6 |
|
1931, unbound |
4 |
7 |
|
1932, unbound |
4 |
8 |
|
1933, unbound |
4 |
9 |
|
1934, unbound |
4 |
10 |
|
1935, unbound |
4 |
11 |
|
1936, unbound |
4 |
12 |
|
1937, unbound |
4 |
13 |
|
1938, unbound |
4 |
14 |
|
1939, unbound |
4 |
15 |
|
1940, unbound |
4 |
16 |
|
1941, unbound |
4 |
17 |
|
1942, unbound |
5 |
1 |
|
1943, unbound |
5 |
2 |
|
1944, unbound |
5 |
3 |
|
1945, unbound |
5 |
4 |
|
1948, unbound |
5 |
5 |
|
1949-1951, bound |
5 |
6 |
|
1955, unbound |
5 |
7 |
|
1956, unbound |
5 |
8 |
|
1957, unbound |
5 |
9 |
|
1958, unbound |
5 |
10 |
|
1959, unbound |
5 |
11 |
|
1960, unbound |
5 |
12 |
|
1961, unbound |
5 |
13 |
|
1962, unbound |
5 |
14 |
|
1963, unbound |
6 |
1 |
|
1964, unbound |
6 |
2 |
|
1965, unbound |
6 |
3 |
|
1966, unbound |
6 |
4 |
|
1967, unbound |
6 |
5 |
|
1968, unbound |
6 |
6 |
|
1969, unbound |
6 |
7 |
|
1970, unbound |
6 |
8 |
|
1971, unbound |
6 |
9 |
|
1972, unbound |
6 |
10 |
|
1973, unbound |
6 |
11 |
|
1974, unbound |
6 |
12 |
|
1975, unbound |
6 |
13 |
|
1976, unbound |
6 |
14 |
|
1977, unbound |
6 |
15 |
|
1978, unbound |
6 |
16 |
|
1979, unbound |
6 |
17 |
|
1980, unbound |
6 |
18 |
|
1985, unbound |
6 |
19 |
|
1986, unbound |
6 |
20 |
|
1987, unbound |
7 |
1 |
|
1988, unbound |
7 |
2 |
|
Executive Committee |
|
|
|
1998 March – May |
7 |
3 |
|
1998 June – 1999 June |
7 |
4 |
|
1999 June – 2000 May June |
7 |
5 |
|
2002 Feb. 12 |
7 |
6 |
|
Annual and Quarterly meetings, bound, 1918-1927 |
7 |
7 |
|
Benevolent Committee, 1895-1900 |
7 |
8 |
|
Benevolent, Sabbath, Visiting Nurse Missionary Visitor and Social Service Committees (in 1 bound volume), 1900-1910 |
7 |
9 |
|
Quarterly Meeting, 1932 Jan. 29 |
7 |
10 |
|
Visiting Committee, 1872-1877 |
8 |
1 |
|
General Administrative Files, 1883-2002 |
Box |
Folder |
|
Book Donations |
|
|
|
1937-1969 |
8 |
2 |
|
1970-1974 |
8 |
3 |
|
1975-1976 |
8 |
4 |
|
1977-1981 |
8 |
5 |
|
Child of Providence: A History of Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia, 1996 |
8 |
6 |
|
Church representatives, Mailing lists, [1960s-1970s] |
8 |
7 |
|
Coal land bequeathed by Ellen A. Girard, Correspondence, 1907-1923 |
8 |
8 |
|
Coal mine property |
|
|
|
Correspondence and legal, 1916-1923 |
9 |
1 |
|
Girard Mammoth Coal Company vs. Raven Run Coal Company, et al., 1919-1923 |
9 |
2 |
|
Correspondence |
|
|
|
1873-1947, with clippings |
9 |
3 |
|
1954-1967 |
9 |
4 |
|
1968 |
9 |
5 |
|
1969 |
9 |
6 |
|
1970 |
9 |
7 |
|
1971 Jan.-June |
9 |
8 |
|
1971 July-Dec. |
9 |
9 |
|
1972 |
9 |
10 |
|
1973 |
9 |
11 |
|
1974 |
10 |
1 |
|
1975 |
10 |
2 |
|
1976 |
10 |
3 |
|
1977 |
10 |
4 |
|
1978 |
10 |
5 |
|
1979 |
10 |
6 |
|
1980 |
10 |
7 |
|
1981 |
10 |
8 |
|
1982-1985 |
10 |
9 |
|
1986-1988 |
10 |
10 |
|
1989-1990 |
10 |
11 |
|
Dedication Programs, 1996, 2002 |
10 |
12 |
|
Directory and mailing list, Officers and members |
|
|
|
1967-1972 |
11 |
1 |
|
1973-1976 |
11 |
2 |
|
1977-1978 |
11 |
3 |
|
1979-1982 |
11 |
4 |
|
Election, Ballots, 1961-1981 |
11 |
5 |
|
Election, Nominating Committee reports, 1957-1969, 1979-1980 |
11 |
6 |
|
Election, Ballot for April 26, 1985, Nominees for Board Offices, April 1986, with miscellaneous clippings |
11 |
7 |
|
Governing Board, Directory, 1980-1981 |
11 |
8 |
|
Governing Board, List, 1998-1999 |
11 |
9 |
|
Handbook for Committee Chairmen, 1973, 1979, and Handbook for Church Representatives, 1980-1981, |
11 |
10 |
|
Handbooks for committee chairmen and church representatives, 1973-1981 |
11 |
11 |
|
Historical Sketch of the Ladies Aid Society, with other miscellaneous clippings, 1936-1981 |
11 |
12 |
|
Histories, 1936, 1967, 1973 |
11 |
13 |
|
Junior Service Guild and miscellaneous committee reports, [1942]-1956 |
11 |
14 |
|
Legacies and wills 1883-1903 |
11 |
15 |
|
Legacies and wills 1900-1916 |
11 |
16 |
|
Legacies and wills 1924-1929 |
11 |
17 |
|
Medical Auxiliary of the Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center Directory and mailing lists, 1967-1982 |
12 |
1 |
|
Medical Auxiliary of the Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center Directory, 1984 |
12 |
2 |
|
Membership application form and dues invoice, 1982-1986 |
12 |
3 |
|
Obituary, Mary Ellen Brown, [1966] |
12 |
4 |
|
Pennsylvania State University, Workshop certificates, 1958, 1964 |
12 |
5 |
|
Presbyterian Foundation for Philadelphia and New Courtland, Inc., [1996] |
12 |
6 |
|
Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia, Ladies Aid Fund, Declaration of Trust, draft, n.d. |
12 |
7 |
|
Prize and appreciation certificates, two, to the Ladies Aid Society, 1960, 1971 |
12 |
8 |
|
Secretary’s Report, 1941-1944 |
12 |
9 |
|
Financial, 1872-2001 |
Box |
Folder |
|
Audit report of the Treasurer’s cash accounts |
|
|
|
1936-1939 |
12 |
10 |
|
1940-1944 |
12 |
11 |
|
1945-1949 |
12 |
12 |
|
1951-1959 |
12 |
13 |
|
1960-1963 |
12 |
14 |
|
1964-1969 |
12 |
15 |
|
Bank statements, with cancelled checks, deposits and invoices |
|
|
|
1969 |
12 |
16 |
|
1970-1972 |
12 |
17 |
|
1972-1973 |
13 |
1 |
|
1974-1975 |
13 |
2 |
|
1976-1977 |
13 |
3 |
|
1978-1979 |
13 |
4 |
|
1980-1981 |
13 |
5 |
|
1982-1983 |
13 |
6 |
|
1984 |
13 |
7 |
|
1985 |
14 |
1 |
|
1986-1988 |
14 |
2 |
|
1989-1990 |
14 |
3 |
|
1998-1999 |
14 |
4 |
|
Cubby Hole Gift Shop |
|
|
|
Bank statements and cancelled checks |
|
|
|
1986 |
14 |
5 |
|
1987 |
14 |
6 |
|
1988 |
14 |
7 |
|
1989 |
14 |
8 |
|
Cancelled Checks |
|
|
|
1986 |
15 |
1 |
|
1987 |
15 |
2 |
|
1988 |
15 |
3 |
|
1989 |
15 |
4 |
|
Correspondence and personnel data form, 1969-74 |
15 |
5 |
|
Cancelled checks Reports, 1962-1972 |
15 |
6 |
|
Cancelled checks Reports, 1973-1986 |
15 |
7 |
|
Daily journal (ledger)1966-1970 |
16 |
1 |
|
Daily journal (ledger)1970-1984 |
16 |
2 |
|
Daily journal (ledger)1985 March – 1995 May |
16 |
3 |
|
Donations made, receipts |
|
|
|
1969 |
17 |
1 |
|
1970 |
17 |
2 |
|
1971 |
17 |
3 |
|
1972 |
17 |
4 |
|
1973 |
17 |
5 |
|
1974-1981 |
17 |
6 |
|
1976-1980, with summary |
17 |
7 |
|
Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company (Fidelity Bank), investment statement |
|
|
|
1907, 1928-1930 |
17 |
8 |
|
1931-1933 |
17 |
9 |
|
1934-1935 |
17 |
10 |
|
1936-1938 |
17 |
11 |
|
1939-1942 |
17 |
12 |
|
1943-1946 |
18 |
1 |
|
1960-1977 |
18 |
2 |
|
1985 |
18 |
3 |
|
1986 |
18 |
4 |
|
1987 |
18 |
5 |
|
1988 Jan. – May |
18 |
6 |
|
1988 June- Dec. |
18 |
7 |
|
1989 Jan. – July |
18 |
8 |
|
1989 Aug. – Dec. |
18 |
9 |
|
1990 |
18 |
10 |
|
Financial statement, ending May 31, 1994, 1995, 1996 |
18 |
11 |
|
Financial statement, ending May 31, 2001 |
18 |
12 |
|
Gifts received, summaries, 1901-1903, 1959-1974 |
18 |
13 |
|
Gifts, Mary Patton Freeman Estate, 1958 |
18 |
14 |
|
Income and expense ledgers 1872-1889 |
19 |
1 |
|
Income and expense ledgers 1889-1901 |
19 |
2 |
|
Income and expense ledgers 1901-1911 |
19 |
3 |
|
Income and expense ledgers 1967-1982 |
19 |
4 |
|
Investment Supervisory Account, correspondence 1918-1955 |
19 |
5 |
|
Investment Supervisory Account, correspondence 1957-1990 |
19 |
6 |
|
Rittenhouse Square Flower Market 1931, 1967 |
19 |
7 |
|
Rittenhouse Square Flower Market 1970-1973 |
19 |
8 |
|
Rittenhouse Square Flower Market 1979-1980 |
19 |
9 |
|
Rittenhouse Square Flower Market 1981-1990 |
19 |
10 |
|
Tax exempt status correspondence, 1993-1997 |
20 |
1 |
|
Treasurer’s reports |
|
|
|
1934-1959 |
20 |
2 |
|
1960-1963 |
20 |
3 |
|
1964-1969 |
20 |
4 |
|
1970-1974 |
20 |
5 |
|
1975-1977 |
20 |
6 |
|
1978-1984 |
20 |
7 |
|
1985-1990 |
20 |
8 |
|
Ways and Means Committee 1961-1962 |
20 |
9 |
|
Ways and Means Committee 1963-1965 |
20 |
10 |
|
Financial, 1997-1998 |
|||
Banking statements, with deposit slips and cancelled checks |
21 |
1 |
|
Correspondence |
21 |
2 |
|
Financial statement, ending May 31, 1998, with relevant material |
21 |
3 |
|
Organization Exempt From Income Tax, Return of, 1997 |
21 |
4 |
|
Financial, 1998-1999 |
|||
Correspondence |
21 |
5 |
|
Financial statement, ending May 31, 1999, with relevant material |
21 |
6 |
|
Organization Exempt From Income Tax, Return of, 1998 |
21 |
7 |
|
Financial, 1999-2000 |
|||
Banking statements, with deposit slips, cancelled checks and miscellaneous receipts |
21 |
8 |
|
Correspondence |
21 |
9 |
|
Financial statement, ending May 31, 2000, with relevant material |
21 |
10 |
|
Organization Exempt From Income Tax, Return of, 1999, with Charitable Organization Registration Statement of 2000 |
21 |
11 |
|
Vanguard Funds, statements |
21 |
12 |
|
Yearly dues received |
21 |
13 |
|
Photographs and Artifacts |
Box |
Folder |
|
Photographs, 1922-1992 |
21 |
14 |
|
Photographs, Two, Jackson, Jack, and Katharine Clothier, with Carl Mosher at the presentation of a new piano to the PMC, 1969; Margaret Gayley Palmer with Daniel DeArment, Chaplain, Roger Dvorak, Vice-President, and an unidentified man at a presentation, 1969 |
21 |
15 |
|
Photographs, Mosher, Carl, with Margaretta Miller, Dr. Farquehar (Director of Pediatrics), Jane Tunnell and G. Hall Todd, with the plaques honoring Lena Littell and the section of the Ambulatory Services Pavilion, 1975 |
21 |
16 |
|
Ceramic Florence Nightingale lamp, given to the last graduating class of Registered Nurse, 1987 April 29, Two [one missing, original note: “placed in the Display Cabinet, 10/5/1994”] |
22 |
1 |
|