Finding aid for the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets 0445

Finding aid prepared by Jane Adler, Clay Stalls

USC Libraries Special Collections

Doheny Memorial Library 206

3550 Trousdale Parkway

Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189

213-740-5900

specol@usc.edu

1999 January 27

Title: Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets

Collection number: 0445

Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections

Language of Material: English

Physical Description: 0.84 linear ft. 2 boxes

Date (inclusive): 1933-1950

Abstract: The Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets consists of thirty five budgets, 1933-1950, with accompanying explanatory text, on the cost of living for families of different occupations and for single women in San Francisco. The Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, of the University of California, Berkeley, produced the budgets (commonly known as the Heller Budgets), which encompass the Great Depression, World War II, and post-War eras. The budgets were for the use of social welfare agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area in determining the needs and support of families who were their clients.

creator: University of California, Berkeley. Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics.

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed to obtain permission to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections from the copyright holder.

Arrangement

The budgets are arranged chronologically, either by University of California publication or copyright date, when available, or lacking these, by the date of the study. They are stored in two archival boxes, with those for 1933-1945 in Box 1, and those for 1946-1950 in Box 2.

Physical Characteristics

The brittle condition of almost all of the budgets, especially noticeable in the torn bindings of the spines, requires that they be handled with care.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder# or item name], Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets, Collection no. 0445, California Social Welfare Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Scope and Content

The Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets consists of thirty five budgets, 1933-1950, with accompanying explanatory text, on the cost of living for families of different occupations and for single women in San Francisco. The Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, of the University of California, Berkeley, produced the budgets (commonly known as the Heller Budgets), which encompass the Great Depression, World War II, and post-War eras. The budgets were for the use of social welfare agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area in determining the needs and support of families who were their clients. They bear the stamp of the Welfare Planning Council Library, partial indication of their provenance before arriving at the California Social Welfare Archives.

Historical note

The Heller Committe for Research in Social Economics was organized in 1923 by Professor Jessica Peixotto, chair of the Economics Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Peixotto obtained funding for the committee from Mrs. Clara Hellman Heller; her aim was to continue her research in the study of state wages and salaries among clerical workers, laborers, and executives. The members of the Committee were drawn from the UC Berkeley departments of economics and law; Peixotto served as its first chair. The funding provided the means for women faculty and graduate students in economics and home economics to undertake research in consumer economics. The committee sponsored the research and publication of many such studies, with particular emphasis on California, between 1923 and its demise in 1962; however, it was best known for its yearly "Heller Budget". These budgets, one of three types of reports published by the committee, were innovative in their attention to a broad range of household expenditures not generally measured by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, examining how families actually spent their money rather than how economists thought they spent it, and thus allowed Peixotto and her colleagues to analyze how families gauged their expenditures in relation to their actual and hoped-for standard of living.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

University of California, Berkeley. Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics. -- Archives

Budgets

Families--Economic aspects--20th century--Archival resources

San Francisco (Calif.)--Economic conditions--20th century--Archival resources

Women--Economic conditions--20th century--Archival resources

Box 1, Folder 1

Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Budget for Dependent Families or Children (extract from Quantity and Cost Budgets). Prices for San Francisco, November, 1932. Berkeley: University of California 1933

Box 1, Folder 2

Budget for Dependent Families or Children, 1934. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics. Berkeley: University of California, 1935

General note

Title page missing.

Box 1, Folder 3

Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics. Budget for Dependent Families or Children (extract from Quantity and Cost Budgets). Prices for San Francisco, November 1935. Berkeley: University of California 1936

Box 1, Folder 4

Clothing Budgets. Prices for San Francisco, October 1937. (Supplement to Quantity and Cost Budgets for Four Income Levels). Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press circa 1937

Box 1, Folder 5

Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics. Budget for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, October 1936 (extract from Quantity and Cost Budgets). Berkeley: University of California 1937

Box 1, Folder 6

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, October 1937. (Extract from Quantity and Cost Budgets for Four Income Levels) . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California 1937

Box 1, Folder 7

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, March 1940. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner. 4. Dependent Families or Children . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press circa 1940

Box 1, Folder 8

Clothing and House Furnishings Allowances. Prices for San Francisco, March 1942. Supplement to Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Quantity and Cost Budget for Dependent Families or Children. Quantity and Cost Budget for A Single Working Woman . Berkeley: University of California Press 1942

Box 1, Folder 9

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, March 1942. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1942

Box 1, Folder 10

Quantity and Cost Budget for a Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, March 1942. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1942

Box 1, Folder 11

Ruth Okey and Emily H. Huntington. Quantity and Cost Budget for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, March 1942. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1942

Box 1, Folder 12

Quantity and Cost Budget for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, March 1943. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1943

Box 1, Folder 13

Wartime Budget for a Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, March 1943. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1943

Box 1, Folder 14

Ruth Okey and Mary Gorringe Luck. Wartime Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, March 1943. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1943

Box 1, Folder 15

Restricted Quantity and Cost Budget for Maintenance of Families or Children (Current Needs Only). Prices for San Francisco, March 1944. (Formerly Quantity and Cost Budget for Dependent Families or Children) . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1944

Box 1, Folder 16

Ruth Okey and Edith J. Linford. Wartime Food for Four Income Levels Prices for San Francisco, March 1944. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1944

Box 1, Folder 17

Restricted Quantity and Cost Budget for Maintenance of Families or Children (Current Needs Only). Prices for San Francisco, March 1945. (Formerly Quantity and Cost Budget for Dependent Families or Children) . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1945

Box 1, Folder 18

Wartime Budget for a Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, March 1945. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1945

Box 1, Folder 19

Ruth Okey and Edith J. Linford. Wartime Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, March 1945. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1945

Box 2, Folder 1

Ruth Okey, et al. Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1946. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1946

Box 2, Folder 2

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, September 1946. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1946

Box 2, Folder 3

Quantity and Cost Budget for a Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, September 1946. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1946

Box 1, Folder 4

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1946. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1946

Box 2, Folder 5

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, September 1947. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1947

Box 2, Folder 6

Ruth Okey, and Mary Gorringe Luck. Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1947. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1947

Box 2, Folder 7

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1947. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1947

Box 2, Folder 8

Quantity and Cost Budget for A Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, September 1947. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1947

Box 2, Folder 9

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, September 1948. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1948

Box 2, Folder 10

Ruth Okey and Mary Gorringe Luck. Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1948. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1948

Box 2, Folder 11

Quantity and Cost Budget for A Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, September 1948. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1948

Box 2, Folder 12

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1948. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1948

Box 2, Folder 13

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Dependent Families or Children. Prices for San Francisco, September 1949. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1950

Box 2, Folder 14

Ruth Okey and Mary Gorringe Luck. Food for Four Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1949. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1949

Box 2, Folder 15

Quantity and Cost Budgets for Three Income Levels. Prices for San Francisco, September 1949. 1. Family of an Executive. 2. Family of a White-Collar Worker. 3. Family of a Wage Earner . Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California Press 1950

Box 2, Folder 16

Quantity and Cost Budget for A Single Working Woman. Prices for San Francisco, September 1949. Issued by the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics, University of California. Berkeley: University of California 1950