Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco.
- Abstract:
- The records of Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco document the organization's activities from its founding in 1914, through its transition to Compass Community Services in 1995, and up to 2004. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1940-1989, providing insight into the organization's shifting mission in response to changing social conditions. The collection contains board and committee minutes and reports, correspondence, training manuals, subject files, and scrapbooks.
- Extent:
- 3 cartons, 2 boxes, 1 flat box (4.75 cubic ft.)
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco Records (SFH 18), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection documents the activities of the Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco (TASSF) and its transition to Compass Community Services (CCS), from the founding of the organization in 1914 through 2004. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1940-1989, providing insight into TASSF's shifting mission in response to changing social conditions. A major shift in focus is apparent the records documenting the opening a of Tenderloin childcare center for homeless children in 1990 and the organization's name change to Compass Community Services (CCS) in 1995. The collection contains minutes and reports of the general board, as well as individual committees that document policy-making decisions and provide an overview of TAASF/CCS' actions. Similarly, these activities are reflected by correspondence, fundraising materials, and training manuals for volunteers and officers. Travelers Aid's subject and reference files document the topics with which they were concerned and reveal the day-to-day operations of TASSF. Scrapbooks containing news clippings, correspondence, and photographs provide an excellent historical overview of the organization's role in the larger community; and proclamations of recognition from San Francisco mayors commemorate its successes in this respect.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The origins of the Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco date back to 1893, when it was founded as a department of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). In 1914, it became an independent organization dedicated to assisting travelers drawn by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco. Part of the National Travelers Aid Association, a nationwide collection of societies located in most major US cities, Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco sought to protect stranded people, especially women and children, from abuse or victimization upon arrival in urban centers. Though many Travelers Aid programs were started by religious groups, the society is the oldest non-sectarian social welfare organization in the United States.
Over the course of its history, Travelers Aid of San Francisco (TASSF) has offered services in response to shifting social conditions, assisting a wide range of people. In the early years, it served refugees, soldiers and their families during wars, and transient single adults. The organization continued to respond to significant national and local events throughout the twentieth century, providing services to transients during the Great Depression of the 1930s, migrating military families and displaced refugees during World War II, and Flower Children in the 1960s. In 1972, the organization opened Aquarius House, founded to provide temporary shelter to young adults in crisis. During the 1980s, the agency began to shift its focus toward family homelessness and its components: lack of housing, employment, and other resources, and it opened a childcare center for homeless children in the Tenderloin in 1990. To signify this shift in focus, the organization changed its name to Compass Community Services (CCS) in 1995. At present, CCS provides childcare, a family center, an emergency shelter, and transitional housing services for families that need intensive rehabilitation or are in danger of becoming homeless.
- Acquisition information:
- The Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco Records were donated by Compass Community Services, Travelers Aid's successor organization, in 2004.
- Processing information:
-
During processing, the entire collection was re-foldered and re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes. Some metal staples remain. Scrapbooks were dis-bound, with photographs and other material separated from plastic pages and sheets when possible.
- Arrangement:
-
The Travelers Aid of San Francisco Records are organized into eight series: Series 1: Minutes and Annual Reports; Series 2: Reports; Series 3: Correspondence; Series 4: Fundraising and Volunteers; Series 5: Training Manuals; Series 6: Subject Files and Reference Material; Series 7: Scrapbooks; and Series 8: Proclamations and Photos. Series 1 and 2 are subdivided by format and by records creator, respectively. Arrangement within each series is chronological.
- Physical location:
- Open for research. The collection is offsite and advance notice is required for retrieval. Material must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research and available for use during San Francisco History Center hours. Photographs are available during Photo Desk hours. This collection must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.
Access to psychiatric staff meeting minutes in Series 1, Subseries B are restricted until 2085; copies of these files with names redacted are open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts and archives must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco Records (SFH 18), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
San Francisco Public Library100 Larkin StreetSan Francisco, CA 94102, US
- Contact:
- (415) 557-4567