Finding Aid to the Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco Records,
1914-2004
(bulk 1940-1989)
Finding aid prepared by Conor M. Casey and Wendy Kramer
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA, 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
2010
Title: Travelers Aids Society of San Francisco Records,
Date (inclusive): 1914-2004
Date (bulk): (1940-1989)
Collection Identifier: SFH 18
Creator:
Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco.
Physical Description:
3 cartons, 2 boxes, 1 flat box
(4.75 cubic ft.)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
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.
Access
This collection is open for research. 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.
Publication Rights
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.
Provenance
The Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco Records were donated by Compass Community Services, Travelers Aid's successor organization,
in 2004.
Related Materials
Researchers are encouraged to see also the San Francisco History Center's subject and biographical files and the San Francisco
Historical Photograph Collection, and to check the catalog holdings of the San Francisco Public Library for related materials.
Related Collections in Other Archives
National Travelers Aid Association of America Records, 1910-1975 (32 linear feet), Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of
Minnesota.
Conservation Note
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.
Organizational History
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.
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.
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Compass Community Services. -- Archives
Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco. -- Archives
San Francisco (Calif.)--Societies, etc.
Traveler's aid societies
Series 1
Minutes and Annual Reports,
1914-1989
Physical Description:
22 folders
Subseries A
Combined Board and Committee Minutes and Annual Reports,
1914-1989
Physical Description:
13.0 folders
Arrangement
Folders are arranged chronologically, with materials in each folder in reverse chronological order.
Subseries B
Individual Committee Minutes and Reports,
1957-1988
Physical Description:
8.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 1
Personal Committee Minutes,
1957-1958
Box 2, Folder 2
Staff Meeting Minutes,
1949-1956
Box 2, Folder 3-4
Psychiatric Staff Meeting Minutes and Reports,
1950-1954
Box 2, Folder 5
Program Committee Meeting Minutes,
1963-1980
Box 2, Folder 6
Aquarius House Annual Reports and Historical Origins,
1968-1975
Box 2, Folder 7
Aquarius House Binder,
1974
Box 2, Folder 8
Personnel Committee Minutes and Reports,
1979-1980
Box 2, Folder 9
Monthly Staff Meeting Minutes,
1984-1988
Series 2
Reports,
1943-1989
Physical Description:
6 folders
Subseries A
San Francisco Travelers Aid Association Reports,
1943-1989
Physical Description:
4.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 10
Annual Reports,
1943-1948
Box 2, Folder 11
Statistical Reports,
1967-1983
Box 2, Folder 12
Executive Committee Quarterly Reports,
1959-1964
Box 2, Folder 13-14
Financial Reports,
1988-1989
Subseries B
National Travelers Aid Association Reports and Recommendations to San Francisco Travelers Aid,
ca. 1957, 1967
Physical Description:
2.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 15
Report and Recommendations on the Study of the San Francisco Travelers Aid Society by the National Travelers Aid Association,
ca. 1957
Box 2, Folder 16
Report and Recommendations on the Study of the San Francisco Travelers Aid Society by the National Travelers Aid Association,
1967
Series 3
Correspondence,
1962-1990
Physical Description:
6.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 17
General director Savilla Simmons Correspondence,
1962-1965
Box 2, Folder 18
Letters from United Way of the Bay Area,
1978-1981
Box 2, Folder 19
Executive Director Memo to Board of on Corporate Planning Process,
1988
Box 2, Folder 20
General Correspondence,
1988-1989
Box 2, Folder 21
Letters of Complaint about Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco,
1989
Box 2, Folder 22
Letter from Travelers Aid International to Travelers Aid of San Francisco on Non-Payment of Dues,
1990
Box 2, Folder 23
Fundraising and Volunteers, Series 4
1979-1989
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
Series 5
Training Manuals,
1948-ca. 1980
Physical Description:
8.0 folders
Box 2, Folder 24
Personnel Manual, Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco,
1948-1959
Box 2, Folder 25
Executive Secretary's Manual,
1952
Box 2, Folder 26
Board Manual, Travelers Aid Society of San Francisco,
1952
Box 3, Folder 1
Volunteer Manual, Ferry Building,
1956
Box 3, Folder 2
Volunteer Manual, San Francisco International Airport,
1960
Box 3, Folder 3
Volunteer Manuals, Greyhound Bu Depot,
1971, 1980
Box 3, Folder 4
Volunteer Manual, Airport,
ca. 1980
Subject Files and Reference Material, Series 6
1952-ca. 1989
Physical Description:
16.0 folders
Box 3, Folder 5
The Structure and Function of Travelers Aid,
1952
Box 3, Folder 6
Reference Material, National Travelers Aid Association,
1959-1960
Box 3, Folder 7
Sophie Maxwell Memorial (Scholarship?),
1963
Box 3, Folder 8
Statistical Recording and Reporting in Travelers Aid,
1969
Box 3, Folder 9
Resource Material for Social Work Staff,
ca. 1969-1973
Box 3, Folder 10
Greyhound Volunteers,
1973-1977
Box 3, Folder 11
Travelers Aid San Francisco Employee Job Descriptions,
ca. 1980s
Box 3, Folder 12
"Wage and Benefit Survey of and for San Francisco Bay Area Tax-Exempt, Nonprofit Organizations,"
1987
Box 4, Folder 1
Travelers Aid San Francisco History,
1988, 1989
Box 4, Folder 2
General Funding Terms and Conditions and Program Requirements for Child Development Programs,
1988-1989
Box 4, Folder 3
Travelers Aid San Francisco: United Way Self-Evaluation,
1989
Box 4, Folder 4
Agency Organization and Administrative Systems,
ca. 1989
Box 4, Folder 5
Travelers Aid Society Blank Certificates of Appreciation,
undated
Box 4, Folder 6
Organization Bylaws
undated
Box 4, Folder 7
Staff List of Tenderloin Center for Children in Crisis,
undated
Box 4, Folder 8
Travelers Aid Society San Francisco Employee Evaluation Forms and Benefit Pamphlet,
undated
Series 7
Scrapbooks,
1914-2004
Physical Description:
1.0 box
Box Box 6
Oversize clipping on "She-Tramps" (female hoboes),
1940
Box 5, Folder 18
Scrapbook 8: Tenderloin Childcare Center (TLC),
ca. 1991
Box 6
Series 8
Proclamations, Oversize Photographs, Ephemera, and Realia,
early 1900s-1991
Physical Description:
1 flat box, 1 small suitcase
Proclamation from San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein for Travelers Aid 50th Anniversary,
March 2, 1983
Proclamation from San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos declaring Travelers Aid Day in San Francisco,
February 28, 1991
Photograph of unidentified woman (photographic reproduction of photographic print),
undated
Photograph of three women (photographic reproduction of a photographic print),
undated
