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Finding aid for the Heller Committee for Research in Social Economics budgets
0445
0445
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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.
Advance notice required for access.
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.
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.
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.
[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
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.
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