Open for use in Social Welfare History Archives reading room.
The Minneapolis Federation of Settlements records are open to research use with no restrictions.
The Minneapolis Federation of Settlement Records and related papers were a gift from Betty Bruce, staff member of North East Neighborhood Services and President of the Board of Directors of NFSNC (1966).
Minneapolis Federation of Settlements records are arranged into eight series:
The Minneapolis Settlement House movement began in the late 19th Century. Desperate living conditions, similar to those that motivated Jane Addams and Lillian Wald to found Hull House and Henry Street Settlement, led to the foundation of organizations to address the needs of impoverished citizens in Minneapolis and St. Paul. A growing immigrant population, as well as those moving from rural areas to the inner city, faced overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, unemployment, discrimination, and crime. Thousands needed access to the goods and services necessary to afford an improved standard of living. The goals of the Minneapolis settlements were to better living conditions, "strengthen family life", create "a feeling of neighborliness", develop "indigenous leadership", and to integrate local neighborhoods into the larger community.
The first settlement in Minneapolis, Plymouth Mission, was started by Plymouth Congregational Church in 1879 and was later renamed Bethel Settlement. In 1905 brothers John and Charles Pillsbury donated funds to expand the facility and the new Pillsbury House opened in 1906. In 1897 Unity House was established by Dr. Marion Shutter, inspired by a visit to Toynbee Hall in London. Following the turn of the century, eight more settlements would be opened: Wells Memorial House (1907), Margaret Barry House (1912), Edward F. Waite House and Emmanuel Cohen Center (1913), North East Neighborhood House (1915), Southside Neighborhood House (1922), and the Phyllis Wheatley House (1930).
As the cultural, economic, and political structures of neighborhoods changed in the decade of the 1960's, so did the goals and objectives of the Settlement Houses.
Sources:
The Minneapolis Federation of Settlements served as the coordinating body of settlement houses in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Settlement records document functions of the programs and committees, with emphasis on youth activities and equal access to housing, education, employment and supportive programming, between the years of 1959 and 1967. The papers exemplify the social and cultural evolution of the time period and the impact upon the structure and mission of the local and national settlement house movement. National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers (NFSNC) records document public policy and urban issues critical to the decade of the 1960's. Minneapolis neighborhood organization records inform the extensive community organizing efforts unique to city neighborhoods. Documents include historical sketches, board and annual meeting minutes, NFSNC minutes and papers, and individual settlement house documents.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Of note within the folder: carbon copies of letters from
Margaret Berry, 1965. Reference to a book by Clarke Chambers:
Included is a speech: "Community Organizing in the Minneapolis Settlements, Neighborhood Development Team", James Mosely, Wells Memorial, Inc, presented at Midwest Regional Conference 1965
Documents reflect societal changes: Synopsis of Economic Opportunity Act of 1961, recommendations for AFDC legislation, document: "The Need For Enabling Legislation for the State of Minnesota for Work Incentive for Families on AFDC", quotes from mothers
Of interest in this folder are a book excerpt by Dr. Kenneth
Clark, Research Director, Northside Center for Child Development, City College,
NYC:
Items in this folder include: "Where Shall We Live?", a report of the Commission on Race and Housing, 1957; Report on Population and Shelter Data, 1958; Report on Housing Discrimination, 1959; Report, Housing Segregation & Religion in Minneapolis", James Tillman Jr, Exec Director Greater Minneapolis Interfaith Housing Program, 1959; Fair Housing Bill, 1961; Dilapidated Building Bill, 1964; Model Neighborhoods, 1966
Of interest: a questionnaire from a conference on neighborhood leadership, 1964; speech, "Citizen Participation in the Democratic Process", Edward Steinberg, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, 1964; pamphlet, "Teenagers Join the War on Poverty"; Social Policy Platform, 1965
Lester Schaeffer, Executive Director 1948- 1966; Training Documents
Includes camp materials: Pike Lake (1964) Summer Activity Program
Of interest is a report: "Work Training Program for School Dropouts", Bruce McBeath, 1964
Papers presented: "Emerging Concepts of Neighborhood", William Brueckner, 1961; :Focusing Settlement Services to Families and Children", Vern Bloom, 1963; "School Referral Program", Ida Mae Barchenger, 1963; "Settlements Serve Unemployed Youth", Jerry Skelly, 1963
Speech, Dr. Elizabeth Day, 1967
Speeches, articles: "Machiavelli in Modern Dress", Wayne AR Leys, 1959; "Self Help Among The Poor: New Styles of Social Action", Frank Reissman, 1965; "The Church and Neighborhood Community Organization", T. Sherrard and RC Murray, 1965; "Notes and Comments on the Alinsky Approach", Arthur Hillman, 1966; copies of letters to LBJ and Sen Joseph Clark, 1966; "Statement of Principles, Goals and Commitments, Emergency Convocation: The Urban Coalition", adopted August 1967 in the wake of riots in cities across the nation.
Ten day bus tour of settlements across the country
"Values and Social Work", Gisela Konopka, 1959; "The People in Our Neighborhood", Genevieve Carter, 1959; "Neighborhood Work in the Sixties", Margaret Berry, 1960; "Implications for the Expanding Youth Population For Youth Serving Agencies", Bertram Beck, 1961; "The Agency as Part of the Neighborhood", Arthur Hillman, 1962; speech re: "Great Society", University of Michigan President, 1964; "Community Organization in the Settlement", Theatrice Williams, 1965