Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Archival Sources of the Records of Charitable Societies

Alphabetically by state

Considering the large number of charitable societies in this database, the survival of original records is surprisingly rare. Only about one in ten societies have extant records available for consultation. It is likely the original records of some institutions remain in private hands, awaiting eventual archival deposit.

Alabama (4)
Mobile Catholic Orphanage Asylum
Records 1838-60 at St Mary's Home, Mobile

Mobile Female Benevolent Society
Minutes 1860-64 in the University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile.

Mobile Protestant Orphanage Asylum Society
17 vols of Minutes 1839-1966 at Historic Mobile Preservation Society Archives, Oakleigh, Mobile, Miscellaneous records including admission and dismission rolls from 1851 at the Baptist Children's Home, Mobile

Tuscaloosa Female Benevolent Society
Minutes 1853-69 in Hoole Special Collections, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

District of Columbia (1)
Washington Charitable Society of St Patrick's Church
Records in church archives

Georgia (10)
Chatham Academy
Minutes from 1813 in Edward Clifford Anderson Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Female Seamens' Friend Society
Minutes from 1843 to 1860 in Mrs Vallerie Burroughs Papers, Special Collections, Duke University Library

Georgia Infirmary
Minutes from1833 to1865 in the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah

Savannah Benevolent Association
Minutes 1854-1928 in the Georgia Historical Society

Savannah Female Asylum
Minutes from 1810 to1843 in the Georgia Historical Society, patchy later records to 1860

Savannah Free School Society
Minutes from 1816 to1856 in the Georgia Historical Society, some financial records to 1874

Savannah Poorhouse and Hospital
Minutes from 1836 to 1876 in the Georgia Department of Archives and History

Savannah Port Society
Minutes from 1843 to 1860 in the Georgia Historical Society

Union Society
Records published as Minutes of the Union Society (Savannah, 1860), location of originals unknown

Widow's Society
38 vols of records in the Georgia Historical Society including Minutes from 1849, Treasurer's Records from 1830 and Visiting committee Records from 1859

Florida (1)
L'Unione Italiana Club
Records 1850-1972 in Florida State Archives

Kentucky (2)
Orphan Society of Lexington
Records 1833-59 in University of Kentucky

Protestant Episcopal Orphan Asylum (Louisville)
Minutes from 1835 and other records including children's records in Filson Club, Louisville.

Louisiana (8)
Poydras Female Orphan Society
Minutes from 1817 onwards in Tulane University Archives

Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans
Records 1854-1938 (minute books, records of annual meetings etc) in Hebrew Union College, Jacob Rader Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati

New Orleans House of Refuge
Ladies Committee Reports 1857-1860 in New Orleans Public Library

New Orleans Female Orphan Asylum
Minute Book in Associated Catholic Charities, New Orleans.

Protestant Children's Home
Minutes, 1853-onwards in Protestant Orphans Home, Fourth District

St Mary's Orphan Boys' Home
Registers from 1853 in Associated Catholic Charities, New Orleans.

Society for the Relief of Destitute Orphan Boys
Admission Records 1824 onwards in Special Collections of Tulane University Library.

Tuoro Infirmary
Records 1855 onwards in New Orleans Public Library; also some at Tuoro Infirmary Archives.

Maryland (7)
Baltimore McKim's School for Poor Youths
Meetings of the Trustees 1821-1826 in the Maryland Historical Society

Baltimore Almshouse
Records 1833-37 in Maryland Historical Society

Association for the Improvement of the condition of the Poor
Records 1849-1907 at Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore City Marine Hospital
Records 1850 onwards in Maryland State Archives.

Baltimore Female Humane Association
Board Minutes 1819-1857 in Maryland State Archives

Children's Aid Society
Records from 1860 in Johns Hopkins University Library.

Maryland Hospital
Minutes and Registers in Maryland State Archives

Mississippi (2)
Natchez Female Charitable Society
Records Book 1816-22; Minute Book, 1835-1840; Accounts 1838-60; Children's Records Book, 1850-1894 etc in Natchez Children's Home Records, 1816-1945, 1990 in Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Natchez Charitable Association
Minute Book 1853- 1858 in the City Clerk's Records, Natchez.

Missouri (1)
Episcopal Home for Children (St Louis)
Minutes, annual reports, children's records  from 1845 in Diocese of Missouri Archives.

South Carolina (22)
Beaufort College
Minutes 1795-1860 in Beaufort County Library, (microfilm copy in SCL)

Beaufort Female Benevolent Society
Minutes between 1814-60 in Beaufort Public Library, microfilm copy at the South Caroliniana Library, Columbia.

Brown Fellowship Society
See: Miscellaneous Papers 1790-1911 in the SCL

Charleston Orphanage
Full Records from 1790 in the City of Charleston Archives
Published as Susan L King, ed, The History and Records of the Charleston Orphan House, 1790-1860 (Easley, SC, Southern Historical Press, 1984)

Charleston Poor House
Full records in the City of Charleston Archives

Fellowship Society
Minutes, rules, and accounts 1762-1858 (17 reels of microfilm) in the SCL

Female Charitable Society of Charleston Neck
Minute Book, 1824-1860 in the South Carolina Historical Societ

Friendly Moralist Society
Minutes from 1841 to 1856 in the College of Charleston

French Benevolent Society
Miscellaneous Papers 1816-1893 in the South Caroliniana Library

German Friendly Society Charleston
Minutes 1766-1833; 1851-1858 (16 vols of typescript) in the SCL; Minutes Aug 6, 1828 - Sept 25, 1833 in the College of Charleston

Hebrew Orphan Society, Charleston
Typescript copy of minutes 1850-1938 in the SCL, originals in Jacob Rader Center, Cincinnati

Hibernian Society Charleston
Hibernian Society Secretary's Book, No 3, 1827-1847, (typescript, SCL)

Ladies Benevolent Society
Board Of Managers Minutes, Journals, Annual Reports, Financial Records, from 1823 onwards in the South Carolina Historical Society

Ladies Fuel Society
Minutes, rules and other records from 1832 to 1843 in the  South Carolina Historical Society

Mount Zion Society
Minutes 1783-1933 in the SCL

New England Society
Miscellaneous papers from 1819 onwards in the South Carolina Historical Society

St David's Society
Minutes 1777-1835 on microfilm in the SCL

Society for the Orphan & Destitute Female Children of Columbia
Minutes 1839-1865 in the SCL

Society for the relief of the widows and orphans of the clergy of the Church of England in the Province of South Carolina
Manuscript Journal, 1762-1813 in the South Carolina Historical Society

St George's Society
Financial Records from 1813 in the South Carolina Historical Society.

Typographical Society
Minutes 1859-1862 in the SCL

Wadsworthville Poor School
See: Accounts and Treasurer's Records from 1804 in the South Carolina Historical Society.

Winyah Indigo Society, Georgetown
Minutes 1853-1912 (typescript) in volume 10 of Gertrude Foster, A Documentary History of Education in South Carolina (PhD Dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1932, in the SCL)

Tennessee (1)
Nashville Protestant Orphan Society
Minutes in the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee

Texas (3)
French Benevolent Society of Galveston
Membership records from 1860 in Rosenberg Library, Galveston.

Galveston Port Society
Minutes, financial records etc from 1858 in Rosenberg Library, Galveston.

Howard Association of Galveston
Minutes, financial records, death lists etc in Rosenberg Library, Galveston.

Virginia (5)
Norfolk Female Orphan Society
Minute Book from 1816 to 1853 in the University of Virginia Library

Petersburg Benevolent Mechanics Association
Minutes  from 1825 to 1941  at the Petersburg Public Library, microfilm copies at the University of Virginia Library Charlottesville; additional records (1825-36) held at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond

Richmond Male Orphan Society
Records 1845-1896 in Library of Virginia

Richmond Amicable Society
Minute Book 1788-1816 in Virginia Historical Society

Richmond Female Humane Association
Papers in the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond