Children's Aid and Adoption Society of New Jersey: non-sectarian social service agency which arranges adoptions and provides day care and adolescent services; formed in 1899 as the Children's Aid and Protective Society of the Oranges (headquartered successively in Orange and East Orange, N.J.); provided foster home care for many years; adopted the name Children's Aid and Adoption Society of New Jersey in 1958 to reflect its revised emphasis and broader geographical base; moved its headquarters to Hackensack; merged in 1973 or 1974 with the Sister Mary Eugene Foundation and moved its headquarters to Bogota, N.J.

Sister Mary Eugene Foundation: adoption agency incorporated in N.J. in 1966 to foster adoptions by N.J. couples of children under the care of the Prince County Welfare Agency, Prince Edward Island, Canada; benefited from fundraising efforts of the Sister Mary Eugene Fund, Inc., formed in 1965 to aid the Prince County Welfare Agency in its N.J. placements.

Minutes, 1899-1925 and October 1965-June 1979, of the board of directors; minutes, February 1899-February 1919, of the executive committee; account book, 1928-1936; press releases, 1969; annual report, 1976; "index book of records"; minutes, 1904-1909, of the placing out committee; and other records. Also records of the Sister Mary Eugene Fund and the Sister Mary Eugene Foundation.

Records of the Sister May Eugene Fund include a certificate of incorporation, 1965; minutes, 1965-1967; and other documents, including records of the ladies auxiliary.

Formed as the Children's Aid Society of New Brunswick by a group of concerned church women; incorporated in 1877 "to provide temporary care of friendless, neglected, or destitute children"; opened a school facility; reincorporated as the Industrial Home of New Brunswick for Girls in July 1878; became the Children's Industrial Home of New Brunswick following the admission of boys; closed its residential home in the early 1940s following a shift in program emphasis to one of sponsoring foster home care; further revised its program emphasis toward keeping troubled families intact; reincorporated in 1950 as the Family Service Bureau.

Minutes of regular and special meetings of the board of managers, including minutes of annual meetings of the contributors and of the board of directors. Inserted into some volumes are miscellaneous loose documents not directly related to the minutes.

Ecumenical movement of Christian women witnessing to unity and faith in Jesus Christ through worship, study, action and celebration; organized in 1943 as the New Jersey Council of Church Women with Mattie Eastlack Driscoll (mother of N.J. Governor Alfred E. Driscoll) as its first president; merged with the New Jersey State Council of Churches and the New Jersey Council of Religious Education in 1945 and became the Department of Women's Work of the New Jersey Council of Churches, but maintained its autonomy and its affiliation with the United Council of Church Women (the national organization founded in 1941); changed its name to the Council of Church Women of New Jersey, a Department of the New Jersey Council of Churches, in 1949 (but was known informally as the New Jersey Council of Church Women); to conform to the pattern of the national organization, changed its name to United Church Women of New Jersey, a Department of the New Jersey Council of Churches, in 1952; hosted the sixth national assembly of United Church Women (at which President Eisenhower spoke) in 1953 in Atlantic City; changed its name to Church Women United in New Jersey effective in late 1966 or early 1967 – following a similar name change in 1966 by the national organization – and remained affiliated (but gradually to a lesser extent?) with the New Jersey Council of Churches; in addition to other events, holds annual assemblies at varying locations within the state which include workshops, worship services, reports, inspirational addresses and a business meeting incorporating votes on resolutions (e.g., in support of proposed N.J. legislation); sponsors three annual observances: World Community Day (dedicated to world peace), World Day of Prayer (concerned with domestic and foreign mission work) and May Fellowship Day (dedicated to contemporary social problems) which each involve special worship services; also sponsors several concurrent state projects (in the form of ongoing financial support for activities such as a ministry to N.J. migrant farm workers and the clinical pastoral education of women who plan to become chaplains in hospitals or other institutions); monitors areas of interest through standing committees such as "U.N. & Global Concerns" (as Church Women United at the national level is a nongovernmental organization registered with the United Nations) and "WICS/Community Service" (as Church Women United at the national level is one of the five coalition members comprising Women in Community Service, Inc.); carries out some of its ecumenical mission through local units (formerly called councils and organized into districts comprised of one or more N.J. counties) which sponsor their own events; from an early period (by 1949 and likely before), has included representatives of African-American churches; by 1993 included approximately 18 affiliated denominations of Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian traditions.

Records consisting of minutes (of the executive committee, board of directors and annual meetings), budgets, yearbooks, newsletters, annual reports, resolutions, handbooks for key women, scrapbooks and other records.

The scrapbooks were maintained by the group's historian and frequently include documentation of activities undertaken by local units, in addition to materials pertaining to the state organization. Among the many document types included in the scrapbooks are letters, press clippings and photographs; items present from 1968 include an undated, printed note from "Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. and children" acknowledging sympathy extended to the family.

Formed to "protect, maintain, advance and improve the . . . principles embodied in the American trade union movement and to unite all women interested in the furtherance of . . . the CIO"; affiliated with the CIO Women's Council of New Jersey, Passaic County CIO Council and New Jersey State CIO Council; included members from Passaic and Bergen Counties in N.J.

Constitution, undated; newsletter, February 1961 (i.e., volume 1, number 2, of The Union Maid); membership applications, 1956-1957 and undated; combined account book and membership list, 1956-1958 and undated; undated committee list; and correspondence, 1957-1961, including letters sent to and received from N.J. elected officials at the state and national levels. Also included in the records are copies of the fourth annual report, 1958, of the CIO Women's League of New Jersey and the League's fifth annual convention program, 1960.

Entries in the membership list include an individual's name, address and telephone number. The membership applications include the same information, together with the applicant's local, if a union member.

Women's group founded in 1895 to improve and beautify the city; worked at first to promote clean streets and lots; later became involved with such social problems as prison welfare and child labor legislation.

Minutes, correspondence, notes and clippings.

Resident of Utica, New York; born Frances Beardsley, the daughter of Samuel Beardsley (1790-1860), a lawyer, New York state attorney general, state supreme court justice and U.S. Representative; married Erasmus (or Erastus?) Clark in 1846.

Diary containing entries from January 1, 1837, to March 3, 1850 (with significant gaps). During the early period of the diary Clark attended a local female seminary in Utica, New York. Later she lived with her parents and engaged in domestic chores, visits to friends and relatives and church attendance. In the final period, Clark's life as a homemaker is depicted. Throughout the diary she frequently expresses religious thoughts and anxieties.

Sister of Sylvanus M. Davidson, a Pacific Mail Steamship Company agent at Yokohama, Japan; married Elihu L. Clark.

Diary, commonplace book (including verse and press clippings) and an 1868 letter from her brother in Yokohama.

Clark's diary, October 14, 1871-October 10, 1872, describes her voyage from New York City to Japan via Panama and San Francisco and her residence in Yokohama, including the tutoring of Japanese children (boys learning English).

Family of northern and central N.J. whose members included Margaret (Imlay) Clark, her spouse the Rev. Joseph Clark (1751-1813), their three sons and selected other relatives.

Papers, including a 1791 legal document transferring ownership of Rose, "a Negro wench about twenty four years old," from Peter Imlay to his married daughter Margaret (Imlay) Clark without charge "in consideration of my duty & affection to my Daughter." At the time of this transaction, both Margaret (Imlay) Clark and her father were residents of Monmouth County, N.J.

Physician and elected official, of Woodstown, N.J.; attended Delaware College (Newark, N.J.) and Lafayette College; was graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1840; received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1843; served in the N.J. Assembly, 1854, and in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1855-1859.

Approximately 110 items of correspondence, 1855-1871 (with gaps), consisting chiefly of letters received, but also including several drafts of letters sent. Five of the letters, 1862-1863, pertain to Harriet R. Dowden (d. 1863), an African-American resident of Woodstown, and her estate. These letters were written by Richard Price, a Quaker of Philadelphia, and include one letter addressed to Dowden herself. Some information about Dowden's background, acquaintances and relatives is included in the letters, which indicate that her parents had been slaves living in or near Baltimore at the time she was born.

Residents of a farm in northwestern Warren Township (near the Dead River), Somerset County, N.J.; consisted of Harriet (Moore) Coddington (b. 1820), her spouse George C. Coddington (b. 1818), and their children, including daughters Christiana (b. 1847), Harriet (b. 1854) and Imogene (b. 1858).

Diary, 1866, 1876 and 1878-1885, kept by three sisters while they lived with their parents. Several pages of family genealogy (including information on the Casad, Coddington, Lyon and Moore families) are present at the front of the volume. Following the family records are copies of verse and of a few diary entries (from 1844 and 1845) written by the sisters' mother. At the end of the volume are approximately a dozen items of verse, 1876-1931, written by Christiana Coddington.

Minutes, 1951-1980; undated membership lists; and dues records, 1942-1945.

Minutes, November 8, 1921-April 25, 1968, and articles of incorporation, December 8, 1921. Accompanied by a combination ad journal and membership directory of the Congregation, 1944-1985, which was prepared by the Sisterhood.

Society formed to raise money and engage in relief efforts to benefit families of Spanish American War soldiers; organized May 12, 1898; disbanded December 7, 1898.

Minutes, 1939-1944 and 1950-1968; account book, 1964-1967; and membership ledgers, 1924-1952.

Resident of Macon, Georgia; was graduated from the local Wesleyan Female College in 1857.

Diary concerning the teaching a small class of children, living with her family and household and church activities. The diary also contains several compositions.

Homemaker; married Earl Fairchild Connett (1826-1914), who operated a sawmill and lumberyard in Brookside, Mendham Township, N.J.

Diary containing a detailed account of household, family, business and neighborhood activity in Brookside, N.J. The diary is accompanied by an 80-page typescript compilation by Connett's granddaughter (Helen Martha Wright) consisting of pertinent biographical and descriptive data, including a 64-page volume-by-volume analysis of the diary's contents.

Real estate agent, of New Brunswick, N.J.

Included in Conover's papers are his accounts, 1858-1869, with the estate of Mary Furman of Middlesex County, N.J.

Established in 1900, as an affiliate of the National Consumers' League, by a group of middle-class women seeking to improve the working conditions of women and children in industry through public education and legislative action; sought reform through child labor laws, through minimum wage and maximum hour laws and through legislation regulating factory, retail, household and migrant working conditions, including mandated improvements in workplace health standards and safety; while continuing to fight to consolidate earlier achievements, shifted its agenda during the 1960s and 1970s to issues such as consumer credit, consumer fraud, food prices, the use of pesticides and food additives, national health insurance and environmental pollution; in 1971, organized the Consumer Education Foundation (dissolved in 1980) to conduct workshops, conferences and other educational programs in the field of consumer protection, as well as to conduct related research, issue publications and maintain a library; became less influential in the 1980s, by which time, with many of its functions having been gradually taken over by government agencies and other consumer groups, the organization faced a decline in membership, the aging of longtime members and financial problems.

Executive committee minutes, 1921-1987; annual meeting files, 1922-1987; president's files, 1930-1977; executive secretary's files, 1912-1958; legislative files, 1932-1977; financial and membership records, 1923(1951)-1970; child labor files, 1912-1969; consumer credit files, 1950(1961)-1982; Medicare and Medicaid files, 1944(1960)-1971; migratory labor files, 1929-1979; minimum wage files, 1915(1932)-(1968)1972; pesticides files, 1939-1963; radiation poisoning files, 1926-1979; worker's compensation files, 1924-1982; subject files, 1920-1975, on other topics; anniversary celebrations files, 1929-1975; biographical and historical files, 1923-1982, including a compiled history through 1950; consumer conferences files, 1964-1969; publications, 1908-1978; publications from national and other state leagues and organizations, 1896(1902)-1969; Consumer Education Foundation files, 1971-1979; Consumer Federation of America files, 1970-1977; photographs, ca. 1920-1977; and scrapbooks, 1904-1976.

Residents of New York and N.J., including Maria (Frelinghuysen) Cornell (1778-1832), who was the daughter of Gen. Frederick Frelinghuysen, her spouse the Rev. John Cornell (1774-1835) and several of their children: Margaretta S. Cornell (b. 1799) who married the Rev. Isaac S. Demund (1803-1888); Anna Maria Cornell (1803-1834); Catharine L. Cornell (b. 1810); Sarah E. Cornell (1816-1879) who married the Rev. William Demarest (1813-1874); and Charlotte M.F. Cornell (1822-1903) who married John Van Allan, M.D.

Papers consisting chiefly of correspondence (over 1,900 letters), but also including miscellaneous writings (verse, prose, sermons, etc.), financial documents (chiefly receipts), medical lecture tickets and miscellaneous other papers. Many of the letters present were exchanged by women family members, especially several sisters; considered in its entirety, this correspondence provides a very full documentation of their lives. Among the places the women correspondents lived when they wrote these letters are Berne, New Baltimore, New York City and Suffern (in New York state) and Millstone, Pompton and Somerville (in N.J.).

Founded in 1901 as the New Jersey Conference of Charities and Correction to bring together men and women dealing "with the problems of human affliction and distress" and to show "the need of co-operation between private benevolent agencies and public relief officers"; for a quarter century, had as its main purpose the sponsorship of a yearly conference; changed its name to the New Jersey Conference for Social Welfare in 1919 and to the New Jersey Conference of Social Work in 1925; reorganized in 1925, adding a fulltime executive secretary and an expanded educational function (collecting and disseminating data plus working for improved practices by individual and institutional members); conducted the first of many fundraising appeals to support its own activities in 1926; changed its name to the New Jersey Welfare Council in 1938; carried out many of its activities through committees; over the years, studied and addressed such statewide concerns as those pertaining to African Americans (including the provision of social services to this community), public assistance (including its coordination and standardization, as well as the provision of emergency relief during the Great Depression), child welfare (including, but not limited to, adoption policy, juvenile delinquency and child care needs), health issues (including both public health and mental health), displaced persons (especially immigrants from Europe after World War II) and drug addiction (including the need for treatment clinics); in addition to a newsletter, issued a variety of directories and other publications for social workers and the general public; formed a separate, nonprofit Social Welfare Research Foundation (with a separate board but a somewhat overlapping administrative structure) in 1964 to perform and disseminate research in the field of social welfare, including the sponsorship of annual workshops for social workers; suffered declining membership and contributions during the 1970s (as many of the Council's functions had been taken over by the state and it faced competition from more narrowly-focused organizations that were better funded); merged with the Social Welfare Research Foundation in 1975, by which name it became known until the following year when it adopted the name Council for Human Services in New Jersey; laid off its executive director and secretary ca. 1976 and continued as an all volunteer effort; for most of its existence, maintained its headquarters in Newark, and later Trenton, before moving its office to Fairfield, Essex County, ca. 1990; continued to be active as late as 1992.

Constitutions and by-laws, 1934-1987; minutes, 1904-1975 and 1983-1991, of the executive board, board of trustees and annual meetings; resolutions, 1936-1966, of the board and organizational committees; annual reports, 1936-1966; financial records, 1937-1946, 1960-1966 and 1987; auditor's reports, 1957-1961 and 1971-1974; general administrative files, 1909-1992; Common Sense Appeal files, 1937-1938, which document a fundraising campaign; a chrono file, 1963-1969, consisting chiefly of retained copies of letters sent; conference papers and agendas, 1915-1973; legislative forum files, 1956-1969, pertaining to an annual conference; committee files, 1929(1939)-1974; subject files, 1930-1973; historical files, 1912, 1925-1938 and 1940-(1946)1986; publications, 1924(1928)-(1979)1987, including newsletters; Social Welfare Research Foundation files, 1965-1976; photographs, 1965-1967; a publications index, 1937-1963; a membership card file, 1928(1948)-1972; and scrapbooks, 1921-1957.

Art historian, curator and author, of Passaic, N.J.; was graduated from the New Jersey College for Women (later Douglass College), Rutgers University, in 1933; worked as an assistant in the exhibits department at the Newark Museum, 1935-1936, as registrar at the Brooklyn Museum, 1940-1942, as curator of maps and prints at the New York Historical Society, early 1943, as an employee (including curator of paintings) at the Old Print Shop/Harry Shaw Newman Gallery (New York City), 1943-1949, as assistant director of the Smith College Museum of Art, 1949-1955, as a field archivist (for the New York area) with the Archives of American Art, 1955-1961, and as curator of prints and drawings at the New Jersey Historical Society, 1961-1962?; specialized in 19th-century painting; co-authored a book on the painter William Sidney Mount.

Correspondence from throughout Cowdrey's career; published writings, articles, reviews and clippings; inventory of books and art works that Cowdrey acquired; papers concerning gifts that she made to Rutgers University; and papers which document her early life. Also present are a collection of nineteenth-century photographs of American artists and a collection of autographs (in part from the papers of Samuel Putnam Avery), 1781-(1903)1955, chiefly pertaining to artists from Great Britain and the United States. Included in Cowdrey's correspondence are letters concerning persons to be included in Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1975). Among the artists represented in the autograph collection are Rosa Bonheur (2 letters : 1869? and 1874?), Ann Hall (1 letter : 1835) and Jane Stuart (1 letter : undated).

Resident of (present day) Springfield Avenue, near New Providence, N.J.; born Elizabeth Mulford; married John Crane (1764-1843), a farmer.

Diary containing short, regular entries describing farming, church, domestic and social activities, family events, visits and other occurrences.