Explore the history of American social reform and social services 

The Social Welfare History Image Portal brings together photographs, pamphlets, artifacts and documents chronicling the history of the nation's response to human need. This history includes the work of volunteer organizations, reform movements, social workers, and government legislation and systems.

Featured Items

Votes for Men. [anti-suffrage handbill]

VCU_M 9 Box 51 Anti Suffrage Votes for Men rsz.jpg

Anti-suffrage handbill arguing that women have the right to exemption from political duties and to protection, "even against herself, if need be." An…

Better Babies [suffrage pamphlet]

M9 Box 49 Better Babies p1 rsz.jpg

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) pamphlet on how woman suffrage improves children's health. Cover editorial cartoon by Rose O'Neill.…

The Ray of Hope [editorial cartoon by Edgar F. Schilder]

VCU_NC 1300_C37 v5 n2 Feb 1914 Edgar F Schilder White Plague p127 rsz.jpg

Editorial cartoon by Edgar F. Schilder. A hooded figure of Death, carrying a scythe and labelled "The White Plague" flies over a graveyard. In the…