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

Police resistance, Passaic Textile Strike, 1926

American Labor Mus_Police resistance_Martin Winkler rsz.jpg

Martin Winkler of Garfield, New Jersey is arrested for resistance, after which he received a 10 day prison sentence.This event took place during the…

Dig In! [editorial cartoon by Fred O. Seibel]

VCU_M 23 Box 2 f knickerbocker press May 1919 no 741 Salvation Army Home Service fund rsz.jpg

Editorial cartoon in support of the Salvation Army Home Service Fund by Fred O. Seibel, published in The Knickerbocker Press, May 1919. Mounted and…

Sit-in Songs : Songs of the Freedom Riders

M1977 _P75S57 1962 Sit-in Songs CORE cover rsz.jpg

Songs recorded by participants in CORE's Freedom Highways project in the summer of 1962. The project was designed to open chain restaurants along…