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

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…

Child Labor in Virginia. NCLC Pamphlet No. 171

UPSEM_NCLC_Child Labor in Virginia No 171_cover 068 rsz.jpg

Pamphlet by Alexander Jeffrey McKelway, Secretary for the Southern States, National Child Labor Committee. With photographs by Lewis W. Hine, staff…

July First. "Oh, where's the beer of yester year?" [editorial cartoon by J. F. Bronstrup]

VCU_Cartoon Magazine v16 1919 p54 Bronstrup Jakes Place rsz.jpg

Editorial cartoon by J. F. Bronstrup shows a saloon owner smoking a cigar outside his recently converted bar. The establishment window now advertises…