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

James L. Farmer, Jr.

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James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Sign behind him reads, “END SEGREGATION ACROSS THE NATION."

An Amendment to the Constitution is Needed to Give the United States Power to Safeguard the Child Life of the Nation

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Pamphlet advocating for theChild Labor Amendment,passed in 1924, but never ratified.Cover cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper cartoonist John…

Society for the Entertainment of Shut-ins, 1908 [annual report]

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The Society for the Entertainment of Shut-Ins(SESI) was founded in 1901 by the Rev. George W. Shinn, D. D. in Boston, Massachusetts. Shinn was the…