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

Americans Do Not Practice What They Preach [1963 Farmville, Va. protests]

VCU_Americans Do Not Practice What They Preach_Farmville Safeway 1963 alt rsz.jpg

Protestor outside Safeway, Farmville Shopping Center, August 1963.Demonstrators carry signs opposing racial segregation, and encouraging shoppers to…

“Open-air” classroom at Moore Street School, 1113 W. Moore Street, Richmond, Va.

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In the early-20th century, Europe and the U.S. saw the rise of “open air” schools intended to create healthy environments to combat tuberculosis using…

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…