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]

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

Wages of Saleswomen: What the United States Government Says and What the Consumers' League Knows

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This pamphlet by the Consumers' League is an analysis of the 1907-1910 Bureau of Labor report on the condition of woman and child wage earners in the…

Protect our American Youth by Prohibiting the Liquor Traffic

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Woman's Christian Temperance Union placard. A stick handle was once attached to this sign.