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Child welfare is "that part of human services and social welfare programs and ideologies oriented toward the protection, care, and healthy development of children" [Barker 1991: 35], and social welfare archives are "among the cumulative by-products of social welfare activities" [Klaassen
Steinwall 1987: 150]. Social welfare archives may include accreditation reports and responses, annual reports, budgets, biographical information, bylaws, charters, client case records, contracts, constitutions with amendments, consultants' reports, correspondence, manuals and handbooks, minutes, photographs, reports, and salary schedules, among other items [Barbeau & Lohmann 1992]. The researcher should consider which of these will be of importance in examining archival records.
A General Approach to Sources of Archival Material
Colleagues are often invaluable in suggesting archival sources to the prospective researcher, and reference and subject librarians can also be helpful at every stage of the research process. The following are resources to consider in finding archival materials: (1) general histories of social welfare; (2) documentary histories; (3) annotated bibliographies; (4) directories of archival and manuscript collections; (5) journal articles; (6) published inventories of oral history collections with reference to primary source materials; (7) The Social Welfare History Archives Center at the University of Minnesota; (8) social agencies and historical societies; and (9) abstracts, indexes, reference guides, and electronic services.
A Generic Approach to Finding and Using Archives
General Histories of Social Welfare
The General Index to David Schneider's The History of Public Welfare in New York State [1938] refers to "child welfare in New Netherland, care of dependent children, 15-19." On these pages is a reference to "orphan masters." A footnote there refers the reader to chapter note no. 25 and "New York City Orphan Masters 1902-7." The full reference on page 27 is "New York City Orphan Masters. Minutes of the Orphanmasters of New Amsterdam: 1655-1663. New York, 1902-7." In the New York City Municipal Reference and Research Center, this topic is not locatable under New York or New York City, but does appear under New Amsterdam [New York (NY) Orphanmasters 1902-1907].
Documentary Histories
In the area of children and youth, one documentary history is unusually complete for the period it covers. Compiled by Bremner [1970-1974], Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History is a multivolume set that includes citations from many archives...