Chapin Hall for Children records, 1867-1984.

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  • Creator Names Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum.
  • Title Chapin Hall for Children records [manuscript], 1867-1984.
  • Physical description
    • 46 linear ft. (68 boxes and 1 pkg.)
    • 1 oversized folder.
    • 1 sound tape.
  • Access and usage restrictions
    • Unprocessed materials and case files (1977-1984) are closed to researchers.
    • For listening purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a listening copy made if one is not available).
  • Collection summary
    • Correspondence, minutes of meetings, 1867-1958, admission and dismissal ledgers, financial records, case files, and other records of the organization, which provided day-care services for working mothers and served as a temporary shelter for dependent children and as an orphanage. The Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum was known since the 1930s as Chapin Hall for Children (the name of its building at 2800 West Foster Avenue). The archives include materials on its 100th anniversary celebration in 1960. Also an oversize folder in the collection contains rules and regulations and a list of donors (ca. 1950). A record book of meetings of the early Lady Managers of the Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum, 1868-1871, lists officers elected; number of children accepted, admitted, and left; reports of sick children, hospital cases, deaths; physicians reports; donations and plans for new building; changes in by-laws; and names of children in the asylum.
    • Some later correspondence, 1946-1954, relates to the Chapin Hall Ridge Farm Preventorium in Lake Forest (Ill.), an organization seeking to assist dependent children and neglected children with behavioral problems.
  • Finding Aids Note Descriptive inventory available online. It does not describe the unprocessed materials although they are included in the overall size of the collection.
  • Acquisition information Gift of the Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum (M1967.0662; M1968.0711).
  • Location of Other Archival Materials Note Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Chapin Hall for Children photograph collection (1986.0277).
  • Biographical or Historical Note Founded in 1860 as the Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum, the organization was known unofficially as Chapin Hall for Children since the 1930s. In 1984 a successor organization became part of the University of Chicago as a research and development center officially named the Chapin Hall Center for Children. The old Chapin Hall building at 2800 West Foster was torn down in 1985.
  • Names
    • Chicago Nursery and Half-Orphan Asylum Archives.
    • Chapin Hall for Children (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Chapin Hall Ridge Farm Preventorium (Lake Forest, Ill.)
    • Chapin Hall Ridge Farm Preventorium (Lake Forest, Ill.)
  • Subjects
    • Charities Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Charities Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Child care services Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Child care services Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Child care services Illinois Lake Forest 20th century.
    • Day care centers Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Day care centers Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Orphanages Illinois Chicago 19th century.
    • Orphanages Illinois Chicago 20th century.
  • Geographic coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.) Social conditions 19th century.
    • Chicago (Ill.) Social conditions 20th century.
    • Lincoln Square (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Lake Forest (Ill.) Social conditions 20th century.
  • Genre
    • Case files. aat
    • Correspondence. aat
    • Financial records. aat
    • Minutes. aat
    • Ledgers. aat
    • Lists. aat
    • Reports. aat
  • Geographic name United States Illinois Cook County Chicago.
  • Finding aid URL Finding aid available online http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-C/ChapinHall-inv.htm