ABSTRACT
Archives provide a wealth of material for the historical researcher, as well as an obstacle course for the unwary. Child welfare is “that part of human services and social welfare programs and ideologies oriented toward the protection, care, and healthy development of children”, and social welfare archives are “among the cumulative by-products of social welfare activities”. 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. The following are resources to consider in finding archival materials: general histories of social welfare; directories of archival and manuscript collections; journal articles; the social welfare history archives center at the University of Minnesota; social agencies and historical societies; and abstracts, indexes, reference guides, and electronic services.
