- unitid
-
{"value"=>"Sc MG 589", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20814", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1942-1988 (bulk", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1942/1988"}
{"value"=>"1948-1970", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1948/1970"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1942
- date_inclusive_end
-
1988
- keydate
-
1942
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. records"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"14 boxes (11 linear feet"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</span>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"James Weldon Johnson Community Centers (New York, N.Y.)", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>In 1948 the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the East Harlem Council for Community Planning assembled a coalition of community service organizations and settlement houses to develop social service programs for residents of the newly opened James Weldon Johnson Houses. This “Headworkers' Council” included representatives of Union Settlement, Casita Maria, 110th Street Community Center, The Junior League, Girl Scouts of America, and Community Service Society. These agencies provided funding and staff to establish recreation, education and group work programs at Johnson Houses in rent-free space provided by NYCHA. Mildred Zucker, a social worker who had volunteered at Madison House during the 1930s, was paid by the Community Service Society to coordinate the work. In the following year a board of trustees was recruited, and James Weldon Johnson Community Center, Inc. (JWJ) was independently incorporated. Board members included Lewis Isaacs, son of City Council member Stanley M. Isaacs; Bert Beck of the Community Service Society; and William Kirk, Headworker of Union Settlement. In 1952 JWJ formalized its identification with the settlement house tradition by joining United Neighborhood Houses, the umbrella organization of New York settlements.</p> <p>The problems of juvenile delinquency and gang activity among East Harlem teenagers were of primary concern to the new agency. JWJ staff reached out to neighborhood young people by forming a “Teenage Committee on Narcotics.” In 1959 JWJ worked with the Youth Committee of East Harlem to establish a Youth Employment Service providing vocational guidance and job placement for teenagers. Other programs established at JWJ in its early years were clubs, athletics, and scout troops for children, and classes in english, sewing and carpentry for adults. In 1953 JWJ became a pioneer among settlement houses by launching a mental health clinic. Staff psychiatrists met with children, teens and adults referred by JWJ group workers and NYCHA staff. The Monticello Day Care Center was opened under JWJ auspices in 1955; that same year the settlement broadened its area of service by sponsoring a community center in NYCHA's new Jefferson Houses.</p> <p>In response to the ongoing construction of public housing in East Harlem, JWJ and Union Settlement Association established in 1957 the East Harlem Project, which sought to involve community residents in the urban renewal process. Under the leadership of Ellen Lurie, the project fostered citizen participation in planning schools and housing, and conducted a consumer education campaign which led to the formation of a JWJ credit union.</p> <p>The expansion of cultural programs was a major focus of JWJ's work during the 1960s. The settlement co-sponsored outdoor concerts and dance performances at East Harlem Plaza, a public space designed by architect Albert Mayer with input from Mildred Zucker. In addition, JWJ offered classes in theater, dance, visual arts and sound recording at its new Theater Arts Center, built by NYCHA. The Theater Arts Center sound studio was later used in an innovative program to train young people for careers in record engineering.</p> <p>During the late 1960s many East Harlem residents demanded greater community involvement in the planning and administration of JWJ programs. The composition of the settlement board and staff, and the location of its programs were questioned by neighbors, prompting the settlement to re-examine its mission. In the fall of 1967 Mildred Zucker proposed to a staff conference that “... we must help our neighbors to take over systematically those services which we now operate, as they become prepared to take them over, and we must train them to assume this new responsibility.” During the next several years, the JWJ Board of Directors supported this initiative by recruiting East Harlem residents to board membership, and by hiring a community resident, Rafael Ferrer, to replace the retiring Mildred Zucker as Executive Director.</p> <p>During the 1970s and '80s JWJ activities focused on the youth of East Harlem. Day care, Head Start, the Revive drug prevention program, and a community library were run by the settlement under increasingly difficult financial conditions. Other JWJ programs were discontinued during this period, or were taken over by other agencies. In the 1990s JWJ continues to serve the East Harlem community under the leadership of Executive Director Natalie Williams.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. Records document the agency from its founding by a coalition of social service institutions, to its work decades later providing social services to thousands of East Harlem residents. They document social conditions, demographic change, political activity, philanthropy and social work in East Harlem with a strong emphasis on the urban renewal period of the 1950s and '60s. The records span from 1942 to 1988, and include: Board of Directors minutes and committee files; Executive Director correspondence and subject files; program files; fundraising records; and photographs.</p> <p>The origins and early history of JWJ are documented in the “Board of Directors” series. These include minutes of the “Headworkers' Council” that preceded the board and oversaw the initial development of JWJ programs. Board minutes chronicle the development of programs and also offer a comprehensive view of administrative and fundraising decisions into the 1970s. Of particular interest are board minutes from 1967 and 1968 showing the settlement's response to pressure for greater community control of JWJ. These records are supplemented by annual meeting and fall conference records in the “Administration” series.</p> <p>The impact of public housing construction on East Harlem is well documented by records in the “Mildred Zucker Files” series. In addition to records of such JWJ-sponsored programs as the East Harlem Project, there are files on such community organizations as Massive Economic Neighborhood Development and Metro-North Association. These records illustrate community response and participation in the urban renewal process. There is no complete series of files from any Executive Director following Mildred Zucker; however, a few items from her immediate successor, Rafael Ferrer, are included in files in the “Administration” and “Programs” series.</p> <p>One-half linear foot of photographs have been separated from the records and placed in the Schomburg Photographs and Print Division. See Separation Record at the end of this Finding Aid for further information.</p> <p>Related collections held by other archives include the papers of former JWJ board member Rita Morgan at the Hunter College Archives, and the Union Settlement Association Records at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. records are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20814#c723243'>Administration</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1942-1981</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 linear foot</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes brochures and promotional material, publications, reports, records of East Harlem community organizations, membership statistics, annual meeting files, staff meeting minutes. Folders arranged alphabetically. Documents arranged chronologically.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20814#c723296'>Board of Directors</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1948-1972</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.25 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes minutes, committee records and member rosters. Folders arranged alphabetically. Documents arranged chronologically.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20814#c723329'>Fundraising</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950-1984,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2.75 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes appeals, benefit records, proposals, reports on funded programs and foundation correspondence. Folders arranged alphabetically. Documents arranged chronologically.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20814#c723426'>Programs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950-1982,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.25 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes correspondence, memos, reports, statistical and narrative reports, proposals, flyers and announcements. Folders arranged alphabetically. Documents arranged chronologically.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20814#c723467'>Mildred Zucker Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1948-1988,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4.75 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Records of Executive Director include correspondence, memos, program reports and planning files, community organization files, East Harlem Project records. Also includes a few items on Zucker's activities after her retirement from JWJ. Folders arranged alphabetically. Documents arranged chronologically.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The records of James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. were surveyed by archivists from the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives New York City Settlement House Records Survey Project in July of 1994. The survey identified for preservation 20 linear feet of records and recommended that they be donated to the New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. Board of Directors accepted this recommendation and donated the records to the Schomburg Center on February 1, 1995. At the time of the donation the bulk of the records were roughly arranged in five series, which were maintained in processing the collection. The records were processed during April and May, 1996 by James Moske and Holly MacCammon of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives New York City Settlement House Records Preservation Project, funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Processing was supervised by Diana Lachatanere, Curator, Manuscript, Archive and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The collection now measures 11 linear feet, contained in 14 record storage cartons. All records are open to research use without restrictions.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<div class=\"head\">Separation Record</div> <p>The following items were removed from:</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Name of Collection/Papers</span>James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. Records</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Accession Number</span>SCM96-11</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Donor:</span>James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc.</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Date received:</span>April 2, 1996</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Date transferred:</span>April 26, 1996</p> <p>The item(s) listed below have been sent to the division indicated, either to be retained or disposed of there. Any items that should receive special disposition are clearly marked.</p> <p> <span class=\"emph\"> <span class=\"emph\">Schomburg Photograph and Print Division:</span></span></p> <p>Photographs, 1950s-70s (.5 linear foot)</p> <p>Black and white, and color prints of settlement programs, staff, and buildings. Subjects include: Adults, 1958-70s; Camping and Day Trips, 1960-70s; Children, 1960-70s; Christmas, 1950s; Contact Sheets, 1960s-70s; Halloween, 1970s; Miscellaneous, 1958-70s; Performances, 1958-70s; Sound Training Studio, 1970s; Sports, 1960s-70s; Staff, 1950s-60s; Summer Carnival, 1951; Teens, 1950s-70s</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Processed by:</span>James Moske & Holly MacCammon</p> <p><span class=\"emph\">Date:</span>April 26, 1996</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by James Moske & Holly MacCammon; Machine-readable finding aid created by Apex Data Services; revised by Terry Catapano.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc., 2/1/95.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"Organized into five series: Administration, Board of Directors, Fundraising, Programs, Mildred Zucker Files", "supress_display"=>true}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>There are no restrictions on access to the collection.</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photographs transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division</p>", "encodinganalog"=>"500"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The records include correspondence, memoranda, minutes, program files, newsclippings, brochures, administrative records, reports, funding proposals, executive director files, and photographs. They document the agency from its founding and provide evidence of economic and social conditions, political activity, philanthropy and social work in East Harlem over a forty year period, with a strong emphasis on the 1950s and 1960s."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"James Weldon Johnson Community Centers, Inc. records, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}
- date_start
-
1942
- date_end
-
1988