{"value"=>"<p>Creator history</p> <p>The Women’s Pennsylvania Branch worked closely with the Philadelphia Agency in its supply and relief efforts, operating from the same premises at 1307 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The Branch's primary function was to procure supplies from soldiers' aid societies throughout Pennsylvania (except in areas covered by the Pittsburg Branch, which was affiliated with the USSC's Western Department), southern New Jersey, and Delaware, and to prepare and stock the supplies for further distribution. The Branch also supported the Agency’s special relief services for soldiers and sailors in the Philadelphia area, and provided employment and provisions for dependent female family members of servicemen.</p> <p>The Branch was organized following a speech by Rev. Henry W. Bellows in Philadelphia on February 24, 1863. Its officers were Caleb Cope (treasurer of the Philadelphia Associates and its Agency), president and treasurer, and Robert M. Lewis (general superintendent of the Philadelphia Agency), secretary. Maria Grier was elected chairman of the Branch's Executive Committee and Clara J. Moore corresponding secretary. Louisa Lee Schuyler, of the Woman's Central Association of Relief, was active in the early organization of the Branch.</p> <p>Branch work was directed by a Board of Managers, consisting of the Executive Committee, Special Relief Committee, and Finance Committee, Branch officers, and other members at large. The Finance Committee appears to have been mostly inactive following the spring of 1863. Committees and some local aid societies presented reports at monthly Board meetings.</p> <p>The Philadelphia Agency's Supply Department was transferred to the Women's Pennsylvania Branch on March 26, 1863, and was absorbed by the Branch's Executive Committee, which handled most supply activities. The Branch's storeroom was located at 1307 Chestnut Street. They also handled the local distribution of supplies in Philadelphia, mostly from orders of the Philadelphia Agency's Special Relief Department. The Philadelphia Agency continued to handle the receipt and forwarding of supplies to and from other USSC locations. Both organizations worked closely together.</p> <p>The Committee on Correspondence was formed in December 1864 following the resignation of the Executive Committee's corresponding secretary Clara J. Moore. The Committee was also identified as the Committee on Supplies and Diffusion of Information (or Knowledge.) The new Committee handled correspondence with associate managers, assessing the status of current aid societies, creating new societies, and promoting supply contributions. Upon creation of the committee, the Branch's auxiliary supply system was divided into nine sections comprising 49 counties in Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Each of the nine committee members was a corresponding secretary for a section. The Branch had over 350 aid societies in its network by the end of the war; the number of associate managers eventually totaled 56.</p> <p>The Women’s Pennsylvania Branch also provided special relief assistance to soldiers and their families during the war. In April 1863, special relief work conducted by the Philadelphia Agency for area servicemen was turned over to the Branch's Special Relief Committee, who administered activities through November, with partial financial support from the Agency. In December 1863, the Philadelphia Agency resumed control of most area special relief work for soldiers and sailors, and expanded its services under a new Special Relief Department. The Branch filled Department supply orders for distribution to Army camps and hospitals, the Agency’s Soldiers’ Lodge, individual servicemen, and others.</p> <p>The Branch’s Special Relief Committee (also known as the Relief Committee) then focused its efforts on providing families of soldiers and sailors in the Philadelphia area with employment and provisions, especially coal.Their extensive garment-making program eventually employed over 800 wives, mothers, and daughters of servicemen, many of them widows or wives of discharged disabled servicemen. Garments produced were distributed mostly through the Commission, but also to freedmen's aid associations and other charities. These activities, however, have minimal representation in the records.</p> <p>With the exception of some work carried on by the Relief Committee, operations of the Women’s Pennsylvania Branch were closed by January 1, 1866, according to the Report of the General Superintendent of the Philadelphia Branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission to the Executive Committee (Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1866).</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Scope and content note</p> <p>The Women’s Pennsylvania Branch Archives, 1862-1865, document the supply procurement and distribution activities of the Branch as carried out by its Executive Committee, the Committee’s Corresponding Secretary, and the Committee of Correspondence, under the direction of the Board of Managers. The Branch’s special relief work, particularly the distribution of supplies for the Philadelphia Agency’s Special Relief Department, is represented to a lesser extent.</p> <p>The Executive Committee’s supply correspondence and record books provide a detailed record of the daily receipt and storage of supplies received from aid societies, for further shipment or for distribution in the Philadelphia area. The Committee’s direction of branch and aid society organizational matters, promotion of supply donations, and discernment of USSC supply needs are documented in the Branch’s general correspondence, consisting of letters received by Moore, Grier and others, from USSC offices and branches, aid societies, and individuals. The reorganization and expansion of the Branch’s network of aid societies by the Committee of Correspondence, and related canvassing efforts, are also represented in general correspondence, as well as in their minutes, and their reports to the Board of Managers. Executive Committee minutes largely concern appointments and resignations of members.</p> <p>General management of Branch activities is documented in Board of Manager minutes; work conducted by committees and some local aid societies is also represented in reports submitted to the Board. Also present are brief minutes kept by R.M. Lewis of the Branch’s annual meetings in 1864 and 1865 noting the election of officers, and Branch cash books.</p> <p>There are no records for the Special Relief Committee other than reports to the Board of Managers, although the distribution of supplies for individual and special relief are found in supply records of the Executive Committee.</p> <p>The Women’s Pennsylvania Branch worked closely with the Philadelphia Agency in its supply and special relief efforts. The records of the Agency, arranged separately in this record group, also document the Sanitary Commission’s activities in the Philadelphia area and the interconnectedness of the two organizations. Researchers may wish to consult the Agency’s General Office Supply Department records, documenting contributions from aid societies prior to April 1863.</p> <p>There is little material related to the Great Central Fair of June 1864 in the Women’s Pennsylvania Branch’s records, although many Branch members were involved in Fair work.</p>"}