Friendship House (Chicago, Ill.) records

Descriptive Summary

Title: Friendship House (Chicago, Ill.) records
Dates: 1937-2000
Creator: Friendship House (Chicago, Ill.)
Creator: Cantwell, Daniel Michael, 1914-1996, Dolan, Mary, Makletzoff, Ann Harrigan, 1910-1984, Kearney, John A. (John Anthony), 1926-, McDermott, John A., Moore, Nina Polcyn, 1914-2007, Plank, Betty, Schneider, Betty V. H., Sheil, Bernard J. (Bernard James), 1888-1969, Childerly (Retreat center : Wheeling, Ill.), Harlem Friendship House, Friendship House (Portland, Or.), Friendship House (Shreveport, La.)
Size: 68 linear ft.
Language: Material is in English unless otherwise noted.

Scope and Content

Correspondence, staff meeting materials and annual convention reports, photographs, and other records, mainly from the Catholic interracial organization Chicago Friendship House (FH) and national headquarters; together with records from Friendship Houses in Shreveport (La.), New York City, Portland (Or.), and Washington, D.C. Includes information on the operation of the Friendship Houses, known as centers, and on the policies of the Catholic Church on social issues, problems generated by racial injustice and discrimination in Chicago area schools, hospitals, churches, and housing, civil rights activities, the Friendship House publication "Community," interracial home-visit programs, the Childerly Farm (or Childerley Farm) retreat near Wheeling (Ill.), and on the Madonna Houses established in Canada by Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty. Correspondents and authors of materials include Monsignor Daniel M. Cantwell, a Chicago Friendship House chaplain; Baroness Doherty, and staff workers Ann Harrigan, John Kearney, Betty Plank, Betty Schneider, and Al Schorsch.

Conditions for Access

Boxes 134-150 are closed until 2025. Boxes 162-165 are closed until 2071.

Conditions Governing Use

Contact the archives for more information on licensing and permissions for use and reproduction.

Preferred Citation

A common citation for archives is as follows: Item, Folder number and/or title, Box number, Collection title, ID number, Repository name, location.

Acquisition Information

Friendship House2009.0034.2-3Gift Friendship House2001.0027Gift4 linear ft. Friendship HouseGift1994/08/091994.0277Correspondence, 1980-89; financial records, 1982-84, 1987-88. Moore, Nina PolcynGift1994/08/011994.0203Materials regarding the early years of Chicago Friendship House, including photocopies of letters from Catherine de Hueck Doherty to Nina Polcyn Moore, 1942, regarding the inception of Chicago Friendship House; copies of a 1978 article by Ann Harrigan Makletzoff about her years at Friendship House (1942-1948); three letters from Ann Harrigan Makletzoff to Nina Polcyn Moore, 1983, discussing the early years of Chicago Friendship House; and obituaries for Ann Harrigan Makletzoff (died 1984). Friendship HouseGift1986/08/12M1983.0056also received 1983/12. 1974.0057? M1968.0310.

Custodial History

Most of the collection was a gift of Friendship House Chicago (accession: M1968.0310; M1974.0057?; M1983.0056; 1994.0277; 2001.0027). Some materials regarding the early years of the Chicago Friendship House were a gift of Nina Polcyn Moore (1994.0203). Albert Schorsch III, former president of Friendship House, also donated materials (2009.0034.1)

Biography or History

Friendship House was a Catholic interracial apostolate founded in Toronto in the early 1930s, then New York City in 1938, and established in Chicago in 1942. Friendship House Chicago closed its facilities on March 31, 2000.

Related Material

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the John Kearney papers; the Friendship House (Chicago, Ill.) photograph collection, part 1 (1980.0174) and the Friendship House (Chicago, Ill.) photograph collection, part 2 (2009.0034); and papers of other Catholic race relations organizations and workers.

Descriptive inventory available online.

Contents

Collection Access