Lea Demarest Taylor papers
Descriptive Summary
- Repository
-
University of Illinois at Chicago,
801 S. MorganChicago, ILUSA
- Repository Number
- MSTayl66
- Creator
- Taylor, Lea Demarest, 1883-1975
- Title
- Lea Demarest Taylor papers
- Dates
- 1894-1969
- Quantity
- 9.5 linear feet.
- Abstract
- Lea Demarest Taylor (1883-1975) daughter of Graham Taylor, founder of the Chicago Commons settlement house, and Leah Demarest Taylor was active in Chicago's social settlement movement. The collection contains correspondence, memos, articles, speeches, annual reports, minutes of meetings, and photographs.
- Language of the Material
- English
Administrative Information
Biography/Profile
Lea Demarest Taylor (1883-1975) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Graham Taylor and Leah Demarest Taylor. Graham Taylor was a fifth-generation Dutch Reform church minister who, at the urging of the Chicago Theological Seminary, moved to Chicago in 1892 and founded the Chicago Commons, a secular settlement house.
Chicago Commons, founded in 1894, was located at first on Union Street in the lower northwest side, serving a neighborhood that was mostly Italian, Scandinavian, and Irish. Just after the turn of the century, the Commons moved to Morgan and Grand streets into a five-story building designed especially for the settlement by the architectural firm of Pond and Pond.
Lea Taylor grew up in the settlement house, along with her siblings. The settlement was a cooperative, with residents performing housekeeping tasks and settlement work alike. As a child, Lea attended Chicago schools, entering high school at the Lewis Institute in 1900. Even as a schoolgirl, her social life revolved around activities at the settlement house, and in 1899, when she was sixteen, she assumed the title, responsibilities, and salary of a full resident at Chicago Commons.
After graduating from Vassar College in 1904, Lea Taylor returned to Chicago Commons as her father's secretary and assistant. She was involved in editing the periodical The Commons and developed a lifelong interest in local and neighborhood issues, which she effectively combined with her activities in national and international organizations to forge a career in social welfare that lasted even beyond her official retirement in 1954.
Lea Taylor was active in the Chicago Federation of Settlements and attended meetings of the organization with Jane Addams, Mary McDowell, and other Chicago settlement pioneers. She was president of the Chicago Federation of Settlements from 1924-1937 and from 1939-1940. She was president of the National Federation of Settlements from 1930-1934 and 1950-1952. Her involvement with the National Federation of Settlements included work on Young Working Girls, a study published in 1913, and Case Studies of Unemployment, published in 1931.
Through her membership in the Women's Trade Union League, Lea Taylor learned about labor organizing, unions and women's working conditions. She was chairman of the Cotton Dress Industry Wage Board, which created legislation establishing a minimum wage for the industry's mostly female workforce in Illinois.
In 1909, Lea Taylor became active in the Chicago Recreation Commission, and as chair of the Wider Use of the Schools Committee, succeeded in having city schools opened for recreational use by neighborhood residents after school hours.
In 1911, when Katherine Taylor won an academic fellowship to Europe, Lea Taylor accompanied her sister overseas and used the opportunity to visit Toynbee Hall and other international settlement houses. When she returned in 1912, her father had acquired a new secretary, and Lea Taylor assumed additional administrative responsibilities. In 1917, she became Assistant Head Resident of the settlement house, assuming new responsibilities for budget planning, fundraising and public speaking.
Also in 1917, as the U.S. entered the First World War, Chicago Commons operated draft board Local No. 39. Settlement residents were called upon to interview prospective inductees and to explain induction procedures and policies to neighborhood residents, many of who were recent immigrants.
In 1921, Lea Taylor became head resident of Chicago Commons. The 1920s and 30s saw the settlement increasingly occupied with analyzing and responding to the needs of the unemployed and those requiring public relief. The continuing influx of poor people and immigrants into city neighborhoods and the shortage of decent housing resulted in a number of house fires in the neighborhood. Lea Taylor was the first woman to becomes a member of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council, and served on coroners' juries investigating deaths caused by sub-standard housing.
During the 1940s, the neighborhood served by the Chicago Commons underwent racial change as African Americans moved into a previously all white neighborhood. The settlement's residents responded firmly to white resistance, insisting that neighborhood and settlement resources be shared. Fires in neighborhood buildings persisted, with some of them intended to terrorize African Americans. Chicago Commons and Emerson House, a settlement eight blocks to the west, joined together to form the Chicago Commons Association. William H. Brueckner, head worker at Emerson House was named executive director and Lea Taylor was head resident.
As planning and construction began for developing the Kennedy expressway through their community, Commons neighborhood residents began to move away. The settlement house itself relocated to the former Bowman Dairy Company building in a Polish neighborhood north of Chicago Ave. and west of Ashland.
From 1950 to 1952, as president of the National Federation of Settlements, Lea Taylor focused her energies on housing, integration in cities, poverty programs, and international settlement work. In 1951, she traveled to Europe with Lillie Peck, secretary of the Federation, and visited European settlements. In 1952, in Germany, Lea Taylor participated in a series of institutes and workshops focusing on settlement and social work.
Lea Taylor retired in1954 to her family home in Highland Park, a north shore suburb of Chicago. Even in retirement she was active, remaining on the boards of Chicago Commons, the National Federation of Settlements, and the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council. She also joined the Highland Park League of Women Voters, and was a founder of the Highland Park Committee on Human Relations. In 1960, she traveled to Europe for a reunion of the Unitarian Service Committee. Lea Taylor died on December 3, 1975.
Scope and Content
The collection contains correspondence, memos, articles, speeches, annual reports, minutes of meetings, and photographs. The materials pertain to operation and activities of Chicago Commons, the Chicago Federation of Settlements and the National Federation of Settlements. The collection also includes writing and publications by Graham Taylor.
Access Restrictions
Access restrictions -- Available without restriction.
Use/Re-use Restrictions
Use restrictions -- Available without restriction.
Preferred Citation
Lea Demarest Taylor papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago
Indexed Terms
- Midwest Women's History
- Social reformers
- Chicago (Ill.)
- Chicago Commons Association.
- Chicago Federation of Settlements.
- Hull-House (Chicago, Ill.).
- National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers.
- Taylor, Graham, 1851-1938
- Taylor, Lea Demarest, 1883-1975
Inventory
This series contains folders based on topics of significance to Lea Taylor.
- Title
- Archives
- Dates
- 1969
- Title
- Autobiography
- Dates
- 1895-1968
- Title
- Chicago Recreation Commission - annual reports
- Dates
- 1935-1936
- Title
- Chicago Recreation Commission - Chicago Recreation Conference
- Dates
- 1943
- Title
- Chicago Recreation Commission - Citizens' Committee for Wider Use of Schools
- Dates
- 1948-1967
- Title
- Chicago Recreation Commission - Citizens' Committee for Wider Use of Schools
- Dates
- 1948-1967
- Title
- Chicago Recreation Commission - Conference on Recreation for Older People
- Dates
- 1948
- Title
- Children and Youth
- Dates
- 1931-1954
- Title
- Consumers - Price controls
- Dates
- 1946
- Title
- Council for Social Action
- Dates
- 1954-1965
- Title
- Group Work - printed
- Dates
- 1937-1945
- Title
- Hall, Helen - paper and clippings
- Dates
- 1939-1967
- Title
- Hull House and Jane Addams
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- International Conference of Social Work
- Dates
- 1931-1962
- Title
- International Conference of Settlements
- Dates
- 1922-1929
- Title
- International Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers
- Dates
- 1951-1968
- Title
- International Migration Service
- Dates
- 1925
- Title
- Labor - Chicago Workers' Committee on Unemployment - leaflet
- Dates
- 1935
- Title
- Labor - Children - National Child Labor Committee - conference program
- Dates
- 1932
- Title
- Labor - James Mullenbach Industrial Institute
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Labor - marches and protests - broadsides
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Labor - Republic Steel Memorial Day Riot - fliers, clippings
- Dates
- 1937
- Title
- Labor - women
- Dates
- 1921-1937
- Title
- Labor - youth unemployment
- Dates
- 1932
- Title
- Peck, Lillie - correspondence, clippings
- Dates
- 1946-1957
- Title
- Perkins, Francis - obituary
- Dates
- 1965
- Title
- Race relations - Chicago
- Dates
- 1944-1949
- Title
- Race relations - Chicago
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Race relations - Chicago - Race Riot of 1919
- Dates
- 1916-1920
- Title
- Race Relations - Chicago - South Central Association
- Dates
- 1945-1947
- Title
- Race Relations - School Strikes
- Dates
- 1947
- Title
- Settlements - College Settlement Association
- Dates
- 1894-1900
- Title
- Settlements - Illinois - Gads Hill Center
- Dates
- 1951
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - Andover House
- Dates
- 1894
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - Boston Social Union
- Dates
- 1913
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - Lincoln House
- Dates
- 1897-1906
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - South End House
- Dates
- 1922-1923
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - South End House - Bulletins
- Dates
- 1896-1897
- Title
- Settlements - Massachusetts - United Settlements of Greater Boston
- Dates
- 1950
- Title
- Settlements - Minnesota
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Settlements - New Jersey - Whittler House
- Dates
- 1900-1901
- Title
- Settlements - New York - Henry Street Settlement
- Dates
- 1958
- Title
- Settlements - New York - Huntington Family Center - Syracuse
- Dates
- 1960
- Title
- Settlements - New York - United Neighborhood Houses of New York
- Dates
- 1926-1962
- Title
- Settlements - New York - University Settlement
- Dates
- 1902-1965
- Title
- Settlements - New York - Welcome Hall
- Dates
- 1902
- Title
- Settlements - New York - Westminster House
- Dates
- 1896-1901
- Title
- Settlements - Ohio - Welfare Federation of Cleveland
- Dates
- 1946
- Title
- Settlements - Pennsylvania - College Settlement
- Dates
- 1896-1897
- Title
- Settlements - Pennsylvania - Kingsley House
- Dates
- 1925-1952
- Title
- Settlements - Texas - Julia C. Hester House
- Dates
- 1947
- Title
- Settlements - Texas - Mexican Christian Institute
- Dates
- 1948
- Title
- Settlements - Texas - The Ripley House
- Dates
- 1950
- Title
- Settlements - International
- Dates
- 1920-1968
- Title
- Stone, Mary - correspondence
- Dates
- 1947
- Title
- Woods, Robert A.
- Dates
- 1925
- Title
- World Conference on Adult Education
- Dates
- 1929
- Title
- Writings
- Dates
- 1952-963
- Title
- Annual reports
- Dates
- 1898-1971
- Title
- Annual reports to Welfare Council
- Dates
- 1926-1932
- Title
- Annual reports to Welfare Council
- Dates
- 1933-1937
- Title
- Annual reports to Welfare Council
- Dates
- 1938-1942
- Title
- Annual reports to Welfare Council
- Dates
- 1943-1946
- Title
- Articles of incorporation [photocopy]
- Dates
- 1895
- Title
- Camping - annual reports
- Dates
- 1933-1971
- Title
- Dance
- Dates
- 1938
- Title
- Emerson House/Chicago Commons merger
- Dates
- 1948
- Title
- Influenza Epidemic
- Dates
- 1918
- Title
- National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers
- Dates
- 1969-1970
- Title
- Neighborhood Fires
- Dates
- 1947-1955
- Title
- Neighborhood Fires - racial unrest
- Dates
- 1945-1947
- Title
- Neighborhood Fires - racial unrest
- Dates
- 1947
- Title
- Neighborhood Fires - racial unrest
- Dates
- 1947
- Title
- Neighborhood statistics
- Dates
- 1940
- Title
- Photograph - illustration of Chicago Commons Building
- Dates
- 1900-1912
- Title
- Prohibition
- Dates
- 1934
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 1
- Dates
- 1896-1897
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 2
- Dates
- 1897
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 2
- Dates
- 1897-1898
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 3
- Dates
- 1898-1899
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 4
- Dates
- 1900
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 5
- Dates
- 1900-1901
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 6
- Dates
- 1901
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 6
- Dates
- 1901-1902
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 7
- Dates
- 1902
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 7
- Dates
- 1902
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 8
- Dates
- 1903
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 8
- Dates
- 1903
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 9
- Dates
- 1904
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 9
- Dates
- 1904
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 10
- Dates
- 1905
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 10
- Dates
- 1905
- Title
- Chicago Commons, vol. 17
- Dates
- 1907
- Title
- Publications - Chicago Commons Council
- Dates
- 1909-1911
- Title
- Race Relations
- Dates
- 1945-1948
- Title
- Schedule of appointments
- Dates
- 1909-1910
- Title
- Taylor, Graham
- Dates
- 1934-1938
- Title
- War Draft Statistics - Local Board 39
- Dates
- 1919
- Title
- Women Workers
- Dates
- 1924
- Title
- Department of Adult Activities
- Dates
- 1929
- Title
- Arts Committee
- Dates
- 1926-1927
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1925
- Title
- Crime Prevention Conference
- Dates
- 1927
- Title
- Girls and Boys Work
- Dates
- 1916-1936
- Title
- Group Work
- Dates
- 1932-1936
- Title
- League of Mothers' Clubs
- Dates
- 1926-1936
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1894-1908
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1921-1929
- Title
- Minutes of Meetings
- Dates
- 1933-1939
- Title
- Minutes of Meetings
- Dates
- 1940-1949
- Title
- Minutes of Meetings
- Dates
- 1950-1956
- Title
- Music Committee
- Dates
- 1925-1935
- Title
- Neighborhood Service Work - Committee on March
- Dates
- 1936
- Title
- Neighborhood Study - Lower West Side
- Dates
- 1925
- Title
- Printed Material
- Dates
- 1921-1928
- Title
- Settlement expenditures - study
- Dates
- 1924
- Title
- Settlement organization and standards - study
- Dates
- 1919
- Title
- Settlement personnel management - study
- Dates
- 1925
- Title
- Settlement Work - Tentative Statement of Aims and Principles
- Dates
- 1923
- Title
- Unemployment Survey
- Dates
- 1928
- Title
- Welfare Federation Pan - Committee on
- Dates
- 1934
- Title
- Anniversary (50th)
- Dates
- 1961
- Title
- Anniversary - 60th Year of Settlement Houses
- Dates
- 1946
- Title
- Archives
- Dates
- 1965-1966
- Title
- Board of Directors
- Dates
- 1949-1965
- Title
- Boys Work
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1913-1917
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1918-1919
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1920-1923
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1928-1938
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1944-1947
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1951
- Title
- Conferences
- Dates
- 1960-1968
- Title
- Digest of Tropics of Social Action
- Dates
- 1911-1937
- Title
- Directory
- Dates
- 1960-1963
- Title
- Directory
- Dates
- 1964-1967
- Title
- International Committee
- Dates
- 1949-1959
- Title
- International Committee
- Dates
- 1960
- Title
- International Committee
- Dates
- 1961-1963
- Title
- International Committee
- Dates
- 1964
- Title
- International Committee
- Dates
- 1965-1967
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1918-1924
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1925-1929
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1930-1933
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1934-1935
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1936-1937
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1938-1940
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1942-1944
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1947-1949
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1950-1951
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1953-1957
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1960
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1961
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1962
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1963
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1963
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1964
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1964
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1965
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1966
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1966
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1966
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1967
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1967
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1968
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1968
- Title
- Minutes of meetings
- Dates
- 1969
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1920-1930
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1931
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1936-1939
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1940-1950
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1952
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1960-1964
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1965-1969
- Title
- Publications
- Dates
- 1970
- Title
- Publications - 4 minute report
- Dates
- 1968
- Title
- Publications - Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly
- Dates
- 1929-1930
- Title
- Publications - Neighborhood: A Settlement Quarterly
- Dates
- 1931-1932
- Title
- Publications - NFS Legislative News
- Dates
- 1968
- Title
- Publications - Round Table
- Dates
- 1946-1955
- Title
- Publications - News and Round Table
- Dates
- 1958-1970
- Title
- Self-Study
- Dates
- 1958-1961
- Title
- Training Center
- Dates
- 1959-1960
- Title
- Training Center
- Dates
- 1960-1963
- Title
- Training Center
- Dates
- 1964-1967
- Title
- Committee on Unemployment
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Whitney, Gertrude Schuyler
- Dates
- 1966
- Title
- Workshop, Arden House - Neighborhood Goals in a Rapidly Changing World
- Dates
- 1957-1958
This series contains folders based on topics of significance to Lea Taylor.
- Title
- Addams, Jane - centennial
- Dates
- 1959-1961
- Title
- Addams, Jane - centennial - Rockford College
- Dates
- 1959-1960
- Title
- Addams, Jane - centennial - Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Dates
- 1955-1964
- Title
- Addams, Jane - Death and Funeral
- Dates
- 1935-1936
- Title
- Hull-House
- Dates
- 1932-1961
- Title
- Hull-House - 50th anniversary
- Dates
- 1940
- Title
- Hull-House - 65th anniversary
- Dates
- 1954
- Title
- Hull-House - annual meeting
- Dates
- 1963
- Title
- Hull-House - printed material
- Dates
- 1936-1963
- Title
- Hull-House and the University of Illinois
- Dates
- 1961-1966
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1936-1945
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1955-1957
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1960-1962
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1963
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1964
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1964-1965
- Title
- City of Chicago - housing, urban renewal, race relations
- Dates
- 1965
- Title
- Depression era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1929
- Title
- Depression era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1932
- Title
- Depression era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1933-1935
- Title
- Depression era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1936-1937
- Title
- Depression era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1938-1939
- Title
- Depression Era - relief and unemployment
- Dates
- 1940-1941
- Title
- Taylor, Graham - writings about
- Dates
- 1902-1966
- Title
- Taylor, Graham - writings by
- Dates
- 1893-1919
- Title
- Taylor Graham - writings by
- Dates
- 1925-1939
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- undated
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1888
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1883-1905
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1911-1919
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1924-1949
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1951-1959
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social Welfare
- Dates
- 1960-1963
- Title
- Miscellaneous Social