The records of Family Service of Racine are incomplete, containing virtually no true administrative records. Basic organizational records such as board minutes are incomplete and administrative correspondence and reports are virtually non-existent. The overall history of the organization is documented primarily through minutes for the 1910-1922 period only, microfilmed clipping scrapbooks, 1910-1972, and several brief agency histories. The microfilmed scrapbooks also document fundraising by the Community Welfare Fund of Racine. Because of the deteriorated condition the scrapbooks were destroyed after filming. Original brochures and posters from the Community Welfare Fund were removed from the scrapbooks and retained. About the Central Association's case work the collection contains minutes of the Case Advisory Committee, 1935-1937, and a list of client names.
Coverage is unquestionably best for the child care program, the records documenting virtually without a break from 1910 when the day nursery was an independent private organization to the program's end in 1974. This coverage is provided by black and white and color snapshots that document the child care facilities as the Central Association, activities, toys and equipment, as well as the children's clothing. There is also some photographic documentation of increased enrollment of African-American enrollment during the 1950s and 1960s. The child care photographs dating from the 1950s and 1960s have been selected from a much larger quantity that were either redundant or of poor quality. (The unwanted photographs and negatives were returned to the donors.) The long time period covered and the rarity of the subject gives the child care photographs research value beyond their local context. Unfortunately they are not matched by administrative records. Included are child care enrollment lists that are fairly complete from the 1930s to 1969 and a brief history written in 1941.
Additional photographs document early Central Association clubs, educational activities, and sports. Another folder consists of photographs of substandard housing taken in Racine about 1910. Because of the sparseness of the textual records, the presence of these photographs with the records is unexplained. It is possible they were taken for the city health department, but interest in housing conditions also lay within the mission of the Central Association. Many of these snapshots are labeled to indicate street address, rent, and housing concerns such as overcrowding. Many faces of individuals have been scratched out to protect their privacy.
