The final donation of items

Hello!  It has been a long, long time since I’ve shared an update on the status of my Edgewood project.  Even though I’ve been neglecting this poor little blog, much has been happening.

I’m still working on finalizing the transcripts for two oral history interviewees.  One keeps requesting small changes every time I sent what I think is a final draft and there is a communication issue with another.  But hopefully I can wrap that up soon.

I also finished digitizing all of the important records, which was essentially everything between 1851-1951.  This included old photos, a scrapbook from 1936 (which I originally thought was a photo album until I took it out of its display case), lots of old annual reports, correspondence and ephemera.

But most importantly – I completed the donation of archival items to the San Francisco History Center, which was my ultimate goal!  Yes, it is finally true.  It took much longer than expected thanks to a crazy school and work and life schedule, but at least I made it happen.  Part of the delay was in me digitizing everything I wanted to before the transfer.  That was way more time consuming than I had planned for.

At the end of July (yes, sorry, I am very slow in posting this), three wonderful archivists from the SFHC came out to Edgewood and picked up about 12 boxes of assorted papers and artifacts and 14 or so boxes of orphan records from the 1850s to 1940s-ish.

What the vault holding most of the boxes looked like before:

and after:

You can see how much was cleaned out!

Here are some boxes waiting for the assembly line of getting moved to the van.  You can see the vault they were stored in in the background (black door).  These were orphan records from about the 1910s, I believe.

And a few more boxes in my office

And then it was all about playing tetris with the boxes and getting them into the van.

It was a very close call in being able to fit everything in the car.  I have to credit the SFHC archivists with doing an amazing job of fitting 25+ boxes of different sizes, some without lids, some with fragile items, into this minivan and maintaining their sanity.

It feels so good to have completed my main goal of this project.  All of the most valuable papers and items are now safely in the hands of the professionals, where they will last another 160 years of Edgewood history.

Someday the staff will process the collection (I’m dying for this to happen, but trying to not pressure them) and I’ve already begun referring people making genealogy requests to Edgewood over to the History Center for information.

In 2016, Edgewood celebrates its 165th anniversary!  It is my hope that the collection can be at least partially processed as part of the anniversary celebration.

What started as a class project requiring 135 hours over a semester turned into a year-long project totaling somewhere around 400 hours.  I am so happy and proud that it’s done and it was worth all of the time and stress.

I have some more to share and will hopefully get that posted soon.

Success!

I finally managed to schedule a meeting with the San Francisco History Center to go over which of the items that I found in my project that they might like to take.  Two archivists came to Edgewood to see the orphan files – undoubtedly the most important records I found – and some other things.

Before the meeting, I pulled out all of the things that I both really wanted them to take and that I thought they would most likely want.  These were mostly papers from the 1850s through the 1950s, plus some older newsletters from the 1960s-early 1970s, as well as the artifacts I found, like the copper engraved plates and the glass plates.

I’m so happy to say that the meeting went really well.  I first took them into the vault to see where orphan files.  They were delighted by the vault, which is a giant safe…

And about all of the boxes of orphan records.  I pulled out a few of the oldest papers so they could see them, and they were really excited and we spent a few minutes reading them.  They are so charming and I wish I could just sit down and go through every single one of them.

Then we went upstairs and I showed them the old orphan register and other things in a display case in the conference room…

I already knew that they wanted all of these things, but it was great to be able to show them everything in person.  Then I nervously pulled out the two boxes of other items that I was hoping that they’d take and we spent some time going through all of it and they decided to take everything except that crazy mystery mallet that I found (they didn’t know what it was, either)!  They said that the items would round out the existing collection really well.  They also said they’d take all the oral history interviews that I do.

Even better, they said my work was very well organized and professional!  I was so excited and felt very successful in my work, especially since I’m still just a student.  It feels great to know that I uncovered records that are seen as a valuable addition to an existing archival collection, and that I’m helping to preserve those amazing orphan records.

Right after, I finally got underway with digitizing and have finished up two subseries already.

The next steps are to totally finalize the list of items they’re going to take and for me to finish digitizing the records they’re going to take that I think will be fun and helpful to have electronically at Edgewood.  Then we’ll schedule the pickup.  I’m hoping to finish up everything in the next month or so.

More on this as it progresses!

First oral history interview a success

I meant to write about this earlier in the week, but I was so wiped out from the interview that I haven’t had the energy.  My first ever oral history interview happened on Wednesday with a man named John and it felt like a success in many ways.  It was an hour and 15 minutes long and I asked around 20 questions, including his memories of specific people.  It was a lot of questions in that amount of time, but I did leave plenty of time for answering and some of his answers were brief.  I tried to follow up on other topics that he mentioned while telling his stories, but it wasn’t always possible to go back and ask questions.

Four or five separate times, he began to cry so I would stop the interview to give him time because he couldn’t speak anymore. He said he didn’t realize how hard it would be to talk about these things.  Good thing I brought tissues to the conference room with me!  I did not circle back to ask him to follow up on the stories where he began to cry.  Maybe a more experienced oral history interviewer would have been able to do so in an ethical way, but I felt it was inappropriate and didn’t want to upset him more.  So I missed getting some stories, but in the end I feel it was the right decision.  I also think he’d do another interview if I asked and I could always ask him more follow up questions then.  It was interesting to hear of his stories of old San Francisco, the racial prejudice the children faced outside of Edgewood, and life for the children while in the cottages.

After, I took him on a tour of the campus, where he told me more stories and what used to happen in the different buildings. I learned they used to have smoking rooms for the children in the residential cottages.  Very different times!  He also showed me the rooms he used to live in and how he used to sneak out, which was fun.  John seemed happy that so many people were introduced to him and that I was interested in his memories.  So many children that Edgewood previously helped now really want to share their experiences and feel that they are meaningful.

John in front of the cottage he used to live in from 1959-early 1960s:

He also brought photos from when he lived at Edgewood, so I was able to scan those (with a signed release form!) for use.  Some of them were of other children, so I can’t use those but the organization will probably use the ones of him and the staff.

I learned a lot of great lessons from this first experience to use on subsequent interviews.  One lesson is to let the narrator know I wouldn’t audibly respond a lot to their stories, but would encourage them by nodding, etc.  I think John was confused by my lack of acknowledgement, so I ended up speaking a lot more on the recording than I wanted to.  Another is to have a back up person to help with logistics, like scanning photos.  I had to learn really quickly how to scan photos on the giant all-in-one machine in the reception office.  Also, to have someone take photos of the interview while it’s taking place!

My friend had lent me professional audio equipment, so I was able to get a high quality recording.  (Does everyone hate the sound of their voice when they hear it on a recording?)  It’s now uploaded to my computer and I’ll try to start transcribing over Thanksgiving weekend.  I do it all over again on December 3 with a woman who was on the Auxiliary!

I also sent out my finalized inventory list to certain staff and began scheduling meetings to sit down with them to see which records are of most interest to them for digitizing.

Series organizing, oral histories, and more

I was able to accomplish a lot this week and am feeling pretty good about where I am in the project.  I finished sorting and inventorying the Garden Fair event (the organization’s primary event, and therefore very important) records.  Someone in the past had already organized many years through folders, so that gave me a great head start.  I added the extra records I found to the appropriate existing folders, and I was able to add three more years’ worth of records that didn’t already exist.  Now I only have sporadic gaps from 1969-1980. I also created subseries for publicity materials and photographs, although I did not inventory them because these subseries seem like less of a priority.  With the time constraints I have, I’m trying to focus on identifying the most important records to work on.

For organizing information, I changed the structure of how I was going to sort  Auxiliary records.  Originally I planned to have a Garden Fair series, with subseries for photographs, invitations, etc.; and an Auxiliary series for everything non-Fair.  But after more consideration, I decided to create one Auxiliary series and turn everything into subseries, further dividing by folder where appropriate.  It makes much more sense to have it as one giant series than two smaller, somewhat duplicative series.

I also finished inventorying all of the annual reports from 1856-1931.  The good news is that I have multiple copies of some years, but the bad news is that some of them have what I think is mildew.   I discovered I have three biographies or stories written by former clients from when Edgewood was an orphanage, which is very fun—I thought I only had one.  If I ever get the chance to do an oral history interview with a former orphan, these will be very helpful.

I now have four sorted and inventoried boxes, and just a few more to go through.

I started making digitizing plans by identifying individual items and/or subseries to digitize.  Everything from 1969 and earlier is automatically on the list for digitizing.  Everything from 1970-1999 I’m less sure of and need to talk to certain staff to see what their needs are.  I’m not inclined to spend the time digitizing things after the 1980s, but there’s fewer records in the 1970s so I’m more comfortable with adding those to the plan.

I did more prep work for my first oral history interview, researching the staff names the interviewee mentioned and confirming his admission and discharge dates to Edgewood.  I’ve already come across one issue during my research; the date he gave me for when he moved to Edgewood was off by a year.  I hope he doesn’t try to debate me on it.

I had the chance to talk to the former executive director of Edgewood from the time the interviewee lived there.  He was able to confirm some of the staff the interviewee mentioned, and tell me stories about his time at Edgewood.  It was a very fun conversation and he said to contact him anytime I have questions, which I will!  Because of the lack of records from that time period (late 1950s to early 1960s), it is incredibly helpful to have someone to turn to for information.  He’s my only connection to the time period.  He lives out of state now, but I hope he comes back so I can do an oral history interview with him.

Finally, I wrote out the first draft of questions for my second oral history interview, which is with a former Auxiliary member who was at the first ever Garden Fair in 1967, and sent those out to staff for feedback.  I made copies of the 1967 Garden Fair planning materials to avoid having to keep going back in to the box when writing the oral history questions and doing research.

Whew!  The fun discovery phase is pretty much over, but I’m finding the sorting and organizing phase really fascinating.

Image source

Sorting extravaganza

The time finally arrived to sort through the surprisingly massive amount of materials I had uncovered during my survey.  Once I got all of the boxes in one place, it turned out that I had way underestimated the number of boxes I needed to go through.  I thought I had 14, but I really had 23!  I was able to use my boss’s office and there were boxes everywhere…

And more that were hidden under desks and tables.  I had been thinking the entire semester of the best ways to organize the records, so luckily, the sorting passed by relatively quickly and easily.

This is about a third of the way through

And more progress, about two-thirds done

I was able to give five boxes worth of materials to the communications director, as there were piles of recent photos, printed materials, and publicity documents.  I was also able to recycle the equivalent of two boxes due to the many duplicate items.  A couple of the boxes were artifacts, which I previously inventoried, and I gave one box to my boss since it was old donor files that were inadvertently given to me.

With everything sorted, I began organizing the newsletters into subseries.  I came up with eight subseries, which were organized by title and one for random newsletters.  I was happy to find that I have a pretty complete series of the earliest newsletters, from 1965-1972, but I have a gap until 1981.  I’m not positive they were even creating newsletters during this time period, though.

I was able to turn this

Into this!

Next I began to organize the large amount of event materials.  These records posed a much larger challenge in terms of organizing.  There were several types of records that could either be a series itself or a subseries. After much debate and consideration of what I know about the agency and what would be most beneficial to staff and volunteers, I decided upon one main events series, with subseries for each year of a large fundraising event, a subseries with all materials for another event where it wasn’t necessary to have each year separated, and a subseries for miscellaneous events.

I also decided that any Auxiliary-related events would be a subseries under the Auxiliary series, and not under the events series, due to the history of the Auxiliary (since the 1940s) and how people search for information related to them.  It would be most helpful for people to have all Auxiliary records together, rather than as subseries in other areas.

This towering pile of event invitations and programs

Became this…  And this was actually subdivided a  little more.  I inventoried the records for the large fundraising event, but not the miscellaneous events because there are too many (probably around 100) and it’s actually unlikely that anyone will ever want to reference them.  These are the types of materials that have very little research value but no one wants to get rid of.  I may go back later and try to record the general time frame that these cover, though.

Next, I inventoried the annual reports, which equaled three boxes of records.  I still have to count the annual reports from 1853-1931, but was able to count (and weed) the more current ones.  Based upon a discussion with my boss, I am saving up to five of each.  I think this is too many, but it’s a good start to removing duplicate items.  This group is complete from 1982-2013.  So, combined with the earliest records, I’m missing annual reports from 1931-1982 – a huge gap – yet, I’m still thankful that I have any older reports at all.

I was very pleased that things went smoothly.  Even though everything is sorted into general type, I still have eight boxes left to organize and inventory.  Not too bad since I started with 23!  I hope to have that done in the next week or so.  In the meantime, I’m already starting to refine my digitization plan based on what I’m learning that I have.  Obviously, I won’t take the time to digitize anything too current, but definitely the older newsletters and annual reports.

I’m also very happy to say that I found the missing photo albums that I thought had been thrown out!  You may remember me mentioning it a few weeks ago.  I found them in a box under a pile of VHS tapes.  I was about to give the whole box to the communications department when I saw the albums.  I don’t know how they ended up in that box, but I’m so happy to have found them again.

In other news, I wrote the questions for the first oral history interview, which is in just a couple of weeks, and sent it out to colleagues and the CEO for feedback.  I confirmed that I could borrow an archivist friend’s recording equipment for the interview, which is very helpful and a big weight off my mind.  I also typed up the inventory list of the completed series.

I also began transcribing the oral history interview that the original Edgewood archivist did back in 2001.  It took me about 45 minutes to transcribe the first 15 minutes, and I type about 100 wpm!  That really opened my eyes up to the time required for transcription.  I will put transcribing that interview on the back burner for now and focus on my immediate project plans.  I will also need to rethink my goal of having both interviews transcribed by the end of the semester, since the second one is just a week before the semester ends.  This project is really helping me to learn about the exciting work of an archivist, as well as the challenges in time allocation and deadlines!

C. Frederick Kohl and the SFPOA

In an earlier post I mentioned that Edgewood’s gym, where so many archival items were hidden away, was named the C. Frederick Kohl Memorial Gym and I wanted to find the reason behind the name.  I had been researching with no luck.  But then I found all of the annual reports from the 1850s through 1930s and my luck improved!

In the 1925 annual report, Frederick Kohl’s estate is listed as giving the San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum (now Edgewood) over $27,000, by far the largest gift the orphanage received that year.  That’s $375,555 in today’s money.  He was a millionaire, but it’s still a very generous gift!

The first annual report published after the orphanage moved to its current location, it describes the campus and the amenities for the children.  The report mentions that a gymnasium was made possible “by Mr. Frederick Kohl’s bequest.”

The story of C. Frederick Kohl is intriguing.  His life started out uneventful yet privileged.  Born in 1863, Charles Frederick was the son of the wealthy William H. Kohl, co-founder of the Alaska Commercial Company, and Sarah Hunter Kohl.  He grew up on a 16-acre estate in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, which is now a large city park. “Freddie” enjoyed a life of travel and high society parties.  In 1896, he married Edith Dunlop, who died of appendicitis just four years later.  On October 7, 1903, Freddie remarried to Mary Elizabeth “Bessie” Godey, and his father died later that year.  All was well until 1911.

And then a French family maid named Adele Verge shot Freddie.  Hired to help Freddie’s mother, Adele began to exhibit frightening behavior, getting into a fight with a hotel clerk and spitting on guests while on a vacation with the Kohl family.  Freddie had her arrested and evaluated.  She later sued Freddie over the incident, but the court ruled against her.  Angry that she lost the case, Adele waited for Freddie outside of the courthouse and shot him on June 8, 1911 with a derringer.  Freddie survived, but the bullet was lodged in his chest.  The maid was deported back to France and committed to a mental institution.  Most sources agree that at some point, she began sending him threatening letters.

Source (I love the picture of her with the cops.)

A couple of years after the shooting, Freddie and Bessie built The Oaks, a four-story, 63-room Tudor mansion on a 40-acre lot in Burlingame, as a grand venue to showcase Bessie’s singing talents.  Unfortunately despite being the toast of the town, Freddie’s mental state continued to deteriorate in the wake of his paranoia that Adele would return to seek her revenge and finish the job she started.  By 1916, just a year or so after moving into The Oaks, Bessie moved out and went on a Red Cross World War I entertainment tour throughout Europe.  Freddie moved into the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco (built by the same architects who built Edgewood!!) with a mistress, Marion Louderback Lord.

Not only did Freddie remain paranoid, he began to experience more physical health problems brought on by the bullet that remained trapped near his heart.  In 1921, he suffered a stroke and Freddie and Marion went to the Del Monte Lodge near Monterey to help him recuperate.  Yet on November 21, just one month later, he shot himself.

Surprisingly, Freddie left most of his estate, including the mansion to Marion.  His wife, Bessie, received “only” $250,000 – just over $3.3 million in today’s money.  Imagine how much Marion received.  Marion sold the house to the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, and it is now used as a high school and event space.  The Kohl Mansion is now a State Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bessie seems to have fared much better than Freddie.  Apparently she never left Europe after her singing tour and ended up marrying two French nobles, Comte de Lambertye and Comte de Thiene.  She reportedly died in 1949 in Monte Carlo.

Other fun facts about Freddie’s story are that he purportedly haunts the Kohl Mansion to this day, and that the mansion appeared in the Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks movie, “Little Lord Fauntleroy”.

So what is Freddie’s connection to the San Francisco Protestant Orphan Asylum?  Why did he leave such a large donation in his estate to the orphanage?  I read through 20 years of annual reports along with other research and couldn’t find that he, his parents, or Marion Louderback Lord ever donated money personally to the orphanage.  However, I did find in the 1913 annual report that his mother’s estate left the Orphan Aslyum $2,000 when she died in 1912, and also found articles in newspapers mentioning her donating to other Bay Area orphanages.  Also, Freddie and his wife hosted fundraisers for other orphanages, so it may have been just a typical type of gift for his family.

I wish I could find a more concrete tie between the Kohl family and Edgewood, but sometimes there just isn’t an obvious answer to be found.  It was still a fun little research project and gave me new insight into a very overlooked detail in Edgewood history.  How often does someone look into the meaning behind a sign on the wall?  Now I have a new story to share with colleagues and visitors to the organization.

Please note: There was a lot of contradictory information in the contemporary articles that I found while researching this post.  I have verified everything to the extent possible.

References

Alper, P. R. (2010, September 6). Music and other mysteries of Kohl Mansion. Daily Journal.  Retrieved from http://archives.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=140355

Buchanan, P. D. (2001, January 16). Kohl Mansion contains history — and mystery. Daily Journal.  Retrieved from http://archives.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=1732

C. Frederick Kohl is Shot. (1911, June 9). The San Francisco Call. Retrieved from
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1911-06-09/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

Charles F. Kohl Weds Miss Godey. (1903, October 8). The San Francisco Call. Retrieved from http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19031008.2.24

Dossa, L., Gouailhardou, M., and Wilkinson, C. (2013). Freddie Facts. Retrieved from  http://kohlmansion.com/wordpress1/freddie-facts/

Mariages. (1925, October 17). Le Figaro. Retrieved from http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2945490/texteBrut

Mrs. Wm. Kohl dies in Santa Barbara. (1912, February 28). The San Francisco Call. Retrieved from http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19120228.2.23

The Peerage. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.thepeerage.com/p53911.htm

Richter, J. (1999, October 15). Kohl Mansion has its roots in The Oaks. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Kohl-Mansion-has-its-roots-in-The-Oaks-3062547.php

First day of surveying

Last week, I started my survey of Edgewood’s gym storage, looking for hidden archival records.

The gym is in the main administration building, and is the whole left side of the building (the side behind the power pole).  I’m sorry that the photo isn’t that great.

The storage area is a loft above the gym, and as you can see, it’s under a set of five windows.  It’s also very hot and dusty up there.  The gym is used daily by kids and basketballs and volleyballs end up there pretty often, landing on (and knocking over) boxes and bags.

The gym, like the entire Edgewood campus, was built in 1924.  It was named after a man named C. Frederick Kohl, who has an interesting history that I plan to write about in a separate post.  But first, I need to figure out his ties to Edgewood and why they named the gym after him.

And, here’s what the storage looked like when I got started.  I counted over 110 boxes, as well as a few empty boxes.  Like many other out of sight storage areas, this loft has been the dumping ground for anything and everything that people wanted to get out of the way and think about later, including historical items.

I decided to start in this corner, which is the farthest section back, because I had been told that it was a likely place to have older things.  Everything was also completely coated in dust and right in the sunlight, so I wanted to look through these things first and then start on a more formal inventory of the boxes.

After I moved the large trash bag – which, I kid you not, was filled for some reason with Styrofoam peanuts – and the folded up banner, I came across a box of photo albums.

The photos, which are all unlabeled and don’t have photo release forms, are all from events from the 1990s and early 2000s.  Interesting, but not exactly what I was looking for.  I set them aside and asked the Communications department to go through them.  If they decide to keep any, I’ll rehouse them in more appropriate storage.

There were critters at the bottom of the box.

Next, I turned to the stack of items on top of a little table.  I thought these albums at the bottom looked promising.

And I was right!  These two albums, which are quite large at 20” x 25” each, are filled with old newspaper clippings from the 1920s through early 1950s, as well as other ephemera.  As you can see, both albums, but particularly the one on the right, have damage to their covers.  Part of the binding is also missing from the one on the left.

This album did have several news clippings loose inside, but was mostly used as a scrapbook for clippings related to Edgewood’s 100th anniversary celebration and other events happening around that time, including new Board of Directors and Auxiliary members, Christmas parties for the children, and the opening of a new recreation building on the campus, which is now used as a school.

It also had pictures and names for some of the children, which may be a help to people doing genealogical research.  Edgewood often gets calls from people asking about their parents and grandparents who lived there during its orphanage period.  If I can help connect even just one person to a picture or article on an ancestor, I would be very happy.  I’m going to take more detailed notes when I make my inventory and maybe make some sort of index of the children’s names and ages.

Unfortunately, the clippings are glued into the albums, and all of the opposing pages are yellowed.  The clippings themselves are in varying conditions.  Being in a hot, humid, sunny environment like the gym loft for at least the past few years has not been helping.

This page was a total mess, but it looks as though it’s many clippings of the same article, so it may not be as bad as it looks.

I was surprised to find a telegram from Richard Nixon in the album.  It was the only record from a politician.  It sounds as though as they invited him to the 150th anniversary event, as he was a newly elected California senator at the time.

And this telegram was from Lurline Matson Roth regarding the opening of a new building, Matson, named after her mother.  Lurline was the daughter of William and Lillie Matson, owners of the Matson Navigation Company, which offered cruises to Hawaii.  Lillie and Lurline volunteered at Edgewood.  The Matson home in Redwood City (about half an hour south of San Francisco), named Filoli, is now a California State Historic Landmark and open to the public.  What is very interesting is that the street that leads to Filoli is called Edgewood Avenue.  My colleagues and I suspect that Lillie and Lurline’s connection to Edgewood led to the name of this street, but we haven’t been able to find any proof yet.

This is a script for an NBC show on the Edgewood centennial.

This album looks like it has either mildew or water damage.  I unfortunately think it’s mildew.  I need to figure out where to store it away from other items until I know for sure.

It was not nearly as complete as the first album and about half of it was duplicates of news clippings from the first album.  Many of the items were just sitting unattached inside.

However, it did contain some interesting items, such as photos of the previous buildings.

The building in the background on the right was the Haight Street building, the second to last one used before the current campus.

All in all, I’m happy with the first day of searching.  These albums were a great find and the news clippings give a nice snapshot into Edgewood’s history and the celebration of its first 100 years, along with regular administrative activities, like new Board of Directors and daily life in the residential cottages.

I was also pleased to find the ephemera like the telegram from Richard Nixon and the NBC script.  Although they don’t lend any insight into Edgewood per se, they are fun items that round out the records related to the centennial celebrations.

These albums were not all that I found that day.  More coming soon!

References

Filoli. (2014). History.  Retrieved from http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/history/

Welcome to Edgewood Tales

Hello and welcome!  My name is Jessica and I’m a MLIS candidate at SJSU.  I created this blog as a way to document my special studies project (LIBR 298 for SJSU folks) this semester, which I am very excited about.

My project will take place at Edgewood Center for Children and Families in San Francisco, a 163-year-old organization originally founded as an orphanage for Gold Rush orphans, where I’m currently employed in a non-archival role.  I will be surveying the agency for archival records, digitizing and indexing what I uncover, and donating items to the San Francisco History Center.  I plan to also begin an oral history project for the organization.

The San Francisco Protestant Orphanage on Haight Street in 1871. © Edgewood Center for Children and Families. Permission to use granted by Edgewood.

About the project
In celebration of its 150th anniversary, Edgewood undertook the enormous task of creating an archival collection.  Thanks to many months of work by archivist Pennington Ahlstrand, the “Edgewood Records 1851-1959” collection was donated to the San Francisco History Center in 2003.  The collection contains images and records of former orphans, adoption files, administrative records, and more from Edgewood’s origins in 1851 through 1959.

Although the majority of records are in the existing collection, some historical materials remain at Edgewood’s seven-acre campus.  After a wonderful conversation with the lovely Ms. Ahlstrand, I learned that she was requested to leave behind some records that were being housed in a vault at Edgewood at the time of the original donation.  Unfortunately, these records have over time made their way to random locations throughout the organization, and are periodically uncovered by staff, including myself, but left behind in improper storage.

The primary place that I suspect many of the records are stored is a space in the organization’s basketball gym, built in the 1920s, and subject to mold and mildew, sunlight, temperature fluctuations, theft, and other various threats to preservation.  Other prospective locations include the basement in the Administration Building; and desks, closets, and other nooks and crannies around the campus.

The impetus for this project was my discovering a set of original architectural plans in the gym shortly after being hired, folded and stored in a box with contemporary Communications Department collateral, as well as a co-worker finding some historical photos with water damage, also in the gym.

I had only recently started the MLIS program at the time, but I still immediately knew that I wanted to help uncover all of the remaining, hidden historical records and ensure they are preserved.  Now I have taken some coursework related to the archives field and finally have the chance to help.  The new leadership at Edgewood is very enthusiastic about the project and supports donating the items that weren’t originally allowed to go to the San Francisco History Center – once they are found!

A group of children in front of the Haight Street building in 1891. © Edgewood Center for Children and Families. Permission to use granted by Edgewood.

An introduction to Edgewood’s history
Edgewood has a fascinating history, intertwined with prominent San Francisco Bay Area families, including Levi Strauss, G.W. Haight, Eadweard Muybridge, Jack London, Adolf Sutro, Lillie Coit, James Flood, Mrs. Stanford (yes, of Stanford University), and Mrs. Crocker.  In fact, Levi Strauss himself was one of the first donors to Edgewood and Edgewood still enjoys a partnership with the company.

The agency was founded in 1851 by Mrs. R.H. Waller, wife of the City Recorder, as the San Francisco Orphan Asylum shortly after she rescued an orphaned family of five children whose parents had died of cholera en route to the Gold Rush.  On March 19 of that year, nine children moved into the orphanage’s first home in Happy Valley (today’s South of Market area, near First and Mission streets).

They quickly outgrew this space and in 1852, 26 children moved to the next location in Pleasant Valley (also today’s South of Market district, but a few blocks over by First and Folsom streets).  And in March 1854, the orphanage moved again to the Hayes Valley neighborhood, on a lot bounded by Haight, Buchanan, Hermann, and Laguna streets, which is where a campus of the University of California now resides.  In 1863, the agency changed its name to the San Francisco Protestant Orphan Society and the Haight Street building expanded to house 300 orphans.

By the orphanage’s 50th anniversary in 1901, it had served over 3,500 children.  Then, the great 1906 earthquake hit.  The 187 children living at the orphanage at the time all escaped injury and were temporarily moved to Petaluma until the building was habitable.  The Haight Street building fell into disrepair and the orphanage moved yet again in 1919, leasing a building from another organization.  At this point, the orphanage managers knew they needed to buy a sizable plot of land on which to build a new, permanent facility.

In 1923, a 10-acre “well-wooded” lot on Vicente Street, in the mostly undeveloped west side of the city, was purchased.  In 1924, a campus consisting of six residential cottages and an administration building (including the basketball gym mentioned earlier) opened up, and the name of the organization was changed to the Edgewood Protestant Orphanage.  By 1927, there were 176 children living on the campus.

The Auxiliary, a volunteer group, was created in 1948, to help the children with direct services and help the organization raise money.

In 1951, 100 years after its establishment, Edgewood underwent a major transformation in its service delivery, changing from an orphanage and foster home program to a residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed youth.  It also accepted male Board of Managers for the first time in its history.

During the 1970s, Edgewood became accredited as a psychiatric hospital for youth, and opened an educational facility for children and adults with learning disabilities.  This mission for caring for children with mental and behavioral health issues has continued to today.

Interestingly, I wasn’t able to find the date of the name change from the Edgewood Protestant Orphanage to Edgewood Center for Children and Families!  I’ll see if I can find this out during the course of the semester.

I look forward to sharing what I find here!

References:
Edgewood Center for Children and Families.  (2014). History. Retrieved from http://www.edgewood.org/whoweare/about/history.html

Online Archive of California.  (2014). Finding aid to the Edgewood records 1851-1959 SFH 29. Retrieved from http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8kd1x82/

San Francisco Genealogy. (n.d.). Street names. Retrieved from http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hgstr.htm

The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. (n.d.). San Francisco in 1856. Retrieved from
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/56hist.html