New York State War Council Committee on Child Care, Development, and Protection Local Child Care Organization and Assistance…

Organized into three subseries: Subseries 1, Local Child Care Committee Files, 1942-1946, 7.5 cubic feet, is alphabetical by municipality; Subseries 2, Monthly Reports of Attendance and Operating Costs, 1942-1946, 2.5 cubic feet, is arranged with the attendance reports, followed by operating cost reports, both in chronological order, followed by miscellany which has no apparent order; Subseries 3, Claim Applications, Equipment Claims, and Other Financial Records, 1943-1946, 5.5 cubic feet, is arranged with claim applications alphabetical by municipality, equipment claims alphabetical by child care center, and the other records in no apparent order.

This series contains correspondence, memoranda, financial records, ledger books, and reports which detail the committee's operations at the state and local level in organizing and supervising the state's child care facilities. Individual child care centers, their activities, and operations are documented in this series. In addition, a great deal of demographic information is found on the children and families who participated in child care programs.

Subseries 1, Local Child Care Committees Files, 1942-1946, 7.5 cubic feet: This subseries contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial records of the local child care committees or groups interested in starting child care programs and their interactions with the State War Council's Child Care Committee. These records illustrate the Committee's initial work demonstrating the need for child care statewide. Reports detailed specific areas' needs for child care, demographic breakdowns of the areas in terms of number of children by age, number of mothers, the number of children home alone after school, and publicity efforts undertaken to promote child care programs. Financial records reveal the local committee's budgets and financial operations. Analysis of child care projects, parental reactions to them and problems with specific programs or individuals, often very bluntly discussed, are included, as are materials on child care programs operated in migrant labor camps. Of note is local opposition to child care programs as expressed by male-dominated local war council leadership. This subseries also contains photographs of the Buffalo child care program.

Subseries 2, Monthly Reports of Attendance and Operating Costs, 1942-1946, 2.5 cubic feet: This subseries documents the level of activity and financial expenditures of local war councils' child care facilities as reported to the State War Council. The reports were used by the State Committee to help the local committees obtain funding. The attendance reports tally daily attendance (sometimes broken into age groups) from each area's facilities. Compilations are found at the beginning of most folders. The reports of monthly operating costs include the name and address of the facility and delineate the cost of: administration; instruction; salaries; food; plant operations; plant maintenance; and pensions. These reports also list local revenue totals from parents' fees, public funds, and local contributions.

Some additional records, including two ledger books, memoranda to field representatives, rules on federal regulations, information on migrant labor camps, and several files on films made for child care centers, including scripts, are also found.

Subseries 3, Claim Applications, Equipment Claims, and other Financial Records, 1943-1946, 5.5 cubic feet: Until funding was discontinued in September 1947, local municipalities which sought state funds for their child care programs filed claim applications with the State Youth Commission. The applications contain a breakdown of expenditures and the maximum percentage the State was asked to pay of expenses incurred, in addition to listing the number of children cared for, the fee schedule, hours of operation, health supervision and prerequisities, staff-to-children ratio, salaries, office expenses, food purchases by age group, and plant operations.

Individual child care centers requesting funds from the State for equipment purchases filed forms similar to the claim applications. Information on the equipment claims forms included a physical description of facilities, number of children served by age group, hours of operation, staff-to-children ratio, an activity schedule, salaries, food and supply expenses, and plant operations and equipment costs. Frank memoranda and correspondence evaluating each facility, its operations, and cleanliness are also sometimes found with the equipment claim forms.

Other financial records include payroll information, ledger books listing claims, and statistical reports which are compilations of child care programs' cost per student and number of students served.

Microform is available at the New York State Archives through interlibrary loan.

Map list and roll list are available at the repository.

This series was originally accessioned as part of boxes 111-127 of old collection #77, accession -71.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.