New York State Moreland Commission on Welfare Correspondence and Subject Files

Grouped by type of record (administrative files, correspondence, reports), then alphabetical.

Spurred by the loss of public confidence in public welfare objectives and programs and the lack of understanding of facts relating to aid, care, and support of the needy, Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed the 11-member Moreland Commission on Welfare on August 30, 1961. The commission was directed to study and make recommendations concerning laws, practices, procedures, costs, and organization of public welfare programs.

The commission focused its study on the area of greatest public concern: public assistance programs, and in particular their costs; chronic dependency; "chiseling"; and "immorality" of certain recipents. To carry out its investigation, the commission: studied reports and analyses of public welfare; visited local welfare offices throughout New York State; and interviewed public welfare experts.

The commission also held public hearings on September 11-13, 1962 to hear opinions concerning: organization of State Board of Social Welfare; qualifications of local welfare officials and employees; public welfare programs and operations (e.g. work relief, voucher payments, welfare fraud); public reaction to public welfare; and economic climate (e.g. relationship between caseloads and employment levels). Among the witnesses testifying at the public hearings were: state agency officials; welfare workers; policy makers of private welfare agencies; representatives of organized labor; and professors and other welfare experts.

The commission submitted its report to Governor Rockefeller on January 15, 1963. Among the recommendations in the commission's report were: the State Department of Social Welfare should cooperate with the State University of New York and private institutions to develop undergraduate and graduate public welfare or public social service programs; all public assistance applicants should be thoroughly evaluated and an appropriate plan of services scheduled for each; establishment of qualification standards for local welfare commissioners; combine positions of Chair of Board of Social Welfare and Commissioner of Department of Social Welfare, and make the position a full time paid position; and the Board of Social Welfare should evaluate its current programs to see if any could be more effectively carried out by other government agencies.

This series is the complete file documenting the commission's operations and the conduct of its investigation. The series includes:

1) administrative files containing: budget and expenditure data; drafts of the commission's report; correspondence with and reports of consultants regarding public assistance program administration; minutes of commission's monthly meetings; summaries of possible principal areas of study; press releases; written statements submitted to commission before public hearings; transcripts of public hearings held September 11-13, 1962; and printed bills introduced in state legislature and U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 1962 concerning such matters as home relief, medical care for the aged, aid to dependent children, day care, and welfare fraud;

2) correspondence files containing correspondence with the Governor's office, public and private social welfare officers, civic groups, and citizens, mostly concerning routine matters but sometimes including reports and addresses on public welfare program administration and related materials; and

3) studies, reports, statistics, and articles regarding public assistance by social welfare organizations and experts in New York and other states.

10991-12: This accretion contains newspaper clippings, minutes, and proceedings of the Moreland Commission on Welfare, which were maintained by commission chairman S. Hazard Gillespie.

Folder lists are available at the repository; lists contain restricted information and must be reviewed by State Archives staff prior to disclosure.

10991-83: Redacted version of folder list is available for researcher use.

10991-12: The records in this accretion were donated to the State Archives by the widow of S. Hazard Gillespie, chairman of the commission.

All investigative materials in Moreland Act commission records are indefinitely restricted pursuant to Executive Law sect. 6 and 63.8 and Civil Rights Law sect. 73.8. Requests for access to such materials are referred to the Governor's Office.