The idea for the formation of a charitable society to help "indigent women and children" was first proposed by a group of well-known Providence women in March of 1800. The Providence Female Charitable Society was formed April 2nd the same year. Its first Board of Directors included Lydia (Bowen) Clark, Mrs. Avis (Binney) Brown, Rebecca Munroe, Elizabeth K. (Thompson) Nightingale, Abby (Brown) Francis, Eliza J. Ward, Mary Bowen, and Mary Brown Howell. The first charter and constitution of the Society was printed in February, 1801 by John Carter, Jr. The Society was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly in October, 1802. Membership was based on heredity.
With the exception of special cases, women who applied to the Society for assistance would be denied if they refused to put their younger children "of a proper age" in school, and their older, able-bodied children into service or a trade. One of the ways by which the Society assisted its accepted applicants was to purchase materials for them to make clothing; the completed garments were then sold to the same applicants at a reduced price. The Society also appointed members to teach children reading and writing two hours per day, and lead them to church each Sunday.
Eventually the care of children was given up by the Society because demand outweighed its resources; offshoots of the Society such as a children's home and reform school were created. At its centenary in 1901, the Society noted that it was one of only two charitable organizations in New England that had survived to the one-hundred-year mark. The Society is still in existence today.
There are no restrictions on access.
Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Providence Female Charitable Society Records, MSS 642, Rhode Island Historical Society.
Generally, the records range from 1799 to 1952. Specifically, the collection includes correspondence from 1802 to 1889; a large number of account books from 1800 to 1917; the Society's 1802 charter and petition to incorporate; printed versions of the charter and constitution (1804); subscriber lists from 1801 to 1952; receipts, both loose and in book form, from 1800 to 1952; meeting minutes and resolutions from 1800 to 1934; and miscellaneous items such as newspaper clippings and members' obituaries.
The records were donated in two separate gifts, one in 1971 and one in 1978, by Mrs. Stanley Livingstone as president of the Society.
In 1998, research on the history of the Society was done and a finding aid produced. Additionally, the records were re-housed in upright archival folders and boxes.
Includes list of subscribers
(2 copies and reprint)
Contains only 1800
With list of subscribers, 1801-1866
Some undated
2 copies