Collection #
M 0227
OMB 0016
BV 1700-1708, 1884-1885, 1920-1922
R2583-2584
 
 

PLEASANT RUN CHILDREN'S HOME
(INDIANAPOLIS, IND.)
RECORDS, 1867–1985

 

 

Collection Information

Historical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Box and Folder Listing

Cataloging Information

 

 

Processed by
Charles Latham
25 October 1993

Updated 2 January 2002
Updated 15 December 2004
Updated 27 March 2007

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 4 manuscript boxes, 14 bound volumes, 2 oversize boxes and 1 oversize folder, 2 artifacts

COLLECTION DATES: 1867-1985

PROVENANCE: Pleasant Run Children's Home, 1835 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis IN 46202, January 1979, September 1980, June 1981, April 1993, February 1994, March 1995

RESTRICTIONS: Access to all records less than 75 years old, other than printed histories, must be approved by the Board of Directors of the Home

ALTERNATE FORMATS: None

OTHER FINDING AIDS: None

RELATED HOLDINGS: None

ACCESSION NUMBERS: 1979.0114, 1980.0914, 1981.0607, 1993.0429, 1994.0482, 1995.0471

NOTES: This is an open collection to which periodic additions are made.

 

 

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Pleasant Run Children's Home got its start in the later 1860s as one of several attempts to help children orphaned by the Civil War. A German fraternal society in Indianapolis, inspired by a similar group in Cincinnati, founded a home for orphans in 1867 under the name Deutschen Allgemeinnen Protestantischen Waisenvereins (German General Protestant Orphan Association). In 1871 the association opened a permanent home for the orphanage on State Street near Pleasant Run; it was used for over a century, and is still standing. The building usually accommodated about fifty children. In 1918 the association changed its official language from German to English, and its name to the General Protestant Orphan Association.

Between 1918 and 1971 the focus of the association altered, so that by the 1960s the home was serving as a treatment center for neglected and pre-delinquent children, mainly wards of the court, most of whom stayed at the home for only a few years. To reflect the change in emphasis, the association changed its name in 1971 to the Pleasant Run Children's Home. There was a sizeable fire in the building in 1979.

Changes in circumstances and philosophy brought further modifications to the organization in the 1980s. Group homes housing from five to ten boys or girls were developed in different parts of the city, sometimes with considerable resistance from local residents. This group-home phase began in 1981-1982, with homes on Cooper Road and High School Road. Meanwhile the original building on State Street was turned over to the Koala Hospital. In 1989 the Home launched a $1.2 million capital campaign aimed at doubling the number of children served (from 28 to 63).

In 1993 the Pleasant Run Children's Home had its headquarters at 1835 North Meridian Street. It operated five group homes located at different points on the city's periphery. Residents were from six to eighteen years of age. Most were wards of the court for various reasons including parental abuse and lack of control. The Home got its funding mainly from the city welfare department, augmented by grants from United Way and by fund-raising efforts. The Home's program had several facets. Younger children were prepared either for reunification with their families or for foster care. Older residents were taught living and work skills in preparation for independent living; many accumulated some savings with which to fund their emerging independence. There was considerable emphasis on counseling-- of residents, of parents, of children under foster care, of recent graduates, and of home-based cases.

Sources: Materials in collection
Telephone interview with staff of Home
Indianapolis News, 12 June 1989

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection, filling three manuscript boxes and two oversize boxes and including fourteen bound volumes, spans the years 1867-1985. It is arranged by category, and chronologically within category.

Box 1 contains directors' minutes 1867-1965. Minutes 1867-1912 are in BV 1700-1704. Minutes 1912-1947 are oversize, stored in OMB 0016.

In Box 2-3 are minutes and reports 1966-1987. Minutes from 1972 to 1974 are in BV 1884, 1885, and 1920.

Box 4 contains historical, financial, and other records. In Folder 1 are copies of the 1930 publication of the articles of association. In Folders 3-5 are succeeding versions of a history of the Home, and in Folders 6-7 are historical papers.

Folder 8 contains reports of the Home's superintendent for 1919-1923 and 1933-1935. Tax reports and audits are in Folders 10-15, and membership dues records in BV 1921 and 1922. Records of the ladies auxiliary, which operated 1902-1918, are in BV 1707-1708. Various records of children in the Home, dating 1873-1952, are in BV 1706 and Folders 20-23. The collection concludes with miscellaneous papers (Folder 24), three 1948 photographs, and two bronze plaques stored in Artifacts. The plaques are heavy and require additional time for retrieval.

Because the names of residents are included, this collection is restricted to the superintendent and to current directors; for all others, access to all records less than 75 years old, other than printed histories, must be approved by the Board of Directors of the Home.

 

BOX AND FOLDER LISTING

Box 1: Minutes and reports, 1867-1965
Folder Contents

1

BV 1700) Board minutes-- 1867-1882

2

(BV 1701) Board minutes -- 1882-1888

3

(BV 1702) Board minutes -- 1888-1895

4

(BV 1703) Board minutes -- 1902-1909 (1896-1901 are missing)

5

(BV 1704) Board minutes -- 1909-1912

6

(OMB 0016 Box 1) Board minutes -- 1912-1937, Articles of association, 1887 (photostat)

7

(OMB 0016 Box 2) Board minutes -- 1937-1949

8

(BV 1705) Board minutes -- 1950-1953

9

Board minutes -- Dec. 1953-Dec. 1955

10

Board minutes -- 1956-1957

11

Board minutes -- 1958

12

Board minutes -- 1959

13

Board minutes -- 1960

14

Board minutes -- 1961 (1962 missing)

15

Board Minutes -- 1963

16

Board minutes -- 1964

17

Reports and financial-- 1964

18

Board minutes-- 1965

19

Reports and financial-- 1965

 

 

 

Box 2: Minutes and reports 1966-1985
Folder Contents

1

Board minutes-- Jan.-July 1966

2

Board minutes -- Aug.-Dec. 1966

3

Board minutes -- Jan.-Aug. 1967

4

Board minutes -- Sept.-Dec. 1967

5

Board minutes -- Jan.-July 1968

6

Board minutes -- Aug.-Dec. 1968

7

Board minutes -- July 1969 - May 1970

8

Board minutes -- June 1970 - Dec. 1971

9

(BV 1884) Board minutes -- 1972

10

(BV 1885) Board minutes -- 1973

11

(BV 1920) Board minutes -- 1974

12

Board minutes -- 1975

13

Board minutes -- 1976

14

Board minutes -- 1977

15

Board minutes -- 1978

16

Board minutes -- 1979

17

Board minutes -- 1980

18

Board minutes -- 1981

19

Board minutes -- 1982

20

Board minutes -- 1983

21

Board minutes -- 1984

22

Board minutes -- 1985

23

Annual Report-- 1985

 

Box 3: Minutes and reports, 1986-
Folder Contents

1

Board minutes, Mar.-Dec. 1986

2

Annual report, 1986

3-4

Board minutes, 1987

 

Box 4: Historical; financial; residents
Folder Contents

1

Articles, 1930 version

2

Membership blanks

3

History, 1976 version

4

History, 1978 version

5

History, 1980 printed version

6

Historical papers

7

Historical papers removed from minutes

8

Reports of superintendent 1919-1923, 1933-1935

9

Tax reports 1943-1949

10

Audit-- 1974

11

Audit -- 1976

12

Audit -- 1978-1979

13

Audit -- 1979-1980

14

Audit -- 1982-1983

15

Audit, 1986

16

(BV 1921) Financial-- 1972-1974

17

(BV 1922) Membership dues-- 1935-1969

18

(BV 1707) Ladies auxiliary-- 1902-1908

19

(BV 1708) Ladies auxiliary -- 1908-1918

20

(BV 1706) Children at the Home 1873-1906

21

Children at the Home 1873-1969

22

Children's records 1909-1931

23

Christenings and baptisms 1916-1952

24

Miscellaneous papers

25

(VC) Three photographs, 1948

26

(Artifacts:R2583) Bronze plaque, memory of Anna Frances Blank (1858-1911)

(Artifacts: R2584) Framed list of donors of $100 or more, 1871-1962

Framed list, Edward A. Gardner Memorial Fund

Appreciation of Faithful Service, 1925-1962

Framed list of Presidents and Officers of the Board of Directors, 1918-1938

27

OMB 0016 (Flat File: FF 11-o). Officers and Directors of the General Protestant Orphans Association, 1918-1950

 

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0227).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.