The Children's Aid Society was the first organization in Cleveland, Ohio, dedicated to the care and education of poor children. Established in 1854, the society initially operated three industrial schools and worked to find homes for orphans. By 1876, efforts were concentrated toward a school and farm on Detroit Road donated by Eliza Jennings, and under the presidency of Truman Handy and later Daniel Eells, the society became an orphanage. In the 1920s, the society turned its attention to becoming a mental health center for retarded, neurotic, and psychopathic children. The society developed into a fully accredited, residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children by the 1960s. The collection consists of administrative records (including constitutions, charters, histories, annual reports, executive, membership and staff lists, brochures, reports, studies and policy statements, minutes, correspondence, property records and other records of the Executive Board and other committees), financial and legal records, children's registration and daily records, journals, and miscellany. The collection highlights the early institutional care of needy, orphaned and emotionally ill children, as well as the daily operation of one of Cleveland's oldest child welfare agencies. Included are some psychiatric studies relating to disturbed children. The collection also provides a significant glimpse at Cleveland's 19th century philanthropists who served as founders, leaders and donors of the society, including Truman P. Handy, Daniel P. Eells, Samuel Mather, Amasa Stone, Eliza Jennings, John D. Rockefeller, Leonard Case, Jr., and others.
