French Benevolent Society records
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The French Benevolent Society records contain an array of fiscal reports, administrative minutes, deeds, insurance policies, correspondence, and record books that predominately relate to the French Hospital, however some documents focus on the Society.
Biographical / Historical
The French Benevolent Society was founded in 1809 in New York City. The Society's mission was to provide charitable assistance to members of New York City's French community.
The Society founded the French Hospital in 1881. The hospital was originally located at 131 East 14th Street in New York City, but later moved to 330 West 30th Street. The hospital housed 255 beds and employed 850 people. The hospital closed in 1977 due to financial problems.
Arrangement
This collection is organized by document genre/format into two boxes and nine freestanding volumes. Deeds and other documents were foldered together as found in their original packets in the records.
Scope and Contents
(Note: Neither the processing nor supervising archivists for the collection could read French. Consequently, although the following note is complete as to overall content, it may not be complete as to particular important details if those were in the French language documents.)
The French Benevolent Society records contain an array of documents. A significant portion of the collection focuses upon the French Hospital, however, these papers are mainly financial and legal in nature.
The Board of Administration of the French Benevolent Society minutes are held in nine volumes and cover much, but not the entire history, of the organization. The minutes include a variety of French Hospital topics such as: overall costs/losses, the creation of new medical departments, hospital supply rosters and costs, basic medical staff information, details about hospital capacities, donations, etc. The minutes also cover topics relating to the Society such as board elections, other charitable operations, member lists, and more. It should be noted that 6 out of the 9 volumes are written in French.
The content of Box 1 includes various documents including individual warranty deeds presented to the French Benevolent Society, deeds for hospital property, deeds for graves at Flushing Cemetery and Kensico Cemetery, papers relating to Mrs. Vizet and her plot/mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery, several loan agreements and tax documents between the French Benevolent Society and Emigrant Savings Bank, deeds for cemetery plots at Calvary, Greenwood, Rosehill, and St. Michael's Cemetery, as well as a collection of documents recounting the history of the French Hospital.
The second box contains a volume titled "Reservistes Livre No.1." This volume appears to be a financial ledger, however, it is mostly written in French and therefore solidly establishing its true purpose has been difficult. A basic format was noted within this volume where each page states the name of an individual or family, a short biography of the person(s) is provided at the top, and the rest of the page is filled with dates and payments.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
Topics
Places
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Use Restrictions
This collection is owned by the New-York Historical Society. The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder. Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day.
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: French Benevolent Society records, MS 233, New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Eugene Blanc and Ruth Granet, 1977.
About this Guide
Processing Information
This collection was processed by archival intern Aki Snyder in June 2019.