Series I - Orphan Asylum Society/Graham Home for Children, 1806-1981 (bulk 1806-1977), 1806-1977, inclusive

The subseries contains 18 volumes of minutes of meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Orphan Asylum Society/Graham Home for Children (OAS) 1806-1974.

Minutes from 1822-1851 and 1975-1977 are missing. Some loose pages from the 1830's were interleaved with the 1887-1894 minutes, and remain with that volume (Vol. 4). An index to the minutes is available to researchers at the New-York Historical Society manuscript department.

Minutes are closed to the public for a term of one hundred years from date of creation. Minutes older than one hundred years are open for research.

The Orphan Asylum Society merged with Windham Child Care in 1977 to become Graham Windham. For Minutes of Windham Child Care, see Series II.1. For post-1977 minutes of Graham Windham, see Series III.1. For OAS Committee Reports submitted to the Board, see Subseries I.5. For a 1973 board manual and other board-related administrative materials, see Subseries I.7.

The subseries contains loose copies of the act of incorporation, constitution, by-laws, rules and regulations, and extension of existance of the Orphan Asylum Society 1807-1944, arranged chronologically. Additional copies of some of these documents, including some from other years, are bound together with some annual reports in the following subseries, Subseries 1.3.

The subseries contains bound volumes and loose copies of annual reports of the Orphan Asylum Society (later Graham School of the Orphan Asylum Society, and then Graham Home for Children), 1806-1977. Bound volumes are arranged first, followed by loose copies. There are no loose copies of annual reports from 1824-1832, and there are no copies in any form of annual reports from 1908, 1937, 1942, 1947-1948, 1950-1957, 1960-1964, 1968-1969, 1972, and 1974.

Some of the early annual reports include the organization's constitution, by-laws, and minutes. One bound volume of annual reports has been bound with two speeches from 1821 and 1823. An index for the annual reports, as well as a summary of each annual report, is available to researchers at the New-York Historical Society manuscript department.

For annual reports of the Society for the Relief of Half Orphans and Destitute Children/Windham Child Care, please see Series II.

For annual reports of Graham Windham, formed in 1977 by the merger of the Graham Home and the Windham Child Care, please see Series III.

The subseries contains financial records (1808-1957, bulk 1820-1956) of the Orphan Asylum Society (1806-1929), renamed the Graham School (1929-1950) and Graham Home for Children (1950-1977), arranged by type and in rough chronological order. Most of the records are handwritten in bound volumes. Loose records are arranged in boxes after the volumes. The records are not inclusive. The names for types of records are not consistent. It is not always clear who created the records. Some records were kept by the Treasurer, some by the Assistant Treasurer, and some may have been kept by the Secretary, a board member, or the Superintendent.

Financial Records are closed to the public for a term of one hundred years from their date of creation. Records older than one hundred years are open for research.

The subseries consists of five volumes of reports of the Visitor's Commitee (1842-1892), followed by two volumes of records and reports of the Investigating Committee (1900-1905), followed by one volume of records of the Correspondence Committee (1903-1922). The women of the Visitor's Committee visited the asylum regularly and reported their observations to the board. The Investigating Committee appears to have performed follow-up visits to children who had left the asylum, as well as investigations of children in the asylum. The Correspondence Committee recorded information about, and correspondence with, selected children who had left the asylum, following their lives for many years.

The volumes are followed by folders containing an inspection report by the State Board of Social Welfare (1935-36) forwarded to the Board, and a bound report of a visiting committee to the Board (1966).

Reports in this subseries are closed to the public for a term of one hundred years from their date of creation. Records older than one hundred years are open for research.

The subseries contains records kept by the Superintendent of the Orphan Asylum Society, who was responsible for the day-to-day running of the OAS, and also contains other records relating to children and the school. Most of the material is in the form of bound volumes. Volumes are arranged by type, and then chronologically. Some additional volumes and loose materials are arrranged in folders after the volumes.

The titles of admission books/registers are not consistent, and some dates overlap. Some volumes are narrative records, with stories about each child, and these are labeled "narrative" in the container list. Others are chronological or alphabetical and provide demographic data. The "Superintendent's Journals" provide daily narrative reports of events at the OAS.

The records in this subseries are closed to the public for a term of one hundred years from their date of creation. Records older than one hundred years are open for research.

The subseries consists of eight folders of documents followed by one volume, containing various records retained by the OAS/Graham Home. Materials include a letter to the Orphan Asylum (1892) requesting a baby girl by mail and a thank you note from the Director of the Menagerie of the Department of Public Parks thanking the boys of the Orphan Asylum for donating a screech owl. Both of these letters had been framed and displayed by the agency; they have now been removed from their frames for the purpose of conservation. Other materials in the subseries include a Board of Trustees manual, informational documents about the OAS, and employee records.

The records in this subseries are closed to the public for a term of one hundred years from their date of creation. Records older than one hundred years are open for research.

The subseries consists of ten folders of brochures, pamphlets, programs, and newsletters, arranged by date, followed by published reports and books by administrators of the OAS/Graham School, and books by and/or about the OAS and its founders.

The subseries contains three boxes, and two additional folders in an oversize box, containing primarily photographic prints, as well as a smaller quantity of negatives, contact sheets, mock-ups for annual reports and brochures, two loose pages from a photo album, one ink sketch, and some paper materials related to the photographs and interfiled with them.

Subjects include children and activities at the OAS, benefits and other events, celebrity visitors, and annual report materials. Most photographs were created for publicity purposes or for internal documentation. Photographic formats include prints mounted on board or paper, many sizes of loose prints, and stereoscopic prints. Professional photographers represented in the collection include Alfred J. Merz and Daniel Berry, and there is one print by Lewis Hine. The materials were kept by the Development Department and were arranged by subject and date. Original folder titles have been maintained.

The subseries also contains one box of wooden printing blocks with negative images used in OAS printed materials circa 1910-1950's, and one scrapbook/photograph album documenting Black Solidarity Week 1974. The printing blocks and the scrapbook are arranged at the end of the subseries.

The subseries contains newspaper clippings and articles regarding the Graham School/Graham Home circa 1876-1977, and a set of bound copies of two periodicals from 1853-1856 --The Advocate and Guardian and The Child's Paper.

Additional pre-merger Graham Home clippings may be found in Subseries III.8 (in volume 216), along with post-merger clippings. Windham clippings are in Subseries II.6.