Catholic Club of Philadelphia records
Scope and Contents
The collection contains administrative records, including a minute book documenting the club’s early years (1872-1876), by-laws, reports, and lists of elections and officers.
It also contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of which a significant amount is postcards. A majority of these postcards documenting club news, events and activities as well as invitations are addressed to Charles F. Devenny, a member of the Board of Directors.
Programs, souvenirs, and ephemera related to club-sponsored events and events sponsored by other local Catholic societies are also included. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, many of which document club events and activities, as well as letters of appeal for Catholic charities.
Miscellaneous pamphlets, cards and circulars, many of which do not appear to be directly related to the Catholic Club, are also included.
Dates
- 1871 - 1923
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
Proposed in May 1875, the Catholic Club of Philadelphia, formerly the De Sales Institute of Philadelphia, was organized January 2, 1877 and opened at 1403 Locust Street. The club, one of many founded in major cities throughout the country during the late 19th century, offered wealthy men of a certain socioeconomic background cultural, intellectual, and social opportunities. These clubs sponsored balls, concerts, lectures as well as other events and activities that raised large sums of money for local church charities.
The Catholic Club appears to have had strong and sometimes overlapping ties with several other Philadelphia Catholic societies and associations, including the American Catholic Historical Society, the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute, and the Hibernian Society.
Like other Catholic male fraternal societies and elite clubs, the Catholic Club of Philadelphia tried to keep its distance from the bishop in order to maintain its financial independence and decision-making authority. During the first couple decades of the 20th century, dioceses tried to consolidate their charities, urging clubs to work with newly-formed charitable bureaus. It appears that the Catholic Club died out during this period of time.
Extent
0.8 Linear Feet (; 2 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Catholic Club of Philadelphia, formerly the De Sales Institute of Philadelphia, was founded January 2, 1877. The Club offered wealthy men of a certain socioeconomic background cultural, intellectual, and social opportunities.
This collection contains administrative records, including by-laws and reports, as well as general correspondence. Programs, souvenirs, and ephemera related to club-sponsored events and events sponsored by other local Catholic societies are also included. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, N.C.W.C. news releases from May- July 1923, and miscellaneous pamphlets, cards and circulars.
Other Finding Aids
This is a revised finding aid. An older finding aid is available in hard copy at PAHRC.
Provenance
Accession number 1990.023
Bibliography
- Oates, Mary J. The Catholic Philanthropic Tradition in America. Indiana University Press, 1995.
Processing Information
Preservation copies of the newspaper clippings should be made.
Some oversized materials, specifically the N.C.W.C. News Sheets, should be separated and housed in oversized boxes.
- Bylaws (administrative records) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Catholic Church -- Societies, etc. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Catholic Church -- United States -- Charities -- History Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Catholics -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia (Pa.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Corporation reports Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Ephemera Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Minute books Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Pamphlets Subject Source: Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing
- Philadelphia (Pa.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Postcards Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Souvenir programs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Catholic Club of Philadelphia records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Faith Charlton
- Date
- ; April 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Repository
6719 Calvert Street
Philadelphia PA 19149
