DescriptionThese two items, from a Whittier House scrapbook, offer a contrast between a child's summer in Jersey City, "The Big City and a Boy," and a summer spent at camp in Pomona, New York, "Whittier House' Bit of Green". These letters were sent as part of Whittier House's summer camp fundraising efforts.
Whittier House scrapbooks document Whittier House programs, events, and anniversary celebrations through newspaper clippings, lecture fliers, newsletters, event programs, and ticket stubs. Newspaper clippings are primarily from the Jersey Journal. There is also Whittier House fundraising materials, including pamphlets, appeal letters, brochures, and postcards. The Whittier House Social Settlement, the first settlement house in New Jersey, was established in Jersey City, N.J. (Hudson County) in 1894. Founded by Cornelia Foster Bradford, who would remain with the organization as headworker until 1926, Whittier House was based on the settlement house, Toynbee Hall, in England. Whittier House provided various recreational and educational programs, along with much needed social services, for the immigrant populations of Jersey City. Many of these successful services were used as models for large-scale social reform movements through the state. In 1935, the Whittier House was taken over by the Boys' Club of Jersey City.