Fatherless Children of France – Felton Hall Scrapbook

Item — Box: SC056-FATH-001

Identifier: SC056-FATH

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of one volume of material relating to the donations to the campaign known as the “Fatherless Children of France” by the residents and employees of Felton Hall in Cambridge, MA. The records, all pasted in the volume, consists of receipts, the names of donors, acknowledgements, correspondence, photographs, postcards. Several donations of $36.50 were made and an orphan named Henri Hautemayon was the beneficiary of the money. There are letters of thanks from Henri with English translations as well as photographs of him. There is also correspondence and other material from people connected with the Fatherless Children of France campaign.

Dates

1917-1921

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions

Conditions Governing Use

Materials believed to be under copyright or other restrictions are available for limited noncommercial, educational and personal use only, or for fair use as defined by United States copyright law and with proper citation. Please note that the College of the Holy Cross may not hold the rights to all items in this collection. Users assume responsibility for identifying all copyright holders and for determining whether permission is needed to make any use of the content. For permission under rights held by the College, please contact archives@holycross.edu.

Historical Note

The Fatherless Children of France was an organization formed by American women in October 1915 with the objective to provide relief to the French children orphaned by the First World War. There were thirty-six chapters or committees throughout the country including New York City and Boston. The organization supported the work of the Orphelinat des Armẻes, a French society formed in Paris at the beginning of the First World War, by advertising subscriptions of $35.650 a year. The money raised by these subscriptions went directly to the French orphans to supplement the stipends provided by the French government.

While the subscriptions were successful, an auction was organized to raise additional funds. Anna O’Neill Johnson of the Boston Committee devised and directed the plan of asking well-known people of the period to contribute to a “book,” which would be auctioned. Each was asked to contribute a manuscript, an autograph, an artwork, a photograph, etc. on a uniform piece of paper, which was provided. These contributions were compiled into a volume called “Their Book.” The initial plan was to bind the contributions into a single volume but due to the size and nature of some of the contributions, it was not feasible. Instead, Mary Crease Sears designed a morocco case to hold the collection and a portfolio was created for the oversize artwork. The contributions were to be sold separately and an auction cataloged was created by the American Art Association. This new plan provoked outrage from many of the contributors and from Mrs. Johnson herself. She arranged to purchase the entire collection before the planned auction took place. Mrs. Johnson maintained the collection until she donated it to Holy Cross in 1953.