TO DO SOME SMALL GOOD: PHILANTHROPY IN INDIANAPOLIS, 1929-
1933 
Bradford W. Sample 
Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School 
in partial fulfillment of _the requirements 
for the degree 
Master of Arts 
In the Department of History 
Indiana University 
July 1998 
Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in 
partial fulfillment of the requirements fro the degree of 
Master of Arts. 
Thesis 
Committee 
23 January 1998 
ii 
Ph. D. 
~~-t- _A.~~ 
Robert G. Barrows, Ph. D. 
This thesis is dedicated to all the teachers, academic and 
non-academic, who have taught me to demand the best of 
myself because they woul·d not accept less, especially my 
first teachers--my mother and father--Sara Patricia and 
Ronald Edward Sample. 
Acknowledgements 
I have looked forward to writing this section of the 
thesis because it signifies the end of a very long effort. 
This thesis, however, could not have been completed without 
the help of many people. Dr. David Bodenharnmer, as the 
chair of my thesis committee, deserves my warmest 
appreciation. Dr. Bodenhamer constantly questioned my 
assumptions, encouraged my efforts, and gave me guidance 
when I needed it. He spent countless hours pouring over 
manuscripts, at times mediocre at best, in an attempt to 
make this author a better writer. He is a teacher who 
demands the best effort from his students, and in the end 
it is the student who receives a better understanding of 
himself and his work through Dr. Bodenhamer's guidance. 
Dr. Robert G. Barrows and Mr. Robert Payton, the other 
members of my committee, also spent several hours looking 
over my last draft. After Dr. Bodenhamer, Dr. Barrows 
spent the most time helping me complete my work. Dr. 
Barrows had the unenviable task of looking over my thesis 
for endnote errors and other rule violations; to say the 
least he caught many more mistakes than I would ever like 
to admit I made. Mr. Payton provided me with instruction 
concerning philanthropy and its place in American culture. 
The articles he recommended gave me great insight into the 
IV 
philanthropic culture. His deep knowledge of all things 
philanthropic led me away from a few erroneous assumptions. 
Appendix A, which details the results of the network 
analysis completed for the thesis, could not have been 
interpreted without the considerable help of Dr. Eric 
Wright of Indiana University's Sociology Department. Dr. 
Wright not only ran the numbers through several 
computations, but also helped me interpret the data 
received. I now have a greater appreciation for a multi-
disciplinary approach to answering historical questions, in 
large part due to Dr. Wright. 
Some of the hardest working people I know are rarely 
acknowledged. The librarians, secretaries, and aides that 
completed numerous tasks and suggested new avenues of 
inquiry deserve a hearty thank you. Throughout my time at 
IUPUI, Mary Gelzleichter, the superb secretary of the 
history department, was a constant and cheerful help. She 
has always gone above and beyond her formal duties and I do 
not know a history student who has not at some time needed 
her to help them. 
The various archives are filled with very special 
people. I spent countless hours at the IUPUI Archives and 
Barbara J. Mondary, Gregory H. Mobley, and Connie Hume were 
always willing to help me track doWn a source or find a new 
v 
way to look at the period through diverse records. While 
at the Indiana State Library, Barney Thompson, David Lewis, 
and Martha Wright continually found the books and 
manuscripts I needed. The Reverend Dr. Jack Porter, 
Historian and Director of the Catholic Archives, was always 
willing to fit me into his schedule and seemingly never 
tired of my questions concerning the Catholic faith and the 
Catholic culture of the 1930s. Gregory E. Lynn, Fay 
McBride and Jo Ann Pogue, of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
were always courteous and helpful. Ida Zavala of the 
United Way deserves a special mention. For more than two 
weeks she bent her schedule to accommodate mine and always 
found a quiet room where I could look over the Community 
Fund's records. Lori Hogan, and later Jeff Barnett, 
allowed me to look at the records of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce for several weeks and always seemed 
interested in the results of my study. The staff of the 
Indiana Historical Society were always informative and 
willing to answer difficult questions. 
Some material never makes it into a thesis because it 
lS either not needed to tell the tale or it is out of date. 
Carol Oyefusi of Flanner House allowed me to look over the 
records from the settlement house. Unfortunately for my 
purposes, the managers of Flanner House did not begin 
vi 
keeping records until after 1935. Lisa Bain, the archivist 
for the Lilly Archives, sent me material concerning the 
Lilly Endowment and newspaper clippings covering several 
members of the Lilly family, but they did not prove to be 
useful. 
Outside of those who directly aided me are those who 
lent an ear to hear my musings or encouraged me to finish. 
Dr. Elizabeth B. Monroe has, throughout my time at IUPUI, 
been someone who would listen to my ideas or questions and 
always gave me the soundest advice. Dr. Peter Sehlinger 
was also a source of constant encouragement. 
Lastly, and more than anyone else in the world, my 
wife, Michelle Ellen Gutierrez Sample, deserves my thanks. 
She encouraged me to complete the task, and sometimes 
threatened me with bodily harm if it was not completed 
before the end of the century. She looked over one draft 
for critical grammatical errors and read the paper and 
suggested changes in the character of the wording to make 
the message clearer. Her love and devotion lifted my 
spirits when they needed a boost and much of this effort 
would never have been possible without her support and 
understanding. 
vii 
Table of Contents 
Acceptance . . ll 
Dedication .lll 
Acknowledgements . . lV 
Table of Contents . .Vlll 
List of Tables . lX 
Introduction . . 1 
Chapt.er 1 A Truly Midwestern City: Indianapolis on the Eve 
of the Great Depression . 10 
Chapter 2 The Creation of a More Formal Public-Private 
Partnership in Indianapolis, October 1929-July 1931 65 
Chapter 3 The Last Great Period of Private Philanthropy, 
Summer 1931-0ctober 1933 . 125 
Chapter 4 An End to the Partnership? . 210 
Appendix A Network Analysis Methods and Results . 220 
Appendix B List of Groups . 238 
Appendix C Individual Listings 242 
Bibliography . 270 
Vita 
viii 
List of Tables 
Figure Page number 
Figure 1.1 Economic Values, 1929 16 
Figure 1.2 Average Wages by Trade Type 17 
Figure 2.1 Unemployment Rates in Indianapolis, 1929-1931 70 
Figure 2.2 Fund Budgets of Relief Agencies, 1929-1930 75 
Figure 2.3 Fund Budgets of Relief Agencies, 1930-1931 85 
Figure 2.4 Family Agency Case Loads and Expenditures, 
1929-1931 87 
Figure 3.1 Unemployment Rates for Selected Months 
1n Indianapolis, 1931-1933 
Figure 3.2 Community Fund Appropriations, 1931-1932 
Figure 3.3 Community Fund Appropriations, 1932-1933 
Figure 3.4 Family Welfare Society Cases, 1930-1934, for 
Selected Months 
Figure A.1 Example of an MxN Matrix 
Figure A.2 MxN Matrix 
Figure A.3 Data From NxN Matrix 
Figure A.4 Data From MxM Matrix 
ix 
130 
144 
165 
167 
223 
225 
233 
234 
Introduction 
During the 1920s, most people, whether progressive or 
conservative, believed that the solutions to economic 
prosperity and regularity had been found. The stock market 
crash in October 1929 came as a shock to those who followed 
it. For most, it was a distant event that concerned only 
those in the East or the rich. As 1929 turned into 1930 
unemployment rose and commentators began to worry about a 
recesslon. Hopes were pinned on a warm weather upturn ln 
employment, but there was to be little improvement in 
unemployment in the spring or summer of 1930. 
became worse thereafter. 
It only 
At the beginning of the Depression civic and political 
leaders urged private philanthropy and local public 
resources to carry the burden of helping the unemployed. As 
the economic crisis deepened, calls for federal intervention 
mounted. The pleas remained largely unheeded until a new 
president with a different philosophy took office in 1933. 
Between the stock market crash and the beginning of direct 
f ederal government intervention private help and local 
public sources tried to cope with the immensity of the 
crlsls. 
The period from 1929 to 1933 amounted to the supreme 
test of the voluntary philanthropic ideal. Throughout the 
1 
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most Americans 
deemed public welfare on the national level as something to 
be avoided. But by 1941, when the United States entered 
World War II, the federal government's responsibility for 
relief was well established. 
seriously challenged since. 
Its role has not been 
The early years of the Great Depression present an 
opportunity to study the experimentation in the ways the 
nation dealt with the needs of its citizens, especially at 
the local level. Since the mid-1970s various writers have 
dealt with the local reactions to the Depression. Some have 
studied the early years before federal intervention; others 
have focused on particular cities only after the advent of 
direct aid from Washington. A few have endeavored to tell 
the entire story from the stock market crash to the 
beginning of American involvement in World War II. A 
question that begs to be asked is: why study Indianapolis if 
so many other authors have written a detailed analysis of 
the state of urban America during the Depression? 
Indianapolis is usually overlooked when most 
commentators scan the nation for the problems that faced the 
larger cities. Stories surrounding Chicago, Cleveland, and 
Detroit lessened interest in Indianapolis. Chicago and 
Detroit were larger, had a higher percentage of unemployed, 
and possessed more colorful national figures. Cleveland led 
the Mid-west in experimentation with relief and had a larger 
immigrant population. Indianapolis, proclaimed the most 
"American" of cities by a national magazine in 1931, seemed 
too boring, too American, too normal both in the 1930s and 
later when authors went in search of cities whose Depression 
stories needed to be told. Indianapolis contained no 
figures as dangerous as Capone, as famous as Ford, or as 
flamboyant as Boston's Mayor Curley. Indianapolis was, and 
continues to be, a city of the second tier. It is not equal 
in size to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Detroit. 
In 1930 only 59 percent of the American people lived in 
cities and towns with more than 2,500 people. Large cities, 
like New York, contained fewer than 20 percent of the 
nation's population. Indianapolis should be studied because 
it was a truly "American" city. With 400,000 citizens, it 
was large enough not to be ignored by federal studies but 
small enough for newly transplanted rural residents not to 
be overwhelmed. Its percentage of immigrants, African-
Americans, and native stock compared favorably with the 
national figures. My purpose is not to tell the entire 
story of how Indianapolis faced the Great Depression. 
Rather I will concentrate on how the private groups in 
Indianapolis, in partnership with the local public sector, 
3 
aided those individuals who lost their jobs during the ear ly 
years of the economic downturn. The individuals, groups, 
formal organizations, and companies that helped in the 
relief of those thrown out of work will be chronicled here. 
Unlike many of the articles and books ln the secondary 
literature this thesis does not focus on government relief. 
Instead the work of what has become known as the 
"philanthropic community" is my primary concentration. 
Little secondary literature examines the attempts of 
the Indianapolis community to attack the problems of the 
Depression, although several books touch on the deeds of 
both individuals and groups. James Madison's two books on 
Indiana and his work on Eli Lilly provide interesting 
details of the political atmosphere of the 1920s and 1930s, 
as well as the actions of a generous man, but private 
philanthropy as a whole is passed over briefly. George 
Geib's work on the history of the Second Presbyterian Church 
and Ruby Little's manuscript concerning the Family Services 
Association provided vivid accounts of individual actions. 
Geib's book remains more of a church history than a source 
book on philanthropy. Little's work traces the internal 
struggles of the organization as well as its continual fight 
for control of its operations with the Community Fund, of 
which it was a member. James Divita's histories of Catholic 
4 
churches convey the overpowering nature of the Depression, 
but they are a sparse record on the deeds of the Church 
during that period. 
Outside of Indianapolis, most work concernlng the 
Depression and relief in cities can be grouped regionally. 
The cities along the East Coast, ln the South, and in the 
Midwest have been studied the most. Works concerning the 
West, in particular Los Angeles and San Francisco, are 
beginning to appear. 
The story of the East, with America's oldest cities, 
reveals a region seemingly prepared for economic problems. 
Boston and New York City already possessed a publicly funded 
welfare system, and Philadelphia's municipal government used 
bond sales and state aid for work relief; only Baltimore 
depended largely on private aid. By mid 1932 local 
resources, both public and private, had been exhausted. The 
East Coast was especially hard hit. Heavy manufacturing and 
textiles were flat, economically, before October 1929, and 
remained so throughout the 1930s. Unemployment was high 
before the stock market crash and private aid had been 
falling for some years. 
Most studies focusing on the Midwest tended to report 
on Chicago, but some authors have written about Fort Wayne, 
Detroit, and Cleveland. Fort Wayne, like Indianapolis, was 
5 
not on the verge of collapse, as private and public 
resources had been coordinated to eliminate waste, but 
nonetheless by 1933 the New Deal was well received. Detroit 
and Chicago barely made it until Federal funds and projects 
came to their rescue, primarily because of municipal 
government corruption and state intransigence in regard to 
urban aid. Public services, including education, were cut 
or _even suspended. The situation was worse in a one­
industry town like Detroit. By 1933 Midwesterners, even in 
relatively low unemployment cities such as Fort Wayne, 
welcomed federal aid. 
In the South the story was different. The region was 
not as depressed as the nation as a whole in 1929, largely 
because of its lack of large manufacturing companies. 
Public funding did not begin in most cities until 1933. 
There were wide discrepancies in private and public relief 
for blacks and whites. The South actually gained, in terms 
of its percentage of national income, during the Depression, 
so that after World War II it was in its best shape, 
economically speaking, since before the Civil War. 
Indianapolis resembles Southern cities in regard to 
municipal public aid. The city did not have a public 
welfare department, but it did have publicly funded township 
trustees, paid for by the county, who gave out minimal 
6 
support. Indianapolis was not as hard hit as sister cities 
in the industrial Northeast, but due to the presence of a 
large manufacturing sector unemployment was heavier than in 
the South. Indianapolis did not feel the growlng pains of 
the West, but transients moving from East to West sometimes 
lingered looking for short-term relief. 
No study has been made of the contributions of private 
groups or their partnership with local government in 
Indianapolis between 1929 and 1933. The standard 
interpretation of the Great Depression relies on the premise 
that federal government intervention was necessary because 
private and local public aid was exhausted and would not 
have been great enough to counter the effects of the 
problem. 
The truth is that federal government intervention was 
not absolutely required everywhere. The people of 
Indianapolis could find food, clothing, and shelter without 
using federal resources. Indianapolis philanthropy and its 
public sector allies were able to meet the needs of its 
citizens through local action using local resources before 
the New Deal nationalized relief work. The city was able to 
accomplish what so many other cities could not because of 
the presence of a public-private partnership that, as the 
crisis deepened, became more active and integrated. 
7 
A tradition rooted in local culture kept solutions to 
the economic crisis practical and locally controlled. A 
culture of self-help and localism pervaded elite thinking. 
Louis J. Borinstein perhaps said it best when he stated that 
when serving on the several boards he was just trying "to do 
some small good." Local elites expected to have to carry 
the burden of helping to provide for their poorer neighbors . 
A public-private partnership evolved from antecedents to 
efficiently provide relief for the distressed and comfort 
for the expectations of local leaders. 
When federal aid became a reality Indianapolis was not 
economically exhausted, although severely tested. Local men 
were chosen to head vital state agencies, leading in part to 
overwhelming support for the first New Deal among elites. 
Indianapolis became one of the leaders in getting men and 
women onto the payroll of federal agencies due to the 
machinery in place before the 1932 elections. 
Cooperation, due to the partnership, followed from the 
crisis and affected federal-city relations for three decades 
after the inauguration of the New Deal. The success of the 
elites in the early 1930s led to a reaction against outside 
control, a tendency already inherent in local culture. From 
the 1940s until the 1960s the city of Indianapolis resisted 
federal aid for fear that it would lead to federal control. 
8 
Only with the election of Mayor John J. Barton, and his 
successor Richard G. Lugar, was the trend reversed, but not 
totally abandoned. 
9 
Chapter 1 
A Truly Midwestern City: Indianapolis on the Eve of the 
Great Depression 
"A distinguishing feature of the work-relief program ln 
Indianapolis is that it was preceded by several months of 
deliberation and planning." This assessment by Joanna 
Colcord of the Russell Sage Foundation differed markedly 
from her evaluation of emergency-relief in other cities. 1 
Colcord described most of these efforts as ill-conceived and 
poorly executed. What distinguished Indianapolis was its 
united community effort, one that drew upon the resources 
and leadership available in both the public and private 
sectors. The success of this project, and others undertaken 
in Indianapolis, while neither bold nor original, can be 
traced, at least in part, to strong leadership and 
cooperation. 
Scholars have long chronicled the unsuccessful attempts 
of local governments to address the devastating social 
problems brought on by the Depression. Local relief 
projects proliferated after the stock market crash in 
October 1929, but the Depression quickly depleted local 
resources and most projects folded soon after they were 
begun. By the summer of 1931 local governments and 
charities could no longer shoulder the responsibility for 
10 
the unemployed. 2 Large cities with many unemployed and 
limited funding sought state and later federal intervention. 
Scholarly study has rarely focused on local projects in 
medium-size communities. Most often, historians have 
concentrated on the largest cities, where, ln 1930, fewer 
than 19 percent of the nation lived but where demands for 
relief were the heaviest. 3 
The Great Depression affected the nation unevenly. The 
industrialized North East and North Central regions 
experienced greater hardship than the rest of the nation, 
but differences appear within regions. 4 In the Midwest, 
Fort Wayne faced less unemployment than Chicago, while ln 
the South, Birmingham suffered more than Atlanta. 5 
In 1929, Indianapolis was a large city ln one of the 
most productive and industrialized reglons ln the United 
States. Ranked 21st in population size among the nation's 
urban areas, its population of 364,000 placed it in a group 
of cities that included Rochester, New Orleans, Birmingham, 
Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Seattle. 6 It lagged by a wide 
margin the largest cities of the region--Chicago 
(3,376,000), Detroit (1,568,662)--and the nation (New York 
City, 6,930,446). 
Population mobility and growth characterized the 
Indianapolis of the 1920s. Between 1920 and 1930 the city's 
population increased 15.9 percent. 7 Although large, 
11 
Indianapolis departed significantly from the demographic 
pattern of other urban areas, especially in the Midwest and 
the Northeast. It had a much smaller ethnic population, but 
a much larger African-American community than other northern 
cities. Only 3.8 percent of the city's population were 
foreign-born. Comparatively, Chicago, Detroit, and New York 
averaged between 24 and 34 percent while Cincinnati claimed 
a foreign population almost double that of Indianapolis. 8 
The Jewish population of Indianapolis, about 6,000 by 1929, 
was also significantly smaller than other cities in the East 
and Midwest. 9 Conversely, the city had one of the largest 
black communities in the North, numbering 44,000 persons. 10 
The black community, buoyed by southern migration, grew by 
28.6 percent during the 1920s, accounting for 12 percent of 
the population in 193 0. 11 
Indianapolis resembled the smaller towns that dotted 
the Midwest, mostly white and largely native. City leaders 
claimed this lack of diversity as a strength. Local 
publications touted the city's "American" character. 
Editors of the Book Of Indiana, published in 1929, 
emphasized the fact that over 94 percent of Indianapolis' 
workforce was "thoroughly American." 1 2 Leaders attributed 
the city's increasing wealth to its less ethnic character. 
12 
In its political structure, Indianapolis resembled 
other large cities. Citizens elected a mayor and a city 
council, two active political parties vied for votes, and 
newspapers took sides on debated topics. Its most powerfu l 
interest group, the Chamber of Commerce, was, in effect, 
d 'd d . 13 local government's most truste outsl e a vlsor. What 
Indianapolis did not have, at least on most questions, was 
any real disagreement by the two parties. Both parties were 
pledged to fiscal restraint and social conservatism, 
policies valued by the populace. 14 
The character of Indianapolis and its people remained 
almost the same as the cautious, pragmatic, and generally 
conservative Midwestern town of the late nineteenth century. 
Historians Andrew Cayton and Peter Onuf describe the culture 
of the early twentieth-century Midwest as one that exalted 
personal independence, hard work, and equality of 
opportunity. Its sense of community ran deep and tended to 
foster participation ln voluntary associations. 
Individualism, moral self-restraint, and economic self-
reliance marked the values of the business culture shared by 
blacks and whites alike. 15 
Mass immigration had dented the middle-class cultural 
consensus in other cities. New immigrants embraced the 
capitalism of their new country, but did not always agree 
13 
with bourgeois standards of conduct. 16 Because of its lack 
of ethnic diversity, Indianapolis had kept the insular and 
clannish instincts lost in many large cities in the Midwest. 
Its leadership group was small and closely tied to one 
another. The elite accepted a pro-business outlook that 
approved of the community it had helped to build. While its 
residents were mostly native-born, the city avoided much of 
the nativist passion usually associated with Indiana in the 
1920s. Local leaders worked to build bridges to minority 
groups, and several members of the elite were of the Jewish 
and Catholic faith. 1 7 
Individual accounts echo historians and confirm that a 
business sense pervaded the city. Lawrence S. Connor, a 
resident of Indianapolis during the 1930s and later a 
reporter and editor for the Indianapolis Star, characterized 
Indianapolis residents as "generally hard working, 
conservative and isolationist." 18 People were expected to be 
responsible for themselves and their families. Moderation 
too was important and citizens consistently supported 
politicians and plans that emphasized a moderate course of 
action. 
Reginald Sullivan, a Democrat, who served as 
Indianapolis mayor during much of the Great Depression, 
illustrates the moderate, business-like, almost non-
14 
ideological character of the city's politics and people. 
Elected in 1929, he captured almost every election district 
against a non-incumbent challenger. Many of these same 
districts had, four years earlier, elected a Republican. 
Sullivan garnered high praise from the Republican-leaning 
Indianapolis Star, and many prominent Republicans later 
supported him for a second term. 1 9 Sullivan balanced the 
city's budget and did not challenge its social arrangements, 
such as segregation in public education. During the 
Depression, like the Republican governor, he refused to 
authorize bonds for relief. Sullivan was a practitioner of 
traditional Midwestern values. Elected twice to office, his 
popularity was, in part, confirmation of the general 
approval of those values by city residents. 
The mayor was not the only one to subscribe to a pro­
business philosophy. All of the city's maJor newspapers 
approved of a general business approach to government and 
society, as did many ordinary citizens. In the late 1920s, 
residents desired increased efficiency and less political 
influence in government decision-making. They adopted laws 
designed to minimize politics and maximize efficiency. 
Citizens overwhelmingly passed a referendum adopting a city 
manager type of government, widely regarded at the time as 
more efficient, less political, and more business-like than 
15 
. . l 20 a mayor-c1ty counc1 structure. The I ndiana Supreme Cou r l 
struck down the measure in 1 930, but the referen d um made 
clear that residents approved o f and wanted a government run 
on business principles. 
Indianapo l is experienced solid economic growt h dur ing 
the 1920s. By 1929, industrial production in Indianapoli s 
accounted for 17 percent of Indiana's tota l value o f 
products. 21 While Indianapolis ranked 21st in popu l a t ion, 
nationally it stood 13th 1n retail sales. 22 Tota l output 
shows Indianapolis to be in good econom1c health before the 
Depression, at least as good and usually better than the 
similarly situated cities (see Figure 1.1) . 23 Indianapolis' 
economic base proved fairly diverse and led some in the 
corrununity to boast that the city was "practically shock-
proof in periods of depression." 24 Reflections of the city's 
prosperity can be seen in the nearly 8 percent increase 1n 
home ownership during the 1920s. 25 Such statistics 
encouraged community leaders who believed that homeowners 
and those fully employed had a stake in their community and 
would work to improve it. 
Figu re 1 . 1 Economic Values 1929 26 
City 
Indianapolis 
Atlanta 
Birmingham 
Cincinnati 
New Orleans 
Rochester 
Seattle 
Industrial Sales 
$428,362,004 
$214,785 , 945 
$241,279,545 
$729 , 019 , 086 
$148 , 388,315 
$380,701,903 
$228,354,787 
Retail 
& Wholesale Sales 
$ 681,709,711 
$ 683,990,822 
$ 388 , 926 , 863 
$1,026,7 9 5 , 651 
s 764 , 929 , 050 
s 436,616,138 
s 82 9 ,426 , 6 52 
16 
Toc.al* 
$ 1,114,382,078 
$ 899,946,002 
$ 634,101,778 
$ 1,761,217,193 
$ 913, 914,368 
$ 829,405 , 135 
$ 1,073,125 , 419 
*total includes agr iculture sales. 
Unemployment was not a serious problem in the Circle 
city before the stock market crash. In March of 1929 over 
3,000 help wanted ads appeared in the Indianapolis Star and 
the general industrial production index, an indicator of 
general economic health, stood at 110.1, its highest level 
since 1917. 27 Other large cities such as Philadelphia and 
Baltimore faced high rates of unemployment before the 
October crash, straining local relief budgets. 28 
Workers attracted to Indianapolis were as well paid as 
their counterparts in other medium-size cities (see Figure 
1.2). Average family income in Indianapolis was above the 
national average. 29 The typical worker earned $1474 per 
year, slightly less than the national average of $1540. 30 
Figure 1.2 Average Wages by Trade Type 1929-1930 31 
City Industrial Wholesale Retail 
Indianapolis $1324.66 $1884.97 $1211.93 
Atlanta $ 991.74 $1824.84 $1153.33 
Birmingham $1178.06 $1784.41 $1214.68 
Cincinnati $1349.05 $1974.04 $1379.70 
New Orleans $ 934.84 $1798.53 $1028.43 
Rochester $1405.54 $1788.04 $1505.89 
Seattle $1432.63 $1969.83 $1393.82 
Despite good economic times, wages were insufficient to 
provide for savings, making it hard for workers to buy a 
17 
house or a car. A 1929 Brookings Institution report 
estimated that the average family of four required $2,000 ln 
income for its basic needs and $3,000 a year to permit 
modest saving. 32 Reports from the Dime Savings & Loan, an 
organization set up by the Family Welfare Society to help 
working families set aside money, confirm that workers had a 
difficult time doing so. 33 Most Indianapolis families fel l 
below the $3,000 threshold needed to save money and provide 
for a better life, but this was also true of their 
counterparts in other second-tier cities. 34 
Low tax rates helped to alleviate the problems of low 
wages. State taxes actually fell between 1926 and 1928, 
rising nominally in 1929. 35 Among comparable cities only 
those in the South taxed their citizens less than the 
Hoosier capital. 3 6 Additionally, the Civic Affairs 
Committee of the Chamber of Commerce found that only two 
cities out of twenty-six with a population of over 300,000 
had lower per capita debt than Indianapolis. The low debt 
burden was one of the reasons cited by the Mowry Company, a 
large manufacturing concern, for moving to the city in 
1929. 37 Thus, Indianapolis could offer businesses the lowest 
taxes per capita for a city of its size in the North Central 
region, an "American" workforce, and low city debt. 
Nationally, blacks suffered economically due to 
18 
discrimination and poor educational opportunities, and the 
same was true in Indianapolis. 38 City leaders recognized the 
problems in the black community. In a survey of leisure 
published by the Indianapolis Foundation the authors 
acknowledged problems and tried to alert their fellow 
citizens: 
Death rates for "colored" wherever given 
is always higher than those for "white," 
due largely, we believe, to the 
unfortunate housing and neighborhood 
conditions under which so many are forced 
to live. In certain sections of 
Indianapolis these conditions are so bad 
as to form a serious menace to the whole 
community and at the same time they point 
a finger of shame toward the municipality, 
which allows them to exist. Yes, 
Indianapolis has slums! 3 9 
Mortality rates were worse for blacks than for whites 
but were generally better in Indianapolis than they were in 
Kansas City or Cincinnati. 40 Newspapers conveyed some of the 
problems to the general public. The Indianapolis Star and 
the Indianapolis Recorder, the city's largest black 
newspaper, cited unsatisfactory conditions in the city 
hospita l 's segregated ward and in some of the city's worst 
neighborhoods. While African-Americans in Indianapolis 
fared economically as well as their counterparts in other 
cities, all was not well and the city's leaders acknowledged 
as much. 41 
19 
For over a century political and civic leaders had 
built a structure of private philanthropy and public charity 
to aid those who were in need, both black and white. 
structured public charity existed before Indiana was granted 
statehood in the form of an overseer of the poor. 42 As a 
territory, Indiana adopted Elizabethan poor laws so that 
those not covered by private charity would not starve. Once 
Indiana became a state, the township trustee, an official of 
the county, was responsible for administering public aid. 43 
Each township elected a trustee and an advisory committee. 
Trustees, in conjunction with advisory committees, gave out 
public aid to the needy. They managed budgets, oversaw 
social work, and were the county's primary public welfare 
officers. The trustee for Center Township of Marion County 
(within which most of Indianapolis was located), by spending 
$100,000 annually for relief, eased the burdens of private 
philanthropy and allowed it to experiment and plan for the 
future. 
In the Midwest during the nineteenth century, voluntary 
associations were the most active force pushing for social 
change. 44 Accordingly, organized private charity in the 
city began early in its history with the creation of the 
Indianapolis Benevolent Society in 1835. By the end of the 
nineteenth century it had become the Charity Organization 
20 
society, a well-organized and financed effort to aid the 
deserving poor. By 1929 the philanthropic sector included 
the Indianapolis Foundation, Community Fund agencies, and 
other groups not associated with the Community Fund, 
including churches and settlement houses. Almost every 
private group was controlled by a board of directors and 
managed by a paid executive, who was usually a trained 
social worker. Many Protestant churches handed out charity 
through a deacons board or through some other form, while 
the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis aided the poor 
through a centralized community center. 
The primary private agency responsible for 
experimentation in non-relief measures of philanthropy was 
the Indianapolis Foundation. Its vision provided a path for 
other agencies and even other cities to follow. It 
facilitated the introduction of new techniques and 
technology to older agencies and created new organizations 
to solve ailments not previously noticed. Grants were not 
given to individuals. Instead, money was allocated to 
groups for experimentation, for educational achievement, or 
given to agencies that needed additional money to make up 
deficits in their budgets. Created in 1916, the Foundation 
was one of the nation's few community trusts in 1929. Three 
banks held funds donated by individuals to use for the 
21 
general welfare of Indianapolis. Its six-member board of 
directors was chosen by the mayor, the Circuit Court judge, 
and the judge of the Southern District of Indiana. 45 
Funding for relief and character-building agencies fell 
primarily to the Community Fund, the predecessor of the 
. d W 4 6 Th C 't F d d d th W Ch t Unlte ay. e ommunl y un succee e e ar es , 
organized during the First World War to raise funds both for 
relief and for the war effort. Money from the Fund 
supported most of the relief and character-building efforts 
of the city. Organizers hoped the Fund would alleviate 
funding shortages, reduce duplication of services, and limit 
the number of solicitations by agencies to city residents. 
By 1929 thirty-nine agencies belonged to the Community 
Fund, with most of the emphasis on character-building 
efforts. Social workers viewed character-building 
organizations as places where social work, in its efforts to 
change the individual for the better, could do the most 
good. 47 The YMCA and YWC~ provided for adult character 
building programs, but also granted a small amount of 
relief. The Girl Scouts and the Boy's Club addressed the 
needs of children and youth. Settlement houses, such as 
Flan er House, dispensed relief and sponsored character-
building programs. Relief was increasingly seen as a 
responsibility of the public sector. The Family Welfare 
22 
Society dispensed most of the relief given to families while 
wheeler Mission, the Salvation Army and volunteers of 
America took care of the largest number of transients and 
vagrants. 
In fiscal year 1929 (November 1, 1928-0ctober 31, 1929) 
Community Fund agencies shared over $700,000, with most 
receiving close to what they requested. The Indianapolis 
Community Fund mirrored national trends as both the number 
of community organizations and donations to them increased 
throughout the 1920s. 48 Since its inception in 1921, the 
Fund had become more popular with the public and more 
beneficial for its member agencies with each passing year. 
From 1922 to 1928 overall contributions increased from 
$445,000 to $762,000, while the number of donors increased 
from 16,000 to 52,000. 49 Character-building agencies were 
slightly better funded than relief organizations, at least 
before the stock market crash. The Fund awarded the non­
relief agencies 53 percent of the 1929 Community Fund 
budget, a percentage that had been increasing during the 
later part of the 1920s. 50 
The 1920s had not prepared the Fund for any large 
catastrophe. The Community Fund did not envision the 
possibility of an economic calamity and therefore did not 
give attention to the capacity of relief organizations. 
23 
While the Fund successfully provided its member agencies 
with enough money, it did not seriously try to use its 
economic power to coerce agencies to streamline their 
operations or consolidate their functions. Many "character­
building" agencies still had sizable "relief" departments. 
Efficiency remained a goal of the Fund, but not one that it 
was willing to enforce. 
Groups outside the Fund included churches and some 
settlement houses. Cercain churches even created relief-
giving community centers that were not part of the Community 
Fund. Mayer Chapel, a southside mission of the Second 
Presbyterian Church, provided both relief and character-
building programs. Religious organizations of all stripes 
tended to only give short-term relief, relying on the other 
agencies for persistent needs. 51 
Philanthropic organizations expressed much concern for 
problems facing African-Americans and promoted self-help 
organizations as a means of addressing these problems. 
Several philanthropic organizations worked in the black 
community giving both relief and advice. Local 
philanthropist Frank Planner, and the Charity Organization 
Society, created Planner House to allow blacks to help 
themselves to a better economic position. Inter-Racial 
Committees were created by the YWCA, the Church Federation, 
24 
and the Council of Social Agencies. The Church Federation 
sponsored an annual Interracial Banquet that aided in the 
airing of problems. These groups worked within the 
segregated system to aid individuals and families in the 
black community who needed help, and at times challenged 
local opinions on social issues . 5 2 
No single coordinating agency di rected all 
philanthropic work. The Community Fund raised money for its 
agencies and in some ways constrained those agencies or 
allowed them to develop various avenues of action, but 
control was loose. The Indianapolis Foundation and non-
Community Fund agencies were independent of the Community 
Fund board, but many times board members from the various 
organizations were connected through informal ties of 
friendship, mutual interests, or religious affiliation. 
Board menillers often enjoyed long tenures and could therefore 
establish contacts over a long period of time, but this did 
not lead to a centralized controlling mechanism. The agency 
that came nearest to a centralizing force, one that gathered 
information on all others, was the Council on Social 
Agen cies. It only collected information, however, and was 
never used to direct all philanthropic endeavors. 
Philanthropic funding and leadership came predominately 
from businessmen. Since the seventeenth century, merchants 
25 
had dominated philanthropy, both in England and the United 
53 States. Businessmen continued to be at the forefront of 
philanthropic giving and leadership in the 1920s, so that 
the business elite also comprised the philanthropic elite. 
In 1929, the Community Fund still depended on rich 
benefactors for the majority of giving. The Special Gifts 
Division of the Community Funds's annual campaign, which 
targeted those who could give $250 or more, accounted for 74 
percent of funds raised for use in 1930. Perhaps more 
interesting is that those giving $10,000 or more accounted 
for 22 percent of all gifts. 54 
The elite presided over the philanthropic boards, 
giving the organizations the benefit of their experience, 
connections, and wealth. A sociological network analysis of 
seventy-nine board members from the most prominent boards 
reveals a very dense network. The average board member 
interacted with 64 other board members from approximately 
two other agencies on a regular basis. A clique, in 
sociological terms, denotes a grouping of people that are 
closely and informally inter-related and who share a number 
of bonds with one another. Typically, there are three 
layers in a clique--a core group, a primary group, and a 
secondary group. Clusters of cliques represent independent 
bases of power. 5 5 In 1929 there was a single network in 
26 
Indianapolis. Most everyone, within the leadership 
paradigm, knew and related with everyone else. While there 
was a core group of powerful people, which included 
pharmaceutical manufacturer J. K. Lilly, Sr., all groups 
within the analysis overlap. Organizations were also 
centralized. On average 14.62 pairs of actors were involved 
in more than one organization, meaning that over fourteen 
different sets of people were active in at least two 
agencies together. 
In practical terms, the analysis suggests that 
information gathered by one board was easily transferred to 
other groups throughout the network. Resources, usually 
trapped within cliques or unexploited due to imperfect 
information among cliques, could more easily be used within 
the larger network. What one would expect from a tightly 
knit network, as the one described above, is a large degree 
of information and resource sharing with less friction 
between sets of actors. In addition, because of the 
cohesiveness of the network, a group identity and a 
generally shared consensus often appear. 56 
Philanthropic leaders were strikingly similar in their 
backgrounds and activities. Of the seventy-nine men and 
women who sat as directors of the boards of Indianapolis' 
most prominent philanthropic agencies, most were either born 
27 
in Indiana or the surrounding states. 57 All were white and 
more than three-quarters were men. More than a third 
belonged to the elite Columbia, Athletic, or Woodstock 
clubs, with most belonging to at least two of the three. 
Almost half of the seventy-nine were Masons; more than half 
were members of the Chamber of Commerce. At a time when 
fewer than 15 percent of the population attended college, 
more than two-thirds of board members had graduated and many 
had gone on to earn higher academic honors. The average age 
of the leaders was 52 in 1930, almost a decade older than 
the city's average. Of those whose political orientation 
could be established, more than two-thirds were Republican. 
In addition, of the sixty board members whose addresses 
could be determined, fifty-seven lived north of Tenth 
Street, East of Capitol Avenue and west of Fall Creek 
Parkway, an area that corresponds closely to the city's two 
richest real estate districts. 58 
Members of the various philanthropic boards, and the 
social workers whom they chose as executives, constituted a 
tightly knit network of social and economic interests. 
Board members were linked together in social clubs, 
churches, businesses, and other organizations. Many members 
served on several boards and in this way could convey 
information and differences of opinion to several agencies. 
28 
Of the thirty-six members of the Community Fund board, six 
were also members of the board of directors for the Chamber 
of commerce and two sat on the board of the Indianapolis 
Foundation. Eleven were members of the Woodstock Club, 
seventeen belonged to the Columbia Club, while eighteen 
joined the Athletic Club. All thirteen Masons belonged to 
the Scottish Rite lodge where they were joined by another 
member of the Indianapolis Foundation board and several from 
the board of the Chamber of Commerce. Religious orientation 
did not affect the mix, but race did play a factor in the 
make up of the elite. Blacks were notably absent from the 
elite and only served on philanthropic boards that dealt 
primarily with the black community. 59 
Because of the integration of the board members into 
their community no clear divisions existed between 
religious, philanthropic, and business leaders. J. K. 
Lilly, Sr., chairman of the board of Eli Lilly and Company, 
chaired the Indianapolis Foundation and served as an officer 
in Christ Episcopal Church. Francis H. Gavisk, Rector of 
St. John's Catholic Church, sat on the boards of several 
public and private social agencies, was a member of the 
Chamber of Commerce, and served as vice-president in one of 
the local savings and loan organizations. Eugene C. Foster, 
a social worker employed by the Indianapolis Foundation as 
29 
its executive director, sat on several public and private 
philanthropic boards of directors, and was later elected 
president of the Church Federation. In addition, Foster and 
Lilly both belonged to the Columbia Club, and all three men 
sat on the board of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American 
Red Cross. 
In pre-Depression Indianapolis, the city's civic 
leaders knew one another intimately, attended similar social 
functions, had similar educational backgrounds, and 
interacted with one another frequently in philanthropic 
activities. The names of Allison, Atkins, Ayres, Efroymson, 
Jordan, and Lilly carried much weight due to their economic 
importance and social prominence. Of the seventy-nine board 
members cited earlier, nearly half were either the president 
or the vice-president of a local company. 60 The local 
economy and local charity depended upon these men and women 
for support and guidance. The social importance of these 
people related not only to their economic power, but also to 
their prominence in almost every facet of life. It is 
impossible now to document all of the informal talks and 
correspondence that must have taken place, for they were 
surely considerable. Sharing the same clubs, having similar 
educational backgrounds, and enjoying similar economic 
circumstances set these people apart. They formed the 
30 
social and economlc elite of the community. 
The same respect for business principles found in the 
general Indianapolis population pervaded board member 
dealings with one another, providing the basis of their 
policies. In many ways this is not surprising. Most board 
members were themselves businessmen, and they formulated 
policies conforming more to business principles than to 
those of charity. Rather than coordination among like 
agencies emphasis was placed on elimination of competing 
agencles to achieve optimum efficiency. Throughout the late 
1920s and into the early 1930s the Community Fund pressured 
the Family Welfare Society (FWS) to transfer its Children's 
department to the public Marion County Children's Guardian 
Home, and at one time even withheld funds for five months 
until the FWS agreed to do so. 61 
A careful and studious approach brought these board 
members to vote for conservative and efficient arrangements. 
Indianapolis leaders took no bold moves, instead preferring 
proven methods and sure financing. This was, in many ways, 
more a reflection of community values than of individual 
choice. Evolution rather than innovation was the hallmark 
of Indianapolis philanthropy. The Indianapolis Foundation, 
for example, was formed after several prominent citizens 
observed the successful community trust invented in 
31 
Cleveland. Indianapolis leaders prudently improved on the 
Cleveland model by spreading donated funds among several 
banks rather than only one as was done in Cleveland. 
Similarly, the executives chosen to manage the daily 
operations of philanthropic groups interacted with one 
another and shared similar backgrounds. Their close 
involvement with one another was due to both professional 
and personal interests. Several prominent social workers 
organized a local chapter of the American Association of 
Social Workers in 1923. 62 They met monthly to hear speakers 
on the future of social work and to discuss common problems 
and concerns. They also could greet one another at state 
social work conferences. 
Social workers in Indianapolis, at least those ln 
charge of directing social work, were also hesitant to 
embrace new, untested ideas. 63 Nationally, most social 
workers agreed that work relief was better than a "dole" and 
that private case work was better than that done by the 
public sector. 64 However, when various speakers at the 
National Social Work Conference in 1929 dismissed the idea 
of an "unworthy" relief recipient a few gasps undoubtedly 
issued forth in the Indianapolis section. The presenters 
were mostly from larger urban areas and had accepted that 
socio-economic criteria determine circumstance more than 
32 
some inborn character trait. 
Indianapolis social workers and the board members who 
hired them held to beliefs in "unemployables" and those with 
"low character." While work relief allowed an individual to 
keep his dignity and strengthen moral reserve, a lack of 
will to work and a flawed character marked one as "unworthy" 
of relief and "unemployable" by industry. Board members and 
social work executives praised self-sufficiency, thrift, and 
hard work, all middle-class, Midwestern virtues. Further, 
they believed that case work and character building could 
instill these virtues in others. 
The leaders of social work in Indianapolis believed in 
the ability to characterize an individual as worthy or 
unworthy of relief. There are many examples of this. In a 
1929 letter from George Gill, the executive director of the 
Indianapolis Free Employment Bureau, to Eugene Foster, the 
Indianapolis Foundation's executive director, requesting 
funding for the Free Employment Bureau for 1930, Gill 
reported that one mission of the bureau was to discourage 
those not "employable." Frequent remarks made by both social 
work professionals and board members suggest that private 
social work was superior. In March of 1928, the Service and 
Relief Committee of the Family Welfare Society was concerned 
with both the low number of social workers and the 
33 
inadequate training they received at the public township 
trustee offices. Ten years later, the General Secretary of 
the society still was questioning the "rigid" policies and 
"inadequate" relief being given by the township offices. 65 
Perhaps nothing illustrates the variations and 
similarities of social workers and business leaders better 
than studying the backgrounds of four businessmen and social 
workers who were at the center of decision-making during the 
early years of the Great Depression. Arthur Brown, Leo 
Rappaport, Eugene Foster, and George Gill had all been 
raised and received their primary education in the 
Indianapolis area. All attended college and graduated 
before World War I. They conformed to the model of the 
average philanthropic board member in the city. They were 
white men over age thirty-nine who were born in Indiana and 
who had spent a long period of time in Indianapolis. 
Arthur Brown fits the traditional conception of a 
businessman. He served as president of the Union Trust 
Company and sat as a member of the board of directors for 
several businesses including the Indianapolis Gas Company, 
Indianapolis Power and Light, Kingan & Company, and Real 
Silk. He was active in the Meridian Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Brown feared radical agitation and 
insisted on a traditional philanthropic response to the 
34 
economic emergency. 66 He trusted 1n the ability of private 
philanthropy to meet the needs of the populace in a time of 
economic adjustment, 1n part because he served on many of 
the boards of directors for philanthropic agencies: the 
Salvation Army, the Flower Mission Society, Christamore 
House, and Methodist Hospital among others. 
Leo Rappaport shared Brown's social standing, but held 
different views on the ability of private philanthropy to 
meet the needs of the populace during an economic emergency. 
Rappaport believed in private philanthropy, but realized 
that public funding for emergencies and basic aid were 
necessary and even obligatory. A local social work 
executive confidentially described Rappaport as a man who 
"realized the part which social problems play in the 
breakdown of individual families in a manner which some of 
the other board members are not willing to accept. " 67 
Rappaport lived in the old northeast side, one of the city's 
oldest suburbs. Sixteen years younger than Brown, he served 
on the Board of directors for Fletcher American National 
Bank, Aetna Savings and Trust Company, Lewis Mier & Company, 
and the Republic Finance and Investment Company, where he 
served as secretary-treasurer. He was also involved heavily 
in the city's philanthropic organizations. He sat on the 
board of directors for the Community Fund and Circle 
35 
Theatre, and served as president of the Family Welfare 
Society. 
Eugene Foster fit the more conservative wing of the 
social work community . He was both a social worker and a 
board member. He mixed both roles easily. As a member of 
the prestigious Columbia Club he mixed with Brown and 
Rappaport. He served as a deacon at the First Baptist 
Church, one of the largest churches in Indianapolis. He sat 
on the board of directors of Christamore House, Wheeler 
Mission, the American Red Cross, and the Flower Mission 
Society. Businessmen could agree with him on matters 
concerning private welfare. 68 In 1930 he had served as 
executive director of the Indianapolis Foundation for six 
years, but had ties to the Family Welfare Society where he 
had been employed as director before 1917. 
George Gill, more socially liberal and the youngest of 
the four men at age forty in 1930, became the secretary­
manager for the Indianapolis Free Employment Bureau the same 
year that Foster assumed the reins of the Indianapolis 
Foundation. He actively supported socially liberal programs 
such as publicly funded old age pensions and unemployment 
insurance. 69 Like Foster, Gill actively participated in his 
church, the Downy Avenue Christian Church. He did not serve 
on any prestigious boards, but did belong to the Service 
36 
Club, the American Legion, and was a Mason. Gill graduated 
from Indiana University and Columbia and served in World War 
I. He lived with his wife and two children in a nice, 
comfortable, middle-class neighborhood. 
A sense of moderation generally guided the business­
social work dialogue. Conservative and prominent men such 
as J.K. Lilly and William Fortune agreed with Rappaport and 
Gill that relief should be publicly funded. Rhoda Morrow, 
executive secretary of the Family Welfare Society, argued 
that the best social work was done by private groups, giving 
voice to the thoughts of Foster and Brown. 70 None of the 
four men highlighted objected to local public relief, but 
several viewed private philanthropy as superior to public 
relief. 
Over the years the Charity Organization Society and 
other private groups collaborated with public officials in 
their efforts to aid the poor, building an unofficial 
partnership. 7 1 Over the years the public-private partnership 
grew. Some of the growth was due to Indiana's history of 
incorporating private institutions doing public work. 
Indiana's State Board of Health, for example, existed as a 
private entity for three years before it became a public 
one. Women and children were some of the first to come 
under the umbrella of private-public funding. In 1875, the 
37 
General Assembly passed laws authorizing counties to 
subsidize private orphanages, and from 1870 to 1900 city and 
county official heavily subsidized the Indianapolis Home for 
Friendless Women, created in 1866 with private Funds. The 
Indianapolis Free Kindergarten Society furnished an 
education for children before it was incorporated into the 
public school system. Private entities also used funds to 
aid the public. During the depression of 1893 the newly 
created Indianapolis Commercial Club gave food and fuel to 
public employees who the city could not afford to pay. 
The informal yet strong partnership involved the 
sharing of personnel and information. The Family Welfare 
Society (FWS), successor to the Indianapolis Benevolent 
Society and the Charity Organization Society, frequently 
loaned social workers to the Center Township Trustee, who 
carried the largest relief burden. Social workers in private 
agencies normally worked closely with the public township 
trustee's office. Public agencies also used the FWS's 
registration service, a cataloged registry containing the 
names of all past relief recipients. The officers of each 
agency knew one another well and contact between agencies 
was frequent, as employees shared information concerning 
clients and attended the same social work conferences. 
Board members and social workers alike had good reason 
38 
to be ebullient in the fall of 1929. Philanthropic agencies 
were doing well. The Indianapolis Foundation ranked second 
nationally in philanthropic expenditures by community trusts 
for 1929. The Foundation spent over $100,000 annually. In 
1929, the Foundation supported both the Phy ' s Wheatley 
YWCA and the Wheeler Mission building campaigns, seeing them 
as social investments in the community. Other investments 
included scho l arships to high school, college, and graduate 
students, and the furnishing of a free employment bureau to 
the citizens of the city. 72 
Indianapolis experienced a placid 1929. The city's 
economic strength and diversity allowed relief organizations 
as much an extra year relatively free of hardship compared 
to several cities throughout the nation. There were more 
potential donors for the 1930 Community Fund campaign and 
fewer people who needed relief in Indianapolis than in other 
cities. The township trustees met the minimal relief needs 
of the citizens of Indiana, giving other social agencies the 
opportunity to provide both short-term and long-term care. 
Until late 1929 board minutes of the philanthropic 
institutions reveal few major problems. Transfers of money 
from one account to another, the choosing of a campaign 
chairman, assigning campaign dates, and casual afternoon 
luncheons dominate the agenda of the Community Fund. A look 
39 
at particular agencies that depended on Community Fund 
support likewise suggests few serious issues. The annual 
support letter, sent in early 1929, by Wheeler Mission 
stressed its religious work, not relief. In fact, the 
number of meals served by the Mission for the entire fiscal 
year of 1928 did not equal what it would serve in one month 
in 1930. 73 
By October of 1929 Indianapolis was economical ly strong 
and her business community sufficiently diverse. Her 
leaders, especially those in the business community, were 
active in civic affairs. The city's philanthropic concerns 
were popular and well funded. When the stock market crashed 
in late October Indianapolis was as ready to test the 
adequacy of local responsibility as any city of its size. 
Indianapolis would not suffer a massive depletion of 
resources as did many other communities between 1929 and 
1933. The city had a clear philanthropic tradition that 
reminded civic leaders of past achievements and present 
responsibilities. Strong and consistent philanthropic 
leadership, provided by the economic and social elite of the 
city, alleviated the problems of unemployment. 
The network of elites, who were strategically 
positioned in the city's philanthropic sector, provided a 
seedbed for a strengthening of the public-private 
40 
partnership. Individual leaders were in a position to be in 
contact with almost every other philanthropic agency and 
with local government officials. In the next several years 
the partnership would - lead to more formal, centralized, ties 
not realized in the 1920s. 
41 
Notes for Chapter 1 
In citing archives in the notes, short titles have generally 
been used. Works frequently cited have been identified by 
the following abbreviations: 
CATH Papers 
CF papers 
CoC Papers 
CoC-CoC 
DL Papers 
FWS Papers 
GCUR Papers 
Papers of the Archdiocese of 
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Archdiocese 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Community Fund, United Way 
of Central Indiana Archives, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Offices of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 
Papers of Daniel B. Luten, Manuscripts 
Division-Indiana State Library, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Family Services 
Association, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Governor's Committee on 
42 
IF Papers 
YWCA Papers 
WM Papers 
Unemployment Relief, Indiana State 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Offices of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the YWCA of Indianapolis, 
Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of Wheeler Mission Ministries, 
Indiana University-Purdue University 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
1. Joanna C. Colcord, William C. Loplovitz, and Russell H. 
Kurtz, Emergency Work Relief: As Carried Out in Twenty-Six 
American Communities, 1930-31, With Suggestions for Setting 
Up a Program (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1932), 99. 
2. George E. Mowry and Blaine A. Brownell, The Urban Nation 
1920-1980 Revised Edition, American Century Series (New 
York: Hill & Wang, 1981), 65-68. 
3. U.S. Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Population (Washington, 
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931). The largest 
cities were those having one half-million people or more. 
43 
4. See John J. Wallis, "Employment in the Great Depression: 
New Data and Hypothesis," Explorations in Economic History 
26 (1989): 45-72. 
5. See Douglas L. Smith, The New Deal in the Urban South 
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988). 
6. U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Population, 14. Only 37 
cities had more than 250,000 residents, accounting for 23.5 
percent of the nation's population. 
City City Population 
Indianapolis 364,161 
Atlanta 270,366 
Birmingham 259,678 
Cincinnati 451,160 
New Orleans 458,762 
Rochester 328,132 
Seattle 365,583 
New York 6,930,446 
Chicago 3,376,438 
Detroit 1,568,662 
Los Angles 1,238,048 
7. Ibid. , 3 3 0. 
Of forel'gn birth can be gleaned from the 8. Percentages 
44 
U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, III, Population (Washington, 
D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1931), for 
the following cities (with relevant page numbers): 
Indianapolis (1:696); New Orleans (1:457); Chicago (1:601); 
Atlanta (1:226); Birmingham (1:67); Detroit (1:1130); 
Seattle (2:1219); New York (2:270); Cincinnati (2:468); 
Rochester (2:277) 
9. Judith E. Endelman, The Jewish Community of Indianapolis, 
1849 to the Present (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 
1984) 1 112,119. 
10. Other cities reported similar increases, including 
Birmingham and Atlanta , while Seattle's non-white population 
increased by only 14 percent. However, Indianapolis' black 
population, as a percentage of the whole, was comparatively 
very large. Rochester and Seattle's black communities 
comprised less than 1 percent of their respective city's 
total population figures. The percentages of black 
population averaged about 7 percent in Chicago and Detroit, 
while Los Angeles and New York only had about 4 percent 
each . Information cited can be found in U.S., Fifteenth 
Census, 1930, III, Population, 61. 
11. Ibid., 61. 
12. Kin Hubbard, ed., Book of Indiana (Indianapolis: The 
45 
Indiana Biographical Society, 1929). 
13. In the 1920s the Chamber of Commerce became a semi­
official advisor. Representatives of the Civic Affairs 
Committee were routinely asked to aid the city council 
finance committee concerning budgets and priorities. The 
Civic Affairs Committee even outlined a ten-year budget for 
future bond sales that was sent, in a confidential form, to 
all city council members. See "Monthly Reports - Report of 
the Civic Affairs Committee, December 9, 1929, Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce," Folder 21, CoC Papers. 
14. Both parties in the 1929 race for mayor pledged to 
balance the city's budget and no promises were made 
concerning major social questions. 
15. This can be seen in Indianapolis through study of its 
black newspapers. The city's first black newspaper, the 
Indianapolis Leader, encouraged free enterprise and moral 
rectitude. See the author's entry "Indianapolis Leader" in 
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Bloomington: Indiana 
University Press), 787-788, David J. Bodenhamer and Robert 
G. Barrows, eds. See also Andrew R. L. Cayton and Peter S. 
Onuf, The Midwest and the Nation: Rethinking the History of 
an American Region (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 
1990) . 
46 
16. See Cayton and Onuf, The Midwest, 25. 
17. Endelman reported that she did not find that any reports 
of physical abuse to Jews in the 1920s in Indianapolis, 
although there were some threats and an attempted KKK 
boycott of Jewish stores. This is not to say that 
Indianapolis was some kind of Xanadu of racial and ethnic 
understanding, only that some of the worst kinds of act ions, 
associated with nativist fervor, were avoided by the city 
and even denigrated by the elite. 
18. For an interesting look at Indianapolis during the 
Depression from the vantage point of youth, see Lawrence S. 
Connor, Hampton Court: Growing Up Catholic in Indianapolis 
Between the Wars (Indianapolis: Guild Press, 1995), 43. 
19. For the Indianapolis Star's opinion of Sullivan see 
Indianapolis Star, 2 October 1929, 8. For a brief account 
of Sullivan's administration see Ray Boomhower's entry 
"Reginald H. Sullivan" in the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, 
1308-1309. For opinions on the ability and leadership of 
Sullivan see an admittedly partisan publication, The 
Sullivan Record, copy in the Indiana Division, Indiana State 
Library . Various community leaders contributed opinions 
including some prominent Republicans. 
20. Residents of Indianapolis voted 53,912-9,954 in favor of 
47 
the city manager plan. See Harrison C. Neal III and Jeffrey 
Duvall's entry "City Manager Proposal (1920s) ,"Encyclopedia 
of Indianapolis, 431. 
21. Industrial production figures can be found in u.s., 
Fifteenth Census, 1930, VIII, Manufacturers, 1929 
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1933), 
169-170. The percentage of Indiana's product, as produced 
by Indianapolis firms, is found in James Madison, Indiana 
Through Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State 
and Its People, 1920-1945 
Society, 1982), 229. 
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical 
22. George and Miriam Geib, Indianapolis First 
(Indianapolis: Chamber of Commerce, 1990), 53. 
23. I have chosen these six cities for comparison to 
Indianapolis based on population size and geographic 
diversity. Cincinnati is Indianapolis' midwestern sister 
city, Atlanta is a southeastern city, Rochester is an inland 
eastern city, Birmingham is a deep southern city, Seattle is 
a western coastal city, and New Orleans is a southern city 
wi th a large export business. All of these cities fit 
within the 250,000-500,000 population category. 
24. Quote can be found in Logan Esarey's History of Indiana: 
From Its Exploration to 1922 4 vols. (Dayton: Dayton 
48 
Historical Publishing Co., 1924), 3:255. 
It is difficult to give accurate comparisons in terms 
of diversity of industry. The 1929 Census of Manufacturers 
placed many industries, in which only one or a few companies 
competed in one industrial sector, in an "other" category so 
that in most cities "other" accounted for the largest share 
of industries. All seven cities have "other" as their 
largest industrial type. In addition the 1929 Census did 
not include any company whose total value of product did not 
reach $5,000. Indianapolis had 917 firms employing 51,117 
wage-earning employees and 9,862 white collar employees. 
Its five largest non-"other" listed industries included meat 
packing, motor vehicle production, foundry and machine shop 
products, electrical machine, apparatus, and supplies 
production, and motor vehicle bodies and parts creation. 
Twenty different companies were involved in producing car 
parts and vehicles, employing a little more than 6,000 blue 
and white collar workers, who accounted for nearly 10 
percent of the city's manufacturing work force. Ten percent 
seems like a large number, until one notes that in Rochester 
one industry accounted for nearly 15 percent and that lumber 
and timber production employed more than 20 percent of the 
work force in King County (Seattle). A city with a large 
percentage of its companies in one sector, such as Detroit 
49 
with car manufacturing, fare far worse ln periods of 
recession than other cities because of their economic 
vulnerability. 
25. U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, VI, Population 
(vvashington, D ·C . : United States Government Printing Off i c e , 
1931) 1 61. 
26. Figures for Industrial sales can be found in the u.s., 
Fifteenth Census, 1930, III, Manufacturers 1929 (Washington, 
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1933), 124, 162, 398, 
539, 44, 353, 204. Figures for wholesale and retail sales 
can be found in U.S., Fifteenth Census, II, Distribution 
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Prin ting Office, 1933), 
16-33. Volume I of Distribution covers retail sales. Part 
2 in Reports by States, Alabama - New Hampshire and Part 3 
in Reports by States New Mexico - Wyoming. 
27. Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of 
Employment, "Problems of Unemployment in Indianapolis," 
(November 1930), 8. Copy in Indiana Division, Indiana State 
Library . 
28. See JoAnn E . Argersinger, Toward A New Deal in 
Baltimore : People and Government in the Great Depression 
(Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 3, 
and Bernard Sternsher, Hitting Home: The Great Depression in 
50 
Town and Country, revised edition (Chicago: Elephant 
Paperbacks, Ivan R. Dee, Inc., 1970, 1989), 64. By April of 
1929 Philadelphia reported a 10.4 percent unemployment rate, 
while Baltimore claimed that as many as one in ten of its 
workers were out of a job by the end of 1928. 
29. According to the Indianapolis Star, an average of 44.7 
percent of Indianapolis families earned more than $2,000, 
slightly better than the national average. Twenty-four 
percent of Indianapolis families earned more than $3,000. 
The richest real estate districts income averaged $4,739. In 
the second wealthiest area, families, on average, brought 
home $3,619 (Indianapolis Star, 18 July 1929, 9). Winifred 
D. W. Bolin in "The Economics of Middle Income Family Life: 
Working Women During the Great Depression," Journal of 
American History 65 (June 1978): 62, reports that only 21.5 
percent of American families earned more than $3,000 and 
only 40 percent of Americans nationally earned more than 
$2,000 per year. The average worker in the Hoosier capital 
received $1,474 in yearly compensation from wages. However, 
this was much better than the average Hoosier; when rural 
income is included the average falls to only $612. 
30. Gene Smiley, "Did Incomes for Most of the Population 
Fall from 1923 through 1929?" Journal of Economic History 
51 
43 (March 1983): 209. Smiley concludes that between 1923 
and 1929 real income rose 9.8 percent. 
31. Average wage can be computed by dividing average wage of 
employees by the average number of workers. Information for 
doing so can be found in Fifteenth United States Census. 
For wholesale wages, see U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, II, 
Distributi6n (Washington, D.C.: United States Government 
Printing Office, 1934), 16-33. For Retail distribution, see 
Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Distribution (Washington, D.C.: 
United States Government Printing Office, 1930), 67, 538, 
729, 967, 315, 557, 1305. Industrial wages can be found in 
Fifteenth Census, 1930, III, Manufacturing, 44, 124, 102, 
353, 398, 204, 539. 
32. Milton Meltzer, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?: The 
Great Depression, 1929-1933 (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 
1969) 1 10-11. 
33. In both January and August of 1929 total withdrawals 
made by customers surpassed total deposits by almost $1000. 
"Monthly Reports - Report of the Dime Savings & Loan 
Association January 1929, August 1929, Family Welfare 
Society, November 1927 - November 193 0," Box 6., Folder 2, 
FWS Papers. 
52 
34. U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Manufacturers, 1 929, 
169. 
35. "Report of Indiana•s Auditor for the period ending June 
30,1934, Division of Accounting and Statist i csn 1n State o f 
Indiana, Year Book of Indiana, 1933 (Indianapolis: Wm . B. 
Burford Printing Co., 1934), 42 . 
36. United States Department of Commerce, Statistical 
Abstract of the United States, 1929 (Washington, D.C.: 
United States Government Printing Office, 1929), 232. 
United States Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract 
of the United States, 1931 (Washington, D.C.: United S t ates 
Government Printing Office, 1931), 232. 
City 
Indianapolis 
Seattle 
Rochester 
New Orleans 
Cincinnati 
Birmingham 
Atlanta 
Per capita government revenue 
1927 
$ 52.35 
$ 78.86 
$ 55.94 
$ 85.51 
$ 40.13 
$ 64.19 
1929 
$ 56.16 
$118.62 
$ 84.46 
$ 55.52 
$ 84.64 
$ 36.50 
$ 41.76 
37 . "Minutes of the Civi c Affairs Committee, Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce , 1929,n Box 3, file 21, P· 23, CoC 
53 
Papers. 
Many cities in Indianapolis' population class also 
incurred increased debt over the two-year period, but a few 
decreased their debt. Rochester increased its per capita 
debt by nearly fifteen dollars, Atlanta by nearly nine and 
Seattle's per capita debt stood at $222.03, much higher than 
Indianapolis' $95.56. Many cities, including Indianapolis, 
found it hard during the 1920s to either balance their 
budgets or raise taxes to cover increased spending. In 
fact, Indianapolis had been in the habit of issuing bonds to 
pay for its electric bills. Per capita debt shows 
Indianapolis to be relatively healthy, but slipping into 
insolvency as the decade progressed. Between 1927 and 1929 
city per capita debt increased by almost twelve dollars (see 
Statistical Abstract of the United States for 1929 and 
19 31) . 
38. See Lois R. Helmbold, "Downward occupational Mobility 
During the Great Depression: Urban Black and White Working 
Class Women" Labor History 29:2 (1988), 135-172. See also 
William A. Sundstrom, "Last Hired, First Fired?: 
Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great 
Depression ," Journal of Economic History 52 (June 1992): 
415-429. 
39. The Council of Social Agencies, The Leisure of a People: 
54 
~R~e:.Ep:........:o:........:r_t _ o_f_a __ Re_c_r_e_a_t_i.....:.o....:::..n::___:S:....:u=-:r::....v~ey~o~f::___:I~d~· ~~~1~· · 
n lanapo lS (Indlanapolis, 
1929), 40. 
40. The Leisure of a People, 41. 
Mortality Rates 
City Blacks Whites 
Indianapolis 18.7 13.4 
Kansas City· 25.2 12.5 
Cincinnati 28.4 16.2 
41. Besides lower mortality rates, blacks in Indianapolis 
enjoyed the lowest rental property and housing prices of the 
northern cities in the comparison group. In addition, using 
information gleaned from the Indianapolis Recorder, there 
seemed to be little unemployment. This is not to say that 
blacks did not face discrimination nor is it possible to say 
that blacks were viewed as equal citizens. However, many of 
the city's minority citizens enjoyed a fairly good standard 
of life when compared to other minority communities. For 
reports on the problems of the city's black community, see 
Indianapolis Recorder , 2 March 1929, 1; Indianapolis Star, 7 
April 1929, 21; and Indianapolis Recorder, 30 March 1929, 1. 
42. Alice Shaffer et al., The Indiana Poor Law: Its 
Development and Administration with Special Reference to the 
Provision of State Care for the Sick Poor, Social Service 
55 
Monograph #28 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936 ). 
Chapters 1 and 2 on the devel t f opmen o poor laws in Indiana 
are especially helpful. 
43. Nine townships comprised Marion County, five of which 
Indianapolis covered or touched. Center Township was by far 
the most urban. 
44. Cayton and Onuf, The Midwest, 55. 
45. See entry "Indianapolis Foundation" by Gregory Lynn 1 n 
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, 780. 
46. Ibid., 780-781. 
47. This can be seen in the shifting priorities of the 
Community Fund budget be f ore the Crash. The Family Welfare 
Society garnered 28.5 percent of the budget for 1929, a much 
smaller amount than the 41 percent it received in 1924. 
48. John R. Seeley et al., Community Chest: A Case Study in 
Philanthropy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957), 
21. 
49 . Indianapolis Star, 19 April 1929, 3. 
50 . Only ten agencies were described as "relief-giving." 
They were : the Catholic Community Center, Family Welfare 
Society, Indianapolis Day Nursery, Jewish Federation, Red 
56 
Cross, Thedora Home, Volunteers of America, Wheeler Mission, 
Salvation Army, and Traveler's Aid Society. "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors, Indianapolis Community Fund, 1930-1934," 
Papers of the United Way of Central Indiana, 12/31/30 Budget 
Committee Memo, Offices of the United Way of Central 
Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
51. See George W. Geib, Lives Touched by Faith: Second 
Presbyterian Church, 150 Years (Indianapolis: Second 
Presbyterian Church, 1988), 122-125. 
5 ~ . Seeley, Community Chest, 52. Indianapolis has been 
acknowledged to be "the most Southern of Northern cities." 
Coupled with the notorious power of the Klan in the 1920s, 
one would have expected more discrimination in relief 
giving. In fact there was not a differentiation of relief 
given to whites and blacks by these groups, as was the case 
in other, mostly southern, cities. See Smith, The New Deal 
in the Urban South, on the relief practices of Birmingham, 
Atlanta, and New Orleans. 
53 . W. K. Jordan, "The English Background of Modern 
Philanthropy ," American Historical Review 66 (January 1961) : 
403 . In seventeenth-century England a small group of London 
businessmen gave 43 percent of the total funds received for 
charitable causes in England. 
57 
54. "Classification Analysis: Subscriptions for years 1929 
and 1939, Special Gifts, Branch House and Individual Gifts 
Divisions," in "Fund Board Minutes September 6, 1923-
December 31, 1930," analysis in notes printed for 2/27/30 
meeting, CF Papers. 
55. Concerning cliques see John Scott Social Network 
Analysis: A Handbook (Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications, 
Inc., 1992), 19-26. 
56. For information on group consensus building and 
agreement formation, see Scott, Social Network Analysis, 12-
26. For data on the transfer of information and goods see 
Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust, Social Network 
Analysis: Methods and Applications (New York: Cambridge 
University Press, 1994), 293-297. 
57. See Appendix A and B for list of 79 leaders in 
Indianapolis, 1929-1933. Source information for the various 
leaders can be found in Hubbard, A Book of Indiana; the 
Indiana Biographical Service located in the Indiana Division 
of the Indiana State Library; Indianapolis Men of Affairs 
(Indianapolis: The American Biographical Society, 1923), ed. 
Paul D. Brown; and Charles R. Roll, Indiana: One Hundred and 
Fifty Years of American Development (Chicago: ·The Lewis 
Publishing Co., 1931). In addition the various editions of 
Who's Who and Who Was Who were helpful. 
58 
58. Indianapolis City Directory (Indianapolis: R.L. Polk & 
Co., Publishers, 1929). For family income see the Real 
Estate Board Survey results as published by the Indianapolis 
Star, 18 July 1929, 9. For another view of board members in 
this period, see the study by Robert K. Taylor 
"Characteristics of 200 Board Members of Private Social 
Agencies in Indianapolis, 1930-1940" (M.A. thesis, Indiana 
University, 1941). My own research confirms his essential 
findings that board members were wealthier, more highly 
educated, more religious, and older than the general 
population. 
59. Taylor, "Characteristics of 200 Board Members," 18. It 
is interesting to note that many Jews were a part of the 
philanthropic elite. In fact by 1931 several men of the 
Jewish faith held leadership positions in the Community 
Fund, the Indianapolis Foundation, and the Chamber of 
Commerce, as well as Jewish charities. 
60. 1929 Indianapolis City Directory. National economic 
integration in the 1920s and early 1930s is often 
overemphasized. Most businesses were still local or 
regional, but were dependent upon other local and regional 
businesses. Few truly national chains of stores or 
industries existed. For instance, 37 percent of retail drug 
59 
stores were part of a chain; however, retail chains received 
just 21.9 percent of the total retail business nationwide 
and in Indianapolis only 14 percent of retail sales went to 
sectional or national chains. Information on chains can be 
found in U.S., Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Distribution,28-
30, and Mowry and Brownell, The Urban Nation, 5-11. 
Percentages for the state of Indiana can be found 1n U.S., 
Fifteenth Census, 1930, I, Distribution, 710. 
61. Ruby Little, "History of the Family Service Association 
of Indianapolis, Indiana, 1835-1950" (M.A. thesis, 
University of Chicago, 1951), 69-70. 
62. Bertha Leming, "The American Association of Social 
Workers," copy in Indiana Division, Indiana State Library. 
63. Miriam Van Waters in her presidential address derided 
concepts such as "worthy" or "unworthy." She stated: "We 
hear no more about the 'worthy poor.' The attitude of the 
social worker toward human beings is one of 'Respect.'" 
Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work: At 
The Fifty-Seventh Annual Session Held in Boston, 
Massachusetts, June 8-14, 1930 (Chicago: University of 
Chicago, 1931), 14. 
IF Papers. 
See also "Minutes," 1928-1932, Book 3, 
64. At the 1929 Social Work Conference, C. M. Bookman and 
60 
John Brown acknowledged the attitude then prevalen t t hat 
public sector social work was deemed inferior. See 
Bookman's address, "The Place of the Community Ches t in 
Human Relations" and Brown's "The Organization of State and 
County Welfare Departments" in Proceedings of the National 
Conference of Social Work: At the Fifty-Sixth Annua l Session 
Held in San Francisco, June 26-July 3, 1929 (Chicago: 
University of Chicago Press, 1930), 523-530. In 
Indianapolis government service was accorded inferior 
status. See "Minutes of the Case Committee, Family Welfare 
Society, 1923-1954," Box 7, Folder 3 and Box 3, Folder 2, 
page 3, FWS Papers. 
65. Letter from Indianapolis Employment Bureau director 
George Gill to the board of directors of the Indianapolis 
Foundation, dated 16 May 1929, in "Minutes," 1928-1932, Book 
3, IF Papers. 
66. Indianapolis Star, 20 September 1930, 1. 
67. Confidential memo sent by Mrs. Blythe W. Francis to her 
successor , 3 0 J u l y 1939, p. 23 in "Miscellaneous Papers of 
the Family Welfare Soc i ety, 1932-ca. 1960," Box 3, Folder 2, 
FWS Papers. 
68 . George Gill relates that Foster was a man who mixed 
easily with businessmen . Further, the fact that he held so 
61 
many board posts without raising fundamental questions 
concerning the nature of social welfare policies connotes a 
comfortable acceptance of contemporary social philosophy. 
See "Transcript of Taped Interview with George Gill," Oral 
History Project, 1972, page 3. 
Indianapolis. 
Indiana State Library, 
69. Gill pr.ofesses his beliefs in these programs in 
"Transcript of Taped Interview with George Gill," 10-11. 
70. Since the 1890s prominent national businessmen active in 
social welfare instituted programs in their own businesses 
and expected society would follow their example. Lilly and 
Fortune were a part of this trend. See Barry D. Karl and 
Stanley N. Katz, "The American Private Philanthropic 
Foundation and the Public Sphere, 1890-1930," Minerva 19:2 
(1981): 236-270. Karl and Katz argue that private 
philanthropy, in the absence of national standards, set 
social goals and social work standards until the mid-1930s. 
People with great wealth, such as Andrew Carnegie, set up 
foundations to create national standards, find solutions to 
social problems, and perpetuate the ideas and wealth of the 
benefactor. See also Edward Berkowitz and Kim McQuaid, 
"Businessman and Bureaucrat: The Evolution of the American 
Social Welfare System, 1900-1940," Journal of Economic 
62 
History 38 (March 1978): 120-147. Berkowitz and McQuaid 
argue that price stabilization at the beginning of the 
century allowed businesses to create ambitious employee 
benefit programs. Companies such as Kodak, General 
Electric, and United States Steel, gave employees stock 
ownership and retirement plans so as to decrease 
dissatisfaction and increase employee retention. The 
authors conclude that employers created the model for the 
welfare system to come in the 1930s and 1960s. 
71. See Seeley, Community Chest, 74-94. See also Alice 
Shaffer et al., The Indiana Poor Law: Its Development and 
Administration with Special Reference to the Provision of 
State Care for the Sick, Social Service Monograph No. 28 
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), 43-86. These 
books touch on the private-public partnership only lightly 
and do not directly draw the reader to the conclusion that 
there was in fact an informal partnership. The number of 
public charities multiplied after Indiana became a state. 
72. "Annual Report-Recapitulation of Receipts and 
Expenditures for 1928-1929, 1929-1930" in "Minutes" 1928-
1932, Book 3, IF Papers. 
73 . "Monthly Reports of Wheeler City Rescue Mission," Box 
50, Folders 3&4, WM Papers. In October 1930 the Mission 
63 
served 3,905 meals whereas in fiscal year 1928 the Mission 
served only 3,017. In addition, total meals served in 1929 
also appear to not exceed those of October 1930, but the 
Mission relief kitchen was closed for several months due to 
construction and records are unclear as to the exact number 
of meals served in 1929. 
Family Welfare Society records also reveal a relative ly 
calm 1929 in terms of aid given to needy families. Inquiries 
to the Indianapolis Foundation show much of the same. In 
1929, requests for aid carne from several areas, but most 
were not relief oriented. For example, the local Boy's Club 
requested money for a swimming pool, while the city hospital 
asked for additional funding in order to hire another social 
worker for its staff. 
64 
Chapter 2 
The Creation of a More Formal Public-Private Partnership ln 
Indianapolis, October 1929-July 1931 
On October 29, 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed 
after three months of economic decline. Across the nation 
the number of unemployed grew by two million within a month 
and fears 6f social unrest mounted. Business leaders and 
philanthropists worried about the possible social and 
political consequences of widespread unemployment. 1 In 
February and March of 1930 thousands marched to city halls 
in Cleveland and Chicago demanding more aid. 2 In response, 
local governments created make-work projects, increased 
welfare budgets, and distributed free food to ease the 
burdens of the unemployed. 
Leaders in Indianapolis fought to maintain both the 
dignity of those without a job as well as their sustenance. 
Civic leaders backed work relief projects, at least in part, 
because they believed that work engendered certain values 
antithetical to both communism and despair. 3 Civic leaders 
created a relief structure capable of handling larger 
lncreases in unemployment by creating formal ties between 
the public and private sectors. 
Both nationally and locally, political and business 
65 
leaders projected an image of strength and activity. 
Conferences and commissions assured the public that steps 
were being taken to ameliorate the effects of the economic 
downturn. President Herbert Hoover initiated a series of 
conferences in November and December of 1929 in which he 
promised a speeding up of capital improvement spending, 
encouraging businesses to hasten construction projects. 
Following Washington's lead, Indiana Governor Harry G. 
Leslie also held a business conference, which promised 
continued employment and pledged to push forward on public 
construction projects. 
In Indianapolis, Mayor Reginald Sullivan and Paul Q. 
Richie, president of the Chamber of Commerce, announced the 
formation of an Indianapolis Commission for the 
Stabilization of Employment (ICSE) . 4 The commission 
promptly went to work on a study of unemployment, sought 
short-term work for the unemployed, and looked for long-term 
solutions. Within a year the ICSE launched the Emergency 
Work Committee, an effort at work relief similar to an 
Indianapolis program in the 1890s. 
In the press, pundits remained hopeful that the 
economic downturn would be temporary. Two days after the 
crash an editorial in the Indianapolis Star echoed President 
Hoover's assessment that the economy was "sound." 5 The 
66 
president's optimism was reinforced by the city's apparent 
quick recovery from the early unemployment dip. Six months 
after the first editorial the Star's editor concluded that 
"business is definitely on the upgrade." 6 Few businessmen 
would have dissented. Prominent businessman and 
philanthropist Arthur Brown, for example, speculated that 
the depression would not last much past 1930. 7 
The optimism felt by many business and political 
leaders at the beginning of the Great Depression was not 
unfounded. Throughout the 1920s depressions of short 
duration had hit the United States. The last, in 1927, was 
very mild. Although the first six months were bad, by March 
1930, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce reported that 
employment had risen by 6 percent since January. 8 
Large cities adjusted to increases ln unemployment 
using traditional means. Municipalities with welfare 
offices increased relief budgets. Urban areas that relied 
on private relief and had a centralized charity agency, such 
as the Community Fund, increased the budgets of their 
primary welfare agencies or created work-relief projects. 
Sometimes cities attempted to do both. Municipal employees 
contributed funds to open soup kitchens or clothing 
dispensaries, not always voluntarily. 
In America's largest city, New York, the Association 
67 
for Improving the Condition of the Poor launched an 
emergency make-work program as early as December 1929. 
Cincinnati had created a publicly funded, privately managed, 
make-work program a year earlier. Almost 200 cities 
followed the example set by New York and Cincinnati between 
1929 and 1931. 9 Other urban areas--Boston, Los Angles, and 
Detroit, for example--relied primarily on public welfare 
programs . . Spending by both public and private agencies for 
relief increased rapidly. In 1930, agencies in 200 cities 
increased spending by 63 percent over 1929 levels. In 1931, 
they expended 142 percent more than in 1930. 10 
Indianapolis civic leaders reacted in much the same 
manner as their counterparts elsewhere. Township trustees 
increased their budgets, Community Fund welfare agencies 
received priority in budgeting, and various commissions and 
committees were created by both public and private entities. 
Throughout 1930, groups in Indianapolis cooperated in 
expanding the existing system of relief that linked 
volunteer and tax-based operations. They were able to do 
this, at least in the beginning, because of the city's low 
unemployment rate and relatively manageable relief requests. 
The most challenging problems of unemployment did not 
occur during the first year of the Depression.. Between 
October 1929 and the winter of 1930 average unemployment 
68 
across the nation grew but did not reach unpreceden t ed 
levels. The national unemployment ra t e hovered around 8.9 
percent in 1930. The real emergency began in 1931 when, by 
July, the unemployment rate rose to around 16 percent in the 
nation's 120 largest cities. 11 
In Indianapolis, unemployment did not conform to the 
national model until after the summer of 1930. Eugene 
Foster, executive director of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
noted an "unusual increase 1n street beggars" four days 
before the stock market crash. What Foster, and other 
philanthropists experienced was a high unemployment rate, 
probably caused by the city's economic diversity. 12 After 
the initial market collapse however, city compan1es 
rebounded, rehiring workers and sometimes expanding employee 
lists. In March 1930, a report by the ICSE pegged the 
city's unemployment rate at only 2.8 percent above that of 
March 1929. 13 
69 
Figure 2.1 Unemployment Rates ln Indianapolis 1929-1931. 14 
Unemployment percentage 
Month 1929 1930 1931 
January 7.7 20.4 
March 1.8 5.3 19.6 
May >1 8.5 20.4 
July 1.2 12.7 22.0 
September 1.5 14.2 
November 3.9 16.6 
In Figure 2.1 one can examine the unemployment figures 
for the period covered by this chapter. In May 1929 
unemployment was less than 1 percent. By May of the next 
year it had reached 8.5 percent, an incredible increase but 
not out of line with national figures. After July 1930 it 
reached unprecedented heights. By July 1931 Indianapolis 
faced as large an unemployment problem as the rest of the 
nation. 
The black community was the hardest hit by the 
Depression, even in this early period. No early recovery , 
however brief, eased the problems of black unemployment. 
The Recorder had, since early 1929, been attempting to find 
solutions to unemployment. Nationally, blacks were two to 
70 
three times as likely to be unemployed as whites. 15 I n 
Indianapolis the same was true. Even though blacks made up 
only 12 percent of the total population, they accoun t ed f or 
48.5 percent of the FWS's unemployment cases in November 
1930. In February 1931, that number reached 66.4 percen t, 
decreasing only slightly three months later to 65.8 
percent. 16 In addition, the Emergency Work Committee (EWC) 
found that ·close to 50 percent of its workforce was black. -7 
The problem became apparent to social workers at the FWS. 
Because of the large black unemployment problem, Rhonda 
Morrow, the executive secretary of the FWS, suggested the 
creation of a separate black district with a black 
supervlsor, such as was done in other cities. The idea was 
vetoed by the board members as inefficient and costly, but 
they were forced to recognize the large unemployment needs 
in the black community. 18 
Organizations in the black community were active in 
trying to ease the burdens of the unemployed. Planner House 
had always been proud of its self-help tradition. During 
the Depression it continued its employment bureau, baby 
clinic , savings club, and vocational classes. Added to 
these programs were a food cooperative and additional 
vocational classes for men. 19 The Indianapolis Recorder, 
a l armed at the growing rate of black unemployment, created 
71 
the "Good Fellows" organization to collect money to give out 
relief baskets during the Christmas season and search for 
employment opportunities. The Second Baptist Church opened 
a soup kitchen, open to blacks and whites alike. 20 
Regardless of the bright future laid out in the press 
by businessmen and politicians, a sense of crisis did affect 
some social workers and philanthropic leaders ln the first 
six months· of the Depression. Reports issued by the various 
agencles as early as November 1929 were troubling. The 
tasks of feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and 
finding employment for the jobless proved daunting compared 
to one year earlier. While most philanthropists knew it 
would be hard to aid all those who needed help, they were 
determined to meet the need and accept responsibility for 
carrying out all relief work. 
Philanthropic leaders confronted the unemployment 
problem almost immediately after the stock market crash. 
Their first reaction was to give relief agencies priority. 
During the December 31, 1929, special meeting of the 
Community Fund, the board approved a motion that relief 
agenc i es be given first priority during budget negotiatlons. 
Leo Rappaport concluded from the reports of the FWS that the 
unemployment situation was "serious," but doubted if the 
public realized just how serious the problem was. 21 
72 
The Special Gifts Division of the Community Fund failed 
to meet its fall 1929 campaign goal by $50,000. 22 Some 
member agencies reported the non-payment of individual 
pledges. The perceived crisis and the failure to make up 
the Fund drive shortfall led to some economizing and a few 
unorthodox moves. Agencies were told not to expect an 
increase in their 1930 budget allowance. This led to open 
grumbling by several agencies. Perhaps because of the 
budget problems and the poor economic conditions, the Fund 
board allowed Christamore House and the Girl Scouts to 
conduct quiet, separate campaigns to raise money. This 
special allowance violated the Fund's rule of coordinated 
fund-raising, but it reduced tensions that could have broken 
the Fund apart. 
Board member Fred Hoke believed he had a partial answer 
to the Community Fund's shortage. · He urged the Fund's board 
of directors to stage a quiet campaign in January 1930. The 
campaign would focus on elites who had failed to give as 
much in the general campaign as the board thought they 
should. The proposal passed. Men who themselves came from 
the elite volunteered to conduct the campaign: Hoke, the 
auto manufacturer Walter Marmon, and Herman Lieber, 
president of the Merchants Association. Hugh McK. Landon, 
vice-president of Fletcher Trust Company, and his co-worker 
73 
Leo Rappaport also joined. The special campaign failed to 
reach its $50,000 goal by almost $30,000. 23 
Relief agencies, so long a shrinking concern of the 
Fund, became a priority. At the end of January 1930, a 
relief committee of representatives from the Family Welfare 
Society, the Community Fund board, the budget committee of 
the Community Fund, the Catholic Community Center, and the 
Jewish Federation advocated a $50,000 increase in relief 
funding for 1930. In addition they urged increases in 
staffing at the relief agencies and creation of a city-wide, 
publicly funded body to set up a ·central registration bureau 
to act as a money raising group. 24 The $50,000 increase 
would have to be made up by reductions in the budgets of 
character-building groups. One week later their 
recommendations became board policy. The relief committee's 
efforts, in cooperation with the mayor's office and the 
Chamber of Commerce, led to the creation of the ICSE, but 
the ICSE did not become the powerful group the committee had 
envisioned. 
74 
Figure 2.2 Fund Budgets of Relief Agencies, 1929-193 .0 
Relief Agency 1929 1930 %change 
Catholic Community Center $ 20,406 $ 26,525 29.9 
Family Welfare Society $179,733 $228,500 27.1 
Indianapolis Day Nursery $ 8,166 $ 8,166 
Travelers Aid Society $ 6,325 $ 6,425 0.01 
Jewish Federation $ 49,548 $ 49,500 0.00 
Red Cross $ 30,000 $ 30,000 
Salvation Army $ 29,100 $ 29,100 
Thedora Home $ 3,454 $ 3,700 07.1 
Volunteers. of America $ 13,007 $ 14,297 09.9 
Wheeler Mission $ 7,500 $ 12,000 60.0 
The increases ln funding provided by the Community Fund 
to the individual organizations were due to increases in 
need more than influence, but influence seems to have given 
certain institutions larger increases. Some Community Fund 
budget committee members had first-hand knowledge of the 
problems of individual agencies. The largest percentage 
increase went to Wheeler City Rescue Mission, an agency that 
served transient men. It probably helped Wheeler, though, 
to have influence on the budget committee in the form of 
Eugene Foster. The Catholic Community Center and the Family 
Welfare Society received the next largest increases, again 
probably due to a combination of need and influence. The 
Red Cross requested that its increase go to the Family 
Welfare Society. No justification appears in the board 
member notes for the slightly reduced allocation to the 
75 
Jewish Federation, but the Federation was mostly a 
character-building agency and handled far fewer relief cases 
than other agencies. 
Agencies scrambled for additional relief funds as the 
requests for aid reached unprecedented levels. In the first 
six months of fiscal year 1930, relief agencies of the 
Community Fund spent $100,000 out of the $104,000 allocated 
for the entire year. In March, seven months before the 1931 
campaign, the Community Fund forecasted a budget deficit of 
$38,000. In the public sector the Center Township Trustee 
was spending $16,000 per month, nearly two times the 1929 
level. 25 Total relief expenditures in Indianapolis, both 
public and private, amounted to $494,823 in 1930, more than 
double the amount spent in 1929. 26 
Needs increased two fold or more during the winter of 
1929-1930 . The number of men receiving aid at Wheeler 
Mission tripled between October and December 1929. By May 
the number of meals served at Wheeler Mission decreased, but 
were still over 1100 percent more than the year before. 27 
The summer of 1930 provided a brief respite. By June, 
the FWS reported only 205 cases due to unemployment. The 
July report was slightly higher, but less than a third of 
the January case load. Wheeler Mission distributed fewer 
garments, served fewer meals, and lodged fewer transients 
76 
during June, July, and August than during the previous three 
months. The Community Fund needed to borrow less than 
expected. In addition, reports on employment seemed to be 
headed in the right direction. 
The fall and early winter of 1930-31 proved more 
challenging to relief agencies. Between August and December 
needs and costs rose quickly. Wheeler Mission served 2444 
percent moie meals in August than during the previous 
August. By December the number of men receiving shelter had 
increased almost twice compared to the same month in 1929. 28 
In November the FWS received 822 applications for aid due to 
unemployment, 48 percent of which were from blacks. 2 9 
The new year brought more relief needs rather than 
fewer. Money was running out and budgets were already 
tight. By February 1931, wages paid to transients at Wheeler 
Mission consumed close to $700 of the agency's monthly $2100 
budget. 3 0 Active cases at the FWS in February were more 
than double that of November 1930. 31 In May 1931, Wheeler 
Mission gave 12,474 loaves of bread to needy families. At 
retail prices this meant that the Mission gave away $623.70 
in bread alone, or approximately two hundred dollars less 
than the cost of a new Dodge car. 32 The FWS reduced its 
load, mainly by dumping case loads onto the township 
trustee, but it still held more cases in May 1931, than in 
77 
November 1930. The Community Fund agreed to borrow at least 
$30,000 for June and July of 1931, mostly for the FWS. 33 
A shortage of money was not the only problem. Workers 
at agencies were working far harder than during normal 
times. Each FWS social workers ln Indianapolis carried 
more than three times the normal number of cases compared to 
their counterparts in other cities. 3 4 Indianapolis lost 
several social workers to other cities because of the 
stress. 
Character-building and civic agencies, too, felt the 
pressures associated with the Depression. Most character­
building and civic agencies relied on dues-paying members. 
The YMCA ended 1930 with a deficit of $3,150, most of it 
from drops in membership and increases in free 
memberships. 35 By mid-September 1930, non-payment of dues 
left the Chamber of Commerce with a shortfall of $80,000. 
By the end of the year the Chamber had to rely on one of its 
largest trustee funds for operating expenses. 36 When 
several pledges went unpaid, the YWCA had to borrow $50,000 
from an insurance company to pay mortgage payments on the 
newly constructed Phyllis Wheatley Branch. 37 Money 
pressures led these agencies to compete directly with relief 
agencies for a place in the Community Fund budget and with 
independent supporters. It also restricted the amount of 
78 
help they could render to relief agencies. 
Inside the meetings of the various philanthropic 
agencles, the need for more money was foremost in 
discussion. Strategies for solving the financial strain 
abounded. Sometimes this need manifested itself in anger 
vented at other organizations. During the March 14, 1930, 
FWS board meeting a board member chided the representative 
of the ICSi for not modeling itself after the board that ran 
the Cincinnati make-work program. The township trustee 
system was also blamed. Private groups asserted that 
trustees had not assumed their share of the rising case 
loads. However, almost two months before the March meeting, 
Leo Rappaport and other Community Fund board members had 
advised family agencles to dump as many cases as possible 
into the hands of the trustees. 38 In part the anger was 
misdirected. FWS board members had not yet realized that 
the trustees were handling at least twice as many cases as 
the year before. Many believed that the trustee was 
ne~lecting her duty to provide for the minimal requirements 
of the poor. 
Several agencies sought aid outside the normal channels 
of the Community Fund. Traditionally, organizations with 
religious or sectarian programs had been allowed to seek 
funding for their non-relief, sectarian programs outside of 
79 
the Community Fund drive. Several organizations used this 
strategy to make up their deficits incurred for relief work. 
The Catholic Community Center reached thousands through 
their column in the Indiana Catholic and Record, urging 
parishioners, for example, to "adopt" a child's milk bill 
for a week. 39 In addition to outside sources, agencies 
expected their board of directors, and sometimes their 
executives·, to give generously. At one point in 1931 the 
finances of the FWS were so precarious that Leo Rappaport 
pledged up to $500 for one month, in addition to his yearly 
donation. 40 
Organizations outside of the Fund were not prepared for 
a massive economic crisis. Most churches faced large debts 
or received declining revenues, making them unable to give 
significant aid. Church and school construction during the 
1920s left the Catholic Archdiocese more than two million 
dollars in debt. Bishop Joseph Chartrand urged parishioners 
during his 1929 Christmas address to double the amount they 
normally gave to the needy, but there was little more he or 
the Catholic Church could do. 41 A few churches where 
wealthy benefactors attended were still able to give 
considerable sums. Second Presbyterian continued its 
funding of Mayer Chapel, expending more than $15,000 per 
year in the early 1930s for benevolent purposes. 4 2 
80 
The Indianapolis Foundation could not be of very much 
assistance to relief agencies without giving up its vision 
of building the foundation of a socially better Indianapolis 
through experimentation in non-relief measures. 
Additionally, litigation had stripped the Indianapolis 
Foundation of $17,000 generated by t he A.P. Pettis fund in 
May 1929, dropping the community trust from fifth place ln 
funds distributed by community trusts to sixth. 43 It did 
agree to give the Fund an additional $4,000, ralslng the 
Foundation's total allotment to the Fund to $20,000 for 
1930. This figure amounted to almost 17 percent of the 
Foundation's budget. In 1931 the Fund received only $10,000 
from the Foundation because of its decreasing income. 44 
Despite the scope of the problem, local philanthropic 
leaders were determined to meet the existing need, even if 
it meant going into debt. After the February 6, 1930, 
Community Fund Board meeting, David Liggett, the recently 
installed executive secretary, wrote: 
While no formal action was taken, it was the sense 
of the board that while the total of expenditures 
for the year seemed beyond the possible resources 
of the Community Fund, the Board of Directors must 
of necessity assume responsibility . . and must 
devise ways and means of securing funds 
necessary. 45 
There seemed no question either by the Community Fund board or 
the boards of the various agencies that the need would and must 
81 
be met. The only question was how the agencies were to ~ 
money they needed. The response was consistent with the history 
of philanthropy in Indianapolis; local resources would meet local 
needs. 
The late spring and summer months of 1930 relieved the 
sense of crlsls felt by members of philanthropic boards. As 
fall approached the Community Fund board clarified its 
policies. · ·In a memo dated July 31, 1930, the Fund put 
member agencies on notice that in the fiscal year beginning 
on November 1 no class of agencies, character building or 
relief, would be given preference to the detriment of other 
agencies' normal functions. It also announced that there 
would not be another budget deficit. The Fund warned 
agencies that its responsibility ended with the disbursement 
of funds. Each agency was responsible for its own program, 
provided it could administer that program within the budget 
guidelines set by the Fund budget committee. 46 The Fund 
apparently had abandoned its earlier pledge to meet existing 
needs, no matter the cost, and to give relief agencies 
special preference. The lower summer needs may have buoyed 
hopes that the Depression would not last much longer and 
therefore a resumption of the trend toward giving character 
agencies the majority of funding could resume : 
For the fall 1930 campaign the Community Fund board 
82 
appointed Arthur V. Brown campaign chairman. Brown urged 
businessmen to give 1n order to avoid social unrest. 47 All 
three major newspapers endorsed the campaign. The Recorder 
noted Fund support of · agencies operating in the black 
community. 4 8 The Church Federation purchased quarter-page 
ads in the Indianapolis Star promoting the idea of giving to 
the Fund as a Christian duty. 49 
In previous years both Christian duty and community 
involvement had been the theme of businessmen and the 
Recorder. In many ways the differences in emphasis for the 
1931 drive reveal latent biases or fears. Businessmen 
wanted to prevent social unrest. Although no large public 
demonstrations had occurred in Indianapolis, other large 
cities had experienced unsettling demonstrations by 
unemployed men and women who had stormed city halls 
demanding more aid. 50 
In the past no such threat was apparent, so the need to 
show pride in community was used as a reason for support. 
The Indiana Catholic and Record relayed the warning of 
William O'Connell, the Archbishop of Boston, that 
businessmen must do something to avert catastrophe. Board 
meeting notes also reveal talk of the need to help others, 
in part, to avoid social unrest. In a later letter to 
Wheeler Mission donors, H.B. Eberhardt, executive secretary 
83 
of Wheeler Mission, wanted non-financial contributions, of 
time and prayer, to "protect America against Revolution and 
Communism." 
For African-Americans the motives were more mixed. Th e 
black community throughout the early 1930s was fearful of 
losing the small amount of economic independence it had. 
Editorials in favor of the creation of black businesses or 
businesses· that would hire blacks appeared in almost every 
lssue of the Recorder throughout the 1930-1933 period. 
The Recorder as well as several other organizations 
enthusiastically supported the Community Fund and the EWC, 
even though not one member of the Community Fund board or 
the board of the EWC was black. The reasons for the support 
given by blacks in Indianapolis were, at least in part, 
because neither Fund agencies nor the EWC overtly 
discriminated in the distribution of aid. 5 1 Because of the 
Recorder, blacks knew that overt discrimination in relief 
aid was the norm in cites such as Baltimore, Birmingham, 
Atlanta, and New Orleans. 52 The Indianapolis tradition of 
n on-d ' s criminatory relief, began in 1835, continued 
t h roughout this early period. 
The fall 1930 Community Fund campaign exceeded its goal 
of $860,000 by $20,642. 53 The hardest decisions came after 
the campaign. The Fund board kept its promise not to favor 
84 
one group of agencies over another. In 1931 the ten 
agencies marked as "relief-giving" received less than half 
of the total money raised and accounted for by the budget, a 
reduction of $19,209.58 compared to total allotments, 
including emergency loans, in 1930. However, the budget 
committee created an emergency fund of $45,000 for future 
needs, which could only be given to relief agencies. 54 
Figure 2.3 Fund Budgets for Relief Agencies, 1930-1931 
Relief Agency 1930 1931 %change 
Catholic Community Center $ 26,525 $ 32,805 23.6 
Family Welfare Society $ 228,500 $ 248,215 08.6 
Indianapolis Day Nursery $ 8,166 $ 8,166 
Travelers Aid Society $ 6,425 $ 8,000 24.5 
Jewish Federation $ 49,500 $ 52,000 05.0 
Red Cross $ 30,000 $ 30,000 
Salvation Army $ 29,100 $ 31,527 08.3 
Thedora Home $ 3,700 $ 4,255 15.0 
Volunteers of America $ 14,297 $ 16,028 12.1 
Wheeler Mission $ 12,000 $ 13,000 08.3 
The recommendations of the budget committee of the 
Community Fund allowed more for character-building agencies 
for fiscal year 1931, to make up for the decreases of the 
previous year. In 1931 they received a 5.2 percent 
increase, amounting to $19,209.58. The largest percentages 
of relief funding went to the Catholic Community Center and 
the Travelers Aid Society. The FWS received only an 8.6 
percent increase. The board was not pleased with the FWS or 
with Wheeler Mission. The board believed that the FWS was 
85 
not doing its job efficiently while Wheeler was taken to 
task for its unauthorized publicity of a Sunday breakfast 
for the poor in the Indianapolis Star. 55 The FWS was 
receiving mixed signals from the Community Fund. Earlier in 
1930, the FWS was told not to take more cases without first 
hiring more social workers. They were later blasted for 
spending too much money, supposedly because of 
inefficiencies that were never specifically identified by 
the Community Fund. 
Despite the public declaration of July 31, Liggett 
noted that relief organizations would be given priority. He 
wrote "it was the consensus of opinion that the Community 
Fund must use all possible available funds for relief this 
year." 56 Relief organizations were told that relief 
situations would be taken care of. Rappaport was given a 
verbal promise from Edward Kahn, president of the Community 
Fund, that the FWS's program would not suffer. 57 Events did 
not allow the Community Fund to resume its policy of 
favoring character building agencies. 
The creation of the relief fund was in part due to the 
influence of Leo Rappaport. Rappaport, as president of the 
FWS, resented the $28,500 deduction in the FWS allocation 
for fiscal year 1931. In the November board meeting he 
successfully campaigned for a relief fund citing the 
86 
possible future needs for relief agencies should the 
Depression continue. He helped convince the board that 
special donations by the Sears and Roebuck Company during 
December and January should be held back for a relief fund. 
The board sided with Rappaport. The Fund could keep all of 
its promlses. All agencies could be promised the same 
allocation as last year, the deficit from fiscal year 1930 
could be paid, and a large relief fund could be created 
without appearing to slight character-building institutions. 
Figure 2.4 Family Agency Case Loads and Expenditures, 1929-1931 
Agency 
Family Welfare Society 
1929 
1930 
1931 
Case Loads 
3,087 
6,169 
7,12 1 
Jewish Federation Social Services 
1929 
1930 24 
1931 35 
Catholic Community Center 
1929 
1930 
1931 
1,352* 
> 750** 
*denotes families rather than individuals 
Expenditures 
On relief 
$115,917 
$127,700 
$172,760 
$ 6,879 
$ 8,358 
**unknown total for year, but by December the CCC had 750 
families under its care. 
As unemployment climbed 194 percent between 1929 and 
1930 and jumped an additional 279 percent between 1930 and 
1931 relief agencies heeded the call for additional aid. 58 
87 
The five township trustees who served Indianapolis increased 
spending 123 percent between 1929 and 1930 and an additiona l 
171.5 percent between 1930 and 1931 . The private sector 
spent an additional 103 percent during the period. 59 
Caseloads at the FWS increased 99.8 percent between 1929 and 
1930 and increased an additional 15.4 percent in 1931 . 
Obviously private and public sector spending did not 
increase in the same proportion as increases in 
unemployment, but it would be a mistake to assume that only 
commensurate increases in funding could have kept pace with 
the need that existed. 
Greater efficiency and cooperation between agencies 
allowed the needy to be clothed, fed, and their rent paid at 
lower than expected costs. Agencies compensated by finding 
ways to save money. The Community Fund stressed efficiency. 
Taking meals, lodgings, clothing and bread as units, Wheeler 
Mission gave out 16,131 units in 1929, 52,565 in 1930, and 
100,780 in 1931. Per unit cost in 1929 was $1.19, but by 
1931 unit costs were cut to only $0.233. 60 Wheeler saved 
some money by cutting insurance premiums and dry cleaning 
expenses, and by reining in costs on their radio programs. 
Wheeler encouraged more volunteer work, gifts of food, 
sponsorship of the unemployment breakfasts they created, and 
donations of clothing. The Depression also affected prices. 
88 
The cost of living in Indianapolis dropped by 16.2 percent 
between December 1929 and December 1930, so some of 
Wheeler's efficiency was due to lower costs, but not mos t of 
it. 61 
Other agenc1es did not do as well as Wheeler Mission, 
in terms of gaining greater efficiency. Possible savings 
were not implemented by some agencies. The Children's 
Bureau cost the FWS around $31,000 per year between 1929 and 
1934. 62 The FWS resisted requests by the Community Fund 
that it relinquish its management of foster children and 
hand over all cases to the Marion County Children's Guardian 
Home. The FWS also continued to employ a district system of 
administration, used since the nineteenth century, which 
required higher overhead costs than a more centralized 
system. However, the FWS was not an agency that was 
prepared for relief emergencies. Its focus was on the long-
term reform of an individual. If some relief was required, 
as suggested by the social worker in charge of an 
individual's case, then it was given. Responsibility for 
pure sustenance was considered a public matter. 
Speakers at the National Conference of Social Work 
considered emergency relief a public duty. Social work 
standards at the private agencies needed to be maintained as 
much as possible. The public system should therefore 
89 
disperse emergency aid, while private agencies provided case 
work studies and supervised implementation of social work 
standards. Leo Rappaport, as president of the FWS, directed 
that high standards of social work continue. Rappaport 
defended dumping cases into the hands of the township 
trustee because it allowed the FWS to continue its role as a 
long-term care provider. Interestingly, however, as costs 
rose the Fw·s sacrificed social work standards to fund a 
greater amount of relief for a larger number of cases. The 
five districts of the FWS were to be kept because they 
played a crucial part in their estimate of what good social 
work entailed. They considered the high cost of having 
separate district centers as an almost non-negotiable 
expense. 63 
Reports on the number aided do not reveal the ongoing 
strengthening of the private-public partnership. A general 
belief in cooperation was apparent before the stock market 
crash. Contact between private and public agencies, in 
particular between the FWS and the Center Township Trustee, 
became frequent after October 1929. Although there were 
tensions concerning relief aid and proper social work 
technique, both sectors were forced by necessity to deal 
amicably with one another. By March of 1931 this 
partnership became formal. Its most visible symbol was the 
90 
Emergency Work Committee (EWC). 
In Indianapolis public and private activities united to 
fight the Depression. Eugene Foster proved instrumental in 
guiding the Church Federation to organize church employment 
programs. Many businessmen, including Arthur Brown and Leo 
Rappaport, urged the Chamber of Commerce to take a 
leadership position. The Chamber gathered information for 
the ICSE, ·encouraged members to help the EWC, and undertook 
campalgns to bring businesses to Indianapolis. A. Kiefer 
Mayer, Leo Rappaport, Eugene Foster, and many others aided 
in the development of the mayor's emergency committee. The 
mayor brought together executive departments and the EWC to 
create work projects. 
The EWC began operating December 3, 1930. The ICSE 
created the EWC to operate as its relief-giving arm. 
Foster, along with George Gill, and William Book, secretary 
of the Chamber of Commerce, were members of an ICSE 
committee that visited Cincinnati to study its make-work 
program. 64 The Cincinnati program was a joint county-city 
project operating on public funds. It paid approximately 
1100 men 40 cents an hour for 24 hours work per week. The 
project also ran a soup kitchen. By December 1930 the 
project was costing the city and county governments $40,000 
per month. The Indianapolis committee derided the 
91 
Cincinnati project's high wages, believing that high wages 
were both uneconomical and reduced incentives for the 
unemployed to find a "real" job. 65 
After the trip, Gill created the plan that would be 
used by Indianapolis in the years to come. Gill recommended 
that the Commission adopt a publicly funded make-work 
program. He, Book, and Foster wanted wages to be paid to 
unemployed ·workers in lieu of charity. 6 6 They did not 
recommend full adoption of the Cincinnati program. In many 
ways this refusal to fully create an expensive program 
illustrates social work executives' basic conservatism. 
They did not want a permanent public work force; instead, 
they desired a short-term solution similar to the Chamber of 
Commerce's work committee of 1893. 67 From the summer until 
December of 1930, Book and Gill held meetings with most 
social agencies and public departments in order to develop 
support and to determine the number of people who could be 
usefully employed by the committee. Forty years later Gill 
remembered that it seemed an "unlimited" number. 68 
Gill's plan included both public and private support 
and guidance. Gill served as the executive director of the 
EWC. He was given paid leave from the Indianapolis Free 
Employment Bureau, an agency underwritten by the 
Indianapolis Foundation. The mayor selected a board of 
92 
directors. Workers for the positions were selected from the 
relief rolls of both private and public relief agencies. 
The board of directors created committees which helped to 
find funding for the EWC, coordinated public and private 
agency cooperation and planning, and searched for work 
venues. 
Despite the three-member committee's recommendation for 
public support, the EWC had to be content with money from 
private sources. Public money never directly funded the EWC. 
The Community Fund gave a total of $43,000. 69 Firewood 
sales, benefit ball games, and other activities resulted in 
smaller amounts. From December 3, 1930 until mid-January 
1931 the EWC provided an average of $7.09 in wages for 
twenty-four hours of work (29.5 cents per hour), but there 
was not enough money to continue the experiment. A switch 
to $2.20 in wages and $5.00 in groceries, provided by the 
township trustee, was made January 12. By May 16 not even 
the reduced wage could be paid and, except for veterans 
whose wages were paid by the Red Cross, all wages ceased and 
only the grocery orders were given. Work was cut to sixteen 
hours per week. 70 Board members hoped that the Community 
Fund or the city government would include the EWC in their 
next budget. Board members proposed that during the summer 
of 1931 the EWC shut down, except for a skeleton crew to 
93 
continue minimal operations. 
On the operations side, the EWC proved as successful as 
the Cincinnati program. It hired as many as 1766 men per 
week, paid out over $48,000 in relief wages, gave out 
$67,532 in food and supplies, and provided 387,301 hours of 
labor to fifteen different social agencies and public 
departments. The labor provided these agencies completed 
tasks that ·probably would have been left for years undone. 
Over 3,800 different families were aided. 71 In addition 
cooperation between the township trustees, social agencies, 
and municipal government was achieved through the efforts of 
the EWC board and staff. However, the absence of adequate, 
stable, funding concerned the EWC board. 
On May 16, 1931 the Community Fund's allotment to the 
EWC ran out. In the June EWC board meeting, members asked 
for $600 per month from the Community Fund, and later asked 
the Indianapolis Foundation for $6,000 for office expenses. 
In June they received an additional $600 from the Fund and 
$400 from the Red Cross, but failed to get longer term 
commitments from either group. 72 In July, EWC board members 
rejected a motion to join the Community Fund for fear that 
their budget would be too constrained by the Community 
Fund's budget committee. The results of this · action were 
made painfully clear only a few months later. As non-
94 
participants in the campaign and without a volce on the Fund 
board, they were treated as outsiders. 
More traditional agencies formed stronger bonds between 
one another throughout the period. Contact between township 
trustee offices and the FWS had not been unusual before 
1930. Township trustees routinely used the FWS's 
registration bureau, borrowed its social workers, and staff 
from both agencies went to the Indiana Social Work 
Conference. Meetings between FWS board members, or the 
FWS's executive secretary, and township trustee officials 
increased after January 1930. Between February 1930 and 
April 1931, the township trustee gave more aid to FWS 
clients, took a larger percentage of the client load, 
increased aid given generally, loaned the Society a half­
time worker in one over-worked district, allowed clients to 
choose at least some of their own groceries, and sent a 
representative to the FWS's district advisory committee. 73 
In order to resolve differences and discuss strategy, Leo 
Rappaport, Rhonda Morrow, the executive secretary of the 
FWS, and Nadia Deem, an assistant to Morrow, met regularly 
with the Center Township Trustee, Hannah Noone, or Amelia 
Harding (after 1930), the county commissioner, and the 
township trustee advisory committee between February 1930, 
and April 1931. This relationship became formal when a 
95 
consultative committee was formed in April 1931. After this 
body was created discussion concerning the township trustee 
virtually disappear from the board meeting notes of the FWS. 
The FWS-Center Township trustee relationship was but 
one example of the growing public-private partnership. The 
ICSE was created by both public and private entities. Its 
Central Registration Bureau identified the unemployed, 
sought joh bpportunities for them, and later acted as a 
clearinghouse for relief requests. A "Private-Public 
Agencies Conference," held June 19, 1930, was a product of 
the ICSE, but was also supported by the Community Fund in 
its desire to determine the scope of current cooperation 
between private and public agencies. 
The EWC symbolized the newly formalized public-private 
partnership. Although the EWC never received public funding 
directly, the individuals who were employed by the EWC, 
after January 1931, were paid in kind by the township 
trustee. Men and women were certified as deserving of 
relief by either public or private agencies through a 
central registration center. Private groups donated Office 
supplies and paid for the executive's salary. While Mayor 
Reginald Sullivan did not, and could not, use taxpayer funds 
for the EWC, he did authorize the city to spend $60,000 to 
improve Pleasant Run Parkway, a project largely worked by 
96 
EWC employees with material and supervision provided by the 
city. The EWC provided statistics and names to civic 
officials concernlng unemployment and relief. EWC projects 
included work on public roads and buildings as well as 
service to private, semi-public, agencies, such as 
Christamore House and the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. 
This increasing partnership fit the Indianapolis 
pattern of ·cooperation between public and private spheres. 
Few leaders recognized a significant difference between 
locally controlled public and private activities that helped 
the unemployed, or the less fortunate in general. The men 
and women who sat on the various boards of directors 
believed they were fulfilling a public duty. At the local 
level, the demarcation between private and public spheres 
was unclear. 
Many of the men who sat on philanthropic boards were 
also members of public charity committees. In an interview 
sixty years later, George Gill rarely distinguished between 
those holding private positions and those in the public 
sphere. While some derided township trustee efficiency or 
rejected national aid, they felt compelled to act in any way 
possible to help the unemployed in their community. When 
the Community Fund board members believed they could not 
continue to fund relief work at current levels, in March 
97 
1930, they turned to the city hoping the public sector could 
give them a direct grant. Their idea could not be 
implemented, but only because state law prevented cities 
from giving money for · relief. 74 In fact, several plans were 
not carried through because the public sector was prohibited 
by state law from giving cash wages for relief. 
Actions illustrate this cooperative mindset. 
Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Community 
Fund board wanted the FWS to turn over its children's bureau 
to the Marion County Children's Guardian Home. Why did the 
board of a private philanthropic group want one of its 
organizations to give up one of its oldest programs? The 
board believed it more efficient to have one agency deal 
with all child welfare programs. Before the New Deal 
nationalized welfare programs, board members refused to 
recognize the dividing line of public and private when it 
came to helping the underprivileged or meeting civic goals. 
The Depression did not change this pattern. J.K. 
Lilly, for example, gave $25,000 to both the Community Fund 
and to the Purdue Research Foundation, an entity that aided 
a public institution, in 1931. For Lilly, both actions 
supported the public good. It did not matter that one check 
went to a private organization and another grant aided a 
public university. Public and private entities, sometimes 
98 
guided by the same people, worked together becau se t h ey saw 
no reason not to do so. 75 
The various boards changed very l i ttle over t h e ear ly 
years of the Depression. The Indianapolis Foundation's 
board had not changed at all since 1918. The Community Fund 
board increased its membership from twenty-four to thirty in 
early 1931, but then created a ten-member executive counci l 
to deal with most matters so that the entire board's power 
was actually reduced somewhat. 76 Membership on the new 
emergency boards were mostly filled with the same 
individuals who already had prominence on other 
philanthropic boards, although these new emergency boards 
contained somewhat more social work executives. This may 
have been due to the belief that these boards were to be 
temporary and that technical knowledge, in the form of 
social work practice and philosophy, should be present. 77 
The relationship between boards and their executives 
began to change throughout this period. Before October 
1929, most executives were expected to convey social work 
opinion to boards and handle the daily affairs of the 
organization, but major questions were handled by board 
members themselves. The voices of executives were rarely 
recorded in board meeting notes. By May 1931,· Rhoda Morrow 
was making suggestions for large structural changes, 
99 
assistant executives were representing the FWS at meetings 
with the township trustee, and certain executives were 
becoming influential board members in their own right. 
Sometimes social .workers and board members differed 
over how to cope with the Depression, but both groups still 
strongly supported local control and direction over relief. 
Social workers, in general, did not believe enough was being 
done to aid · the unemployed. Indianapolis social workers 
offered no coherent solutions but harbored a general belief 
that more needed to be done, evidently by the public 
sector. 7 8 
When the EWC began operation, the idea of the make-work 
program was pitched as a way to alleviate large case loads. 
When the EWC switched to vouchers and partial cash wage 
payments social workers registered no disagreement, in part 
because many social workers did not totally trust a cash­
only system of relief. 79 As money became scarce for the 
EWC, the system of payment again changed. Workers now had 
to work two days and all they received was a voucher for 
groceries from the township trustee. The two-day system 
where workers received only a $5 basket of food was 
considered foolish by some ln both the business community 
and by social workers. It meant that the EWC only 
duplicated services rendered by the township trustee, did 
100 
not alleviate the case loads of the FWS or the Catholic 
Community Center, and forced the destitute to work for 
something that before the Depression they received for free. 
Eugene Foster was the · first to object, believing it to be 
counterproductive and unfair to those who lost their job 
through no fault of their own. 80 
Nationally, social workers expressed themselves at 
their national meetings. Foster, Gill, Morrow, and others 
traveled to Philadelphia and Minneapolis, the sites for the 
1930 and 1931 National Social Work Conferences. The 
conferences suggested a continuation of local relief, but 
called for more aid. Linton Swift, head of the national 
FWS, wanted the local public sector to take on the full 
relief burden and challenged local FWS's to concentrate on 
character building through case work. 81 In 1931, the idea 
that private philanthropy could not meet the need became 
explicit. Jacob Billikopf, executive director of the New 
York Federation of Jewish Charities, stated 11 private 
philanthropy is no longer capable of coping with the 
situation. 1182 Billikopf urged social workers to be 
advocates of government reform in the areas of unemployment 
insurance and old age pensions. Their ideas registered with 
local social workers who passed on these ideas to board 
members. 83 
101 
Pleas to do something more than charity grew louder i n 
late 1930 and early 1931, not only in the halls of 
Philadelphia or Minneapolis, but in Indianapolis as wel l . 
Red banners flew in Indianapolis streets in early January. 
About 150 unemployed workers marched to the State House and 
then to city hall demanding more aid. The Indiana Catholic 
and Record dismissed the action, commenting that "these men 
are not seeking work, but rather some way to make 
trouble." 84 Almost a month later, almost 300 waited outside 
the State House. In an unprecedented move, the Indiana 
House of Representatives allowed one of the march's leaders 
to speak to the Assembly, after he swore he was not a 
communist. The leader warned that if relief were not given 
"something serious will result," although he assured the 
House it was not something he wanted to happen. 85 It lS 
possible that the same fear of radical action prompted a 
part of the responsiveness of philanthropic agencies. 
Philanthropic and community leaders also spoke out for 
more relief aid, but not from the state or federal 
government. After the city ruled that it could not help the 
Community Fund, the Fund board did not pursue other publicly 
funded avenues of support. No mention is ever made in this 
period of possible state aid and no attempt is recorded 
requesting such aid. Local resources could and would meet 
102 
local needs, and local control would remain. 
Some city leaders spoke of the need for additional aid. 
Indiana's senior senator stated that "the time has come when 
there must be jobs for the jobless. 11 86 Dr. Jean 
Milner, pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, a church that 
several board members attended, served as the guest speaker 
at the annual meeting of the Community Fund in 1931. Milner 
derided the current attempts at helping the poor. Near the 
end of his address he urged his listeners to press for 
something better, stating: 
Jesus certainly taught social service, but he also 
taught something very much better than that. He 
believed there was something better than charity. 
He believed in social justice. Taking his words 
literally, there is perhaps enough dynamite in 
them to break into bits our whole Western economic 
system. . The Kingdom of God . . was a two­
fold thing, a kingdom which must exist within the 
heart of man, in his inner attitudes, from which 
would emanate the outward and material expression, 
and the building here on earth of a form of human 
society which would be based upon social justice, 
righteousness and love. " 87 
The early mild period of the Great Depression came to a 
symbolic end in July 1931. Walter Clarke, attorney for the 
Center Township trustee, reported an increase, not the 
expected decrease, in the relief requests for June. 
Unemployment was definitely on the rise. Troubling also was 
the needed increases in the EWC summer budget,· the new 
deficit projections for the Fund, and the surging needs 
103 
presented by the staffs of Wheeler Mission and the Family 
Welfare Society. It was becoming clear to everyone that the 
Depression would not end soon. 
104 
Notes for Chapter 2 
In citing archives in the notes, short titles have generally 
been used. Works frequently cited have been identified by 
the following abbreviations: 
CATH Papers 
CF papers 
CoC Papers 
CoC-CoC 
DL Papers 
FWS Papers 
Papers of the Archdiocese of 
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Archdiocese 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Community Fund, United Way 
of Central Indiana Archives, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana . 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Offices of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 
Papers of Daniel B. Luten, Manuscripts 
Division - Indiana State Library, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Family Services 
Association, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
105 
GCUR Papers 
IF Papers 
YWCA Papers 
WM Papers 
Papers of the Governor's Committee on 
Unemployment Relief, Indiana State 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Offices of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the YWCA of Indianapolis, 
Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of Wheeler Mission Ministries, 
Indiana University - Purdue University 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
1. For different perspectives on that era see the 
introduction and the first three chapters of Paul 
Hollander's Political Pilgrims: Travels of Western 
Intellectuals in the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba, 1928-
1978(New York: Oxford University Press, 1981). See also the 
various writings and speeches of Cannon in Fred Stanton, 
ed., The Left Opposition in the U.S. 1928-31: James P. 
Cannon Writings and Speeches, 1928-31 (New York: Monad 
Press, 1981). 
106 
2. Irving Bernstein, A History of the American Worker, 
1920-1933: The Lean Years (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1960), 426. 
3. See George E. Gill, "Bringing Job and Worker Together," 
Nation's Business (February 1931), copy in the Indiana 
Division, Indiana State Library. See also William H. Book's 
two articles "Helping the Man and the City, Too," Nation's 
Business (September 1931), and "How Indianapolis Combines 
Poor Relief with Public Work," National Municipal Review 20 
(September 1931): 513-517, copies in the Indiana Division, 
Indiana State Library. Throughout these works Gill and Book 
reveal that work decreases a number of social problems. 
4. The ICSE was composed of 31 business, political, 
philanthropic leaders, and social work executives. The 
board was appointed by the mayor. Most were prominent 
businessmen with ties to philanthropy. See Appendix for a 
full list of members. 
5. Indianapolis Star, 31 October 1929,8. 
6. Indianapolis Star, 25 April 1930,8. 
7. Board Minutes for 17 April 1930, "Fund Board Minutes," 
September 6, 1923-December 31, 1930, CF Paper~. 
8. Report compiled by the Industrial Commission of the 
107 
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, attached to the 2 March 
1930 minutes, p. 1, in "Minutes of the Board of Directors of 
the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1930," CoC-CoC. 
9. See Bernstein, A History of the American Worker, 292. 
See also Joanna C. Colcord, William C. Koplovitz, and 
Russell H. Kurtz, Emergency Work Relief: As Carried Out ln 
Twenty-Six American Communities, 1930-31, With Suggestions 
for Setting Up a Program (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 
1932) 1 11-14. 
10. Emma A. Winslow, Trends in Different Types of Public 
and Private Relief in Urban Areas, 1929-1935 (Washington, 
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937), 10. In 1931 
these groups expended $172,741,219. 
11. Jeffrey Singleton, "Unemployment Relief and the Welfare 
State, 1930-1935," 2 vols. (Ph.D. dissertation, Boston 
University, 1987), 1:90-91. 
12. According to Curtis Simon and Clark Nardinelli 
~industrially more diverse cities experienced higher rates 
of unemployment" at the onset of the Depression. Inaccurate 
market information caused companies to lay off workers. 
During normal economic times this acted as a pressure relief 
valve as companies in unaffected sectors took up the slack. 
108 
During the early part of the Depression the mechanism 
created a rapid increase in unemployment without a 
corresponding increase in employment in other sectors. See 
Simon and Nardinelli, "Does Industrial Diversity Always 
Reduce Unemployment? Evidence From The Great Depression and 
After," Economic Inquiry (April 1992): 384-397. 
13. Indianapolis Commission for Stabilization of 
Employment, "Problems of Unemployment ln 
Indianapolis" (Indianapolis 1930), 6. This number is not 
consistent with the number in Figure 2.1. The numbers ln 
Figure 2.1 were assembled from the Indiana University­
Chamber of Commerce figures. These figures are probably too 
high. Along with the census, the numbers in Figure 2.1 only 
counted businesses that had at least $5,000 in sales. 
Smaller businesses, and thus numerous employees, were not 
figured in to the equation. Since larger businesses were 
the hardest hit by the Depression this had the effect of 
skewing the numbers. The EWC numbers are probably very 
close to correct, however they do not span the entire period 
and thus cannot be used in this study for a consistent 
source. See John Joseph Wallis, "Employment in the Great 
Depression: New Data and Hypotheses," Explorations in 
Economic History 26 (1989): 45-72, on his realignment of 
109 
these numbers. Wallis cites numerous problems with the way 
the official Bureau of Labor Statistics conducted its 
employment surveys. For instance, manufacturing firms and 
large firms in general were overrepresented and sometimes 
even the sampling of the large firms was too small. In 
addition non-manufacturing industries were not as hard hit. 
Since Indianapolis had a large non-manufacturing base as 
well as a low organized labor ratio it should have been 
better off than many of its sister cities. (For cities with 
a rate of union organization over 17 percent there was a 
decrease of 2 percent in employment for every 1 percent 
increase ln unionization) . 
14. Percentages with attendant approximate real numbers 
attached to the 20 August 1931 Chamber of Commerce Board 
Member Notes. "Confidential Memo on Unemployment Relief," 
in "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, 1931," CoC-CoC. 
15. William A. Sundstrom, "Last Hired, First Fired? 
Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great 
Depression," Journal of Economic History 52 (June 1992): 
415-429. By April 1930, in Northern cities, black male 
unemployment was 14.3 percent while white male unemployment 
averaged 8 percent. By January 1931 the percentages were 
110 
41.7 and 27.8 respectively. Sundstrom wrote that "within 
the North, unemployment rates were 80 percent higher for 
blacks than for whites." 
16. "Monthly Reports November 1930-November 1935," Box 6, 
Folder 3, FWS Papers. 
17. Between April 27, 1931 and August 20, 1931, 49.5 
percent of EWC workers were black and the greatest number 
were between 36-40 years of age. "Director's Report, 20 
August 1931," Box 4, File 42, p. 10, CoC Papers. 
18. Minutes from the 16 April 1931 meeting in "Minutes of 
the Board of Directors of the Family Welfare Society," 
BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
19. Indianapolis Star, 7 September 1930, 16. See also 
Indianapolis Recorder, 22 March 1930, 3. 
20. The Recorder began advertising its campalgn in the 
December 7, 1929 issue. The next winter it began earlier. 
See Indianapolis Recorder, 7 December 1929, 1, and 22 
November 1930, 1. Most donations to the "Good Fellows" fund 
were between $1 and $5. A number of relief activities are 
noted, including the Second Baptist Church, i~ the Recorder, 
13 December 1930, 2. 
111 
21. Rappaport knew that the FWS had aided 1429 unemployed 
families or individuals during 1929 and that over half 
sought aid during November and December alone. 
22. Special Board meeting of the Community Fund, 5 December 
1929, "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Community 
Fund 6 September 1923-23 October 1930," FWS Papers. 
23. February 1930 Community Fund records show a total of 
$27,000 more than reported at the close of the campaign as 
reported in the 28 November 1929 Indianapolis News. While 
it was not unusual to receive a few thousand dollars of 
additional pledges after the campaign, this large of an 
increase, or at least most of it, must be the result of the 
special campaign. 
24. Minutes of the 6 February 1930 meeting in "Fund Board 
Minutes," September 6 1923-December 31, 1930, CF Papers. 
25. Minutes from the 31 January 1930 Meeting in "Minutes of 
the Board of Directors of the Family Welfare Society of 
Indianapolis," BV1231b, FWS Papers. Recorded within the 
minutes is the fact that the township trustee was spending 
$15,905 per month. In 1929 the trustee had spent close to 
$100,000 for the entire year. 
112 
26. Table B, "Total and Per-Capita Expenditures From Public 
and From Private Funds for Relief in 117 Specified Urban 
Areas; 1929-1935" in Emma A. Winslow, Trends in . . Public 
--------------------------
and Private Relief, 74. 
27. "Monthly Reports of Wheeler City Rescue Mission," Box 
50, folder 4, WM Papers. 
28. "Monthly Reports of Wheeler City Rescue Mission," Box 
50, Folders 3 and 4, WM Papers. In August 1929 Wheeler 
Mission served 126 meals. By December 1930, the Mission was 
servlng 5073 meals. 
29. "Monthly Reports November 1930-November 1935," Box 6, 
Folder 3, FWS Papers. 
30. "Detail Report for February 1931." in "Indianapolis 
Community Fund Ledger 1928-1942," Box 50, Folder 4, WM 
Papers. 
31. "Monthly Reports November 1930-November 1935," Box 6, 
Folder 3, FWS Papers. 
32. "Detail Report May 1931," in "Monthly Reports of 
Wheeler City Rescue Mission," Box 50, Folder 4, WM Papers. 
In the Indianapolis News, 7 March 1931, 11, Dodge advertised 
"The New Six" as starting at $815. 
113 
33. Minutes of the 21 May 1931 meeting, in "Fund Board 
Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
34. The FWS had 2140 · active cases in February of which 1818 
were related to employment problems. In November 1930, only 
822 cases were due to unemployment. A normal case load was 
between 40-50 cases, but Indianapolis social workers were 
carrying as many as 200. See "Council of Social agencies 
Study on Relief," in Minutes of the 12 December 1930 
meeting, "Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, 
CF Papers. 
35. George C. Mercer, One Hundred Years of Service, 1854-
1954: A History of the Young Men's Christian Association of 
Indianapolis (Indianapolis: YMCA, 1955), 109. 
36. Board Minutes 18 September 1930 in "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 
1930," CoC-CoC. 
37. Minutes of the 4 October 1930 meeting in "Board of 
Trustees Minutes, 1929-1936," Box 2, Folder 2, M485 OM185, 
YWCA Papers. 
38. Meeting minutes from 14 March 1930 in "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors of the Family Welfare Society of 
114 
Indianapolis," BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
39. Indiana Catholic and Record, 9 May 1930, 5. 
40. Minutes for 14 August 1930 in "Minutes of the Board of 
Directors of the Family Welfare Society of Indianapolis," 
BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
41. A majority of money taken in by the church was spent on 
Catholic education, maintenance of local and national 
charities, upkeep on church buildings, and the small 
salaries for the priests and nuns. Compilation of reports 
by various churches concerning their indebtedness. 
"Catholic Archdiocese Reports 1929-1935." CATH Papers. For 
Bishop Chartrand's Christmas address see same. 
42. See George W. Geib, Lives Touched By Faith: Second 
Presbyterian, 150 years (Indianapolis: Second Presbyterian 
Church, 1988), 122-124. See also Arthur C. Moore, The 
Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis: One Hundred 
Years, 1838-1938 (Greenfield, IN: Wm. Mitchell Publishing 
Co., 1939), 104-112. 
43. Letter from Director to Fred L. Hollweg dated 28 
February 1930 concerning the litigation. The family 
contested the will of Pettis, who had lived in Indianapolis 
115 
only a very short time. Funds available for distribution 
dropped from a high, in fiscal year 1928, of $136,233, to 
$119,925 for 1930. "Director's Report May, 23 1930" in 
"Minutes," 1928-1932, Book 3, IF Papers. 
44. Annual Reports for 1930, 1931 ln "Minutes" 1928-1932, 
Book 3, IF Papers. 
45. Board minutes 6 February 1930 in "Fund Board Minutes," 
September 6, 1923-December 31, 1931, CF Papers. 
46. Two page memo adopted 31 July 1930, Board Minutes 31 
July 1930 in "Fund Board Minutes," September 6, 1923-
December 31, 1930, CF Papers. 
47. Brown stated "If Indianapolis is to avoid further 
business depression and if we are to avoid grave social 
unrest the goal of the Community Fund must be reached." 
Indianapolis Star, 20 September 1930, 1. 
48. Indianapolis Recorder, 11 October 1930, 4. 
49. Indianapolis Star, 18 October 1930, 7. 
50. That revolution was a real fear is apparent in the 
editorial pages of many papers. Arthur Brown advocated 
giving to the Fund to avoid social unrest. The Indiana 
Catholic and Record accused the Indianapolis Times of 
116 
spreading "pro-Bolshevist" propaganda (Indiana Catholic and 
Record 7 March 1930, 4). Indiana Catholic and Record, 17 
October 1930, 1. Eberhard's letter, dated December 1933, 
found in Box 3, File 11, WM Papers. 
51. EWC workers were paid a flat rate, not one based on 
race. This researcher has not reviewed, on a case by case 
basis, the FWS cases, but no overt discrimination was 
apparent from the sample cases given to the Community Fund 
board in the summer of 1931. In addition there was not a 
segregated apparatus set up for the dispersal of funds. 
Also, the Recorder did not mention any belief that 
Indianapolis agencies discriminated in relief giving. 
Agency policy booklets advocated purely non-discriminatory 
relief practices. 
52. Indianapolis Recorder, 7 February 1931, 4, reprinted an 
editorial against Washington, D.C. relief discrimination. 
The editor wrote "In humanitarian welfare work, one should 
expect to find little or no race prejudice, Not so ln 
Washington." Douglas L. Smith in The New Deal in the Urban 
South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988), 
29-38, details the discrimination in relief giving in the 
South prior to the New Deal. 
117 
53. "Final Report of the Campaign," 16 November 1931, 4, in 
"Fund Board Minutes," September 6, 1923-December 31, 1930, 
CF Papers. See also Indianapolis Star, 30 October 1930, pt. 
2' p. 1. 
54. November 16, 1930 Fund board meeting notes in "Fund 
Board Minutes," September 6, 1923-December 31, 1930, CF 
Papers. 
55. Minutes from the 26 June 1930 meeting in "Fund Board 
Minutes," September 6, 1923-December 31, 1930, CF Papers. 
56. Notes from the 20 November 1930 meeting in "Fund Board 
Minutes," September 6, 1923-December 31, 1930, CF Papers. 
57. Minutes of the 15 May 1931 Board Meeting in "Minutes of 
the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Family Welfare 
Society," BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
58. "Confidential memo on Unemployment Relief" attached to 
the 20 August 1931 Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting notes 
in "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 
Community Fund, 1931," CoC-CoC. 
59. See Table B, "Total and per-captia expenditure from 
public and private funds for relief in 117 specified urban 
areas, 1929-35" in Emma A. Winslow Trends in . .. Public 
118 
and Private Relief, 74. 
60. Letter to the Community Fund sometime in late 1932 from 
Herbert Eberhardt, Box 4, Folder 11, WM Papers. Costs for 
unitS : $19 I 2 7 0 . 7 7 ( 19 2 9 ) ; $2 0 1 4 9 6 • 8 0 ( 19 3 0) ; $2 3 1 55 6 • 59 
(1931). 
61. Indiana Business Review, 20 February 1931, 3. 
62."Comparative Budgets, 1927-1933," Box 3 File 10, FWS 
Papers. 
63. "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Family Welfare 
Society," 10 January 1930 to 14 March 1930, BV1231b, FWS 
Papers. 
64. "Transcript of Taped Interview with George Gill" 
(1972), 5, Oral history Project, Indiana State Library. 
65. "Manager's Report of the Emergency Work Committee, 
March 28, 1931," Folder 2, DL Papers. 
66. See "Transcript of Taped Interview with George Gill," 
5. See also Gill's last Manager's Report to the Emergency 
Work Committee, February 2, 1934, which gives an overview of 
the entire project, in Folder 4, DL Papers. 
67. In 1893 the forerunner to the Chamber of Commerce 
119 
created a temporary make-work project for the unemployed. 
It hired men to work on public projects and paid them a 
small wage. The Emergency Work Committee consciously 
emulated the 1893 project. See George Geib and Miriam Geib, 
Indianapolis First (Indianapolis: Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, 1990), 23-25. 
68. "Transcript of Taped Interview with George Gill, u 9. 
69. In January 1931, the Community Fund gave $37,500 to the 
EWC from the emergency relief fund it had created. 
Throughout the rest of the year the Fund gave smaller 
amounts that added up to $43,000. See Manager's Reports for 
31 January 1931 and Activities Reports 1 January 1931-27 
June 1931, Folders 2 and 3, DL Papers. 
70. "Manager's Report, 2 February 1934,u Folder 4, DL 
Papers. 
71. Activities Report, 1 January 1931-27 June 1931, Folder 
2, DL Papers. 
72. "Report of Activities, June 2, 1931,u Folder 2, DL 
Papers. 
73. Minutes for 7 February 1930-16 April 1931, ln "Minutes 
of the Board of Directors of the Family Welfare Society,u 
120 
BV1231b FWS Papers. 
74. A Mr. Ohr of the State Board of Examiners told board 
members that the city· could not legal l y give money for 
relief purposes. After this meeting discussions concerning 
possible public funding for the Fund stopped. See Board 
Minutes, 17 March 1930 in "Fund Board Minutes," September 6, 
1923-December 31, 1930, CF Papers. 
75. J.K. Lilly made up a Community Fund shortfall the same 
year he gave $25,000 to the Purdue Research Foundation. He 
saw both as public commitments. See Fred C. Kelly, David 
Ross: Modern Pioneer (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1946), 113, 
151-152. According to John Paul Duncan most municipal 
legislation was controlled by the members of the Chamber of 
Commerce between 1925 and 1941. See Duncan's dissertation 
"Control of the City Government of Indianapolis, Evidenced 
by the Forces Determining its Ordinances, 1925-1941" (Ph.D. 
dissertation, Indiana University, 1945). A copy of an 
abstract of the work is located in the Indiana Division, 
Indiana State Library. 
76. The executive council was announced at the Community 
Fund Annual meeting 24 February 1931, in "Fund Board 
Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
121 
77. When boards were created for social work type of 
operations they were usually filled with social work 
executives. The Indianapolis Free Employment Bureau, for 
example, had five social work executives on its board, out 
of a total of fifteen seats. 
78. FWS Meeting Minutes reveal concern expressed by Morrow 
over township trustee failure to glve proper food orders. 
Liggett recommended having FWS board members with political 
influence see the trustee's advisory board to increase 
public funding. In addition, the meetings of the local 
chapter of the American Association of Social Workers 
focused on publicly funded solutions to the unemployment 
problem. See Bertha Leming, "Indianapolis chapter, American 
Association of Social Workers," copy in Indiana Division, 
Indiana State Library. 
79. See Joanna C. Colcord, Cash Relief (New York: Russell 
Sage Foundation, 1936), 17-18, for contemporary social work 
views on cash relief. According to Colcord, with the 
increase in clients due to the Depression, private agencies 
had less time to get to know their clients. As a result, 
social workers turned to in-kind rather than money aid in 
order to make certain that clients received basic 
necessities . It seems that social workers did not trust 
122 
clients to always make intelligent decisions with money if 
they had not been adequately counseled by the social worker. 
80. "Activities Report April 16, 1931," Folder 2, DL 
Papers. 
81. See Linton B. Swift's address, "The Corrununity Fund and 
Relief Giving" in Proceedings of the National Conference of 
Social Work, Boston Massachusetts, June 8-14, 1930(Chicago: 
University of Chicago Press, 1930), 239-249. 
82. Jacob Billikopf, "What Have We Learned About 
Unemployment?" in Proceedings of the National Conference of 
Social Work, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 14-20, 
1931(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931), 39. 
83. George Gill reported that he brought such ideas to 
board members in Indianapolis. See "Transcript of Taped 
Interview with George Gill," 1-5. 
84. Indiana Catholic and Record, 9 January 1931, 4. 
85. Indianapolis Star, 3 February 1931, 3. 
86. Indiana Catholic and Record, 24 October 1930, 4. 
87. "The Long View" by Dr. Jean Milner deliv~red at the 
Corrununity Fund Annual Meeting, 24 February 1931 in "Fund 
Board Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. Dr. 
123 
Milner was part of the Social Gospel tradition. Social 
salvation depended upon good works and lifting up the poor. 
124 
Chapter 3 
The Last Great Period of Private Philanthropy, Summer 1931-
0ctober 1933 
The end of significant voluntary relief work was 
symbolized by the death in 1932 of Monsignor Francis Gavisk, 
rector of St. John's Catholic Church and renowned 
philanthropic leader. His funeral reflected the tenor of 
private philanthropy's efforts to aid the unemployed. · It 
came at a time when the older, locally centered relief work 
began to give way to the forces of the New Deal and the 
modern welfare state. 
Gavisk was a leader who had worked tirelessly on behalf 
of others and who fit into the dominant local culture. He 
had served for over twenty-five years on the State Board of 
Charities. Gavisk was well-known and beloved by many. Frank 
S. C. Weeks, a fellow member of the State Board of Charities 
and a Unitarian minister, noted in his Sunday sermon that 
Gavisk "did much to bring all sects together in 
philanthropic work and made good feeling among all." 1 
Father Gavisk would not have quite recognized the role 
and structure of philanthropy in the years that followed his 
death. During his tenure on the State Board of Charities 
local resources funded locally controlled institutions. 
125 
Orphans and widows received some national funding, as did 
disabled veterans, but typically, local workers such as 
Father Gavisk gathered local funds and directed area 
organizations with relief work the primary focus of their 
effort. 
After the summer of 1931 local resources were heavily 
tested. Until circumstance and the national mood forced the 
partnership to change, Indianapolis leaders continued to 
remain within a tradition of locally controlled 
philanthropy. Most of the money raised between July of 1931 
and October of 1933 came from local sources. As 
unemployment rose, coordination and integration of resources 
between public and private sectors increased. When 
financial pressures threatened to break apart the Community 
Fund or the public-private partnership, community ties 
prevailed. Only the New Deal shifted control away from 
local authority, but that was not until after 1933. Unlike 
some cities, Indianapolis did not exhaust its resources. 
The state did not give its capital city grants for relief 
nor did local government issue bonds for unemployment 
relief, although township bonds were issued for poor relief, 
as in the past. 
although barely. 
In the end local resources met local needs, 
In Washington, President Herbert Hoover created the 
126 
President's Emergency Committee on Employment, later 
reconstituted and renamed the President's Organization on 
Unemployment Relief, to coordinate fund-raising activities 
around the country. · As the volume of need increased, 
coordination gave way to direct aid. 
In July 1932 the Emergency Relief and Construction Act 
set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) , which 
allowed each state as much as $45 million in loans to spend 
on self-liquidating projects to fight unemployment. Overall 
the bill provided for over $1 billion worth of construction 
and other projects in an attempt to counter the stagnating 
economy. 2 Although this was thinly disguised national aid, 
local control remained. States could disperse the funds as 
they saw fit because the money came in the form of loans and 
was thus considered state property. Hoover rejected direct 
national aid, believing that the "spirit of responsibility 
of states, of municipalities, of industry and the community 
at large, is the one safeguard against overwhelming 
centralization and degeneration of that independence and 
initiative which are the very foundations of democracy." 3 
Before the advent of the New Deal, several states 
created unemployment relief committees to spend money on a 
statewide level. Franklin D. Roosevelt, as New York's 
governor, pledged to spend $20 million and was the first to 
127 
create such a program in September 1931. By the spring o f 
1932, five other states followed New York's lead, including 
two of Indiana's neighbors, Illinois and Ohio. Illinois 
appropriated approximately $20 million in 1932, most marked 
for Chicago. 4 The Hoosier State, however, did not create 
such an organization. 5 
In Indiana, Republican Governor Harry G. Leslie (1929-
1933) saw ·little need to follow New York's lead in the area 
of social policy. He had earlier proclaimed that "Hoosiers 
stand unalterably opposed to the false doctrine of federal 
paternalism or 'dole' system." 6 In his last address to the 
General Assembly in 1933 he boasted that Indiana remained 
debt free, reminding Hoosiers that "this single fact makes 
our State unique among her Sister States. While other 
States must carry heavy burdens in the form of huge bond 
lssues which mortgage their futures and menace their 
taxpayers . . Indiana faces the economic difficulties 
growing out of the prolonged depression with a 'clean 
slate. '" 7 As he left office he was proud of his fiscal 
strategy, believing it had served the state well. 
After July 1931 many of the work-relief programs in 
American cities were bankrupt and even long-standing 
philanthropic agencies had closed or had to rely on state or 
federal assistance. Most cities applied through the RFC for 
128 
loans or begged state legislatures for money. In 
Philadelphia the FWS closed its doors in 1931. The work 
committee established by prominent citizens faltered by mid­
June in 1932, leaving 57,000 families without help. 8 In 
Boston, public sources were heavily taxed and the private­
public work committee closed just over a year after it had 
formed. 9 Smaller cities were also troubled by the strain of 
the economic emergency. Birmingham's $500,000 bond 1ssue, 
to fund a relief program, was spent within a year. 10 The 
Mayor's Relief Commission of Memphis, a modest attempt to 
coordinate resources, closed 1n 1932. 11 
Many cities reacted to the increased relief needs by 
slashing municipal budgets and raising taxes to cover 
expenses. Seattle cut its budget by 14 percent in 1931 and 
by 33 1/2 percent in 1932. Detroit cut its spending by as 
much as 25 percent in 1932-33. 12 Most municipal taxes were 
assessed on property. Tax delinquency soared as many hard­
pressed property owners faced ever-increasing taxes they 
could not pay. 
The worsening employment situation only added to 
government and philanthropic expenditures during the period. 
Unemployment increased nationally from 8.7 percent in 1930 
to 24.8 percent by December of 1933. In Indianapolis 
unemployment in the same period averaged close to 30 percent 
129 
(see Figure 3.1) . 1 3 These percentages were far out of 
proportion with any other known period and solutions to the 
problem seemed as numerous as the men who stood in the soup 
lines. 
Figure 3.1 Unemployment Rates for Selected Months ln 
Indianapolis, 1931-1933 
Month 1931 1932 1933 
February 29.4 36.6 
April 19.4 31.8 37.0 
July 21.5 34.7 32.5 
September 22.9 34.3 25.8 
November 24.9 35.8 32.1 
Little good news arose from the business community ln 
Indianapolis after July 1931. Business production in 
Indianapolis dipped to only $168,139,983 in 1933, a drop of 
61 percent from its 1929 high. Tax valuations of property 
in Indianapolis dropped 25 percent to $598,222,550 in the 
same period. 14 By mid-1931 wages had fallen by more than 
42.5 percent since the stock market crash. 1 5 More than half 
of the banks in Indianapolis, in operation before 1930, had 
folded by June 30, 1933. 16 Increased unemployment and 
restricted wages become apparent in the city's tax 
delinquency rates. Those not able to pay their taxes on 
time rose from 1 percent in 1929 to 17 percent in 1933, 
leaving the city's coffers low. To make up for losses ln 
130 
tax receipts, city leaders cut expenses. Indianapolis 
Public Schools funding was slashed by 22.1 percent between 
1931 and 1934, and sanitation, parks, and other departments 
faced similar decreases. 17 
Many businesses, including the Marmon Auto Company, 
closed. Those who did keep their jobs faced massive cuts in 
pay. Lawrence S. Connor relates that in 1932 his father, an 
executive -at the Halcomb and Hoke company, had his pay cut 
by more than two-thirds from its pre-Depression level. 18 
Only a few businesses, such as Eli Lilly and Company, could 
afford to keep wages high and employees working. 1 9 
Political and civic leaders responded to the challenges 
of the Depression, after the summer of 1931, with as much 
action as they could muster. The Chamber of Commerce 
continued to try to boost the city's economy, but the 
organization itself was wracked by a loss of funding. While 
it remained quite active, limited funding hampered the 
Chamber's effectiveness. 20 The Chamber lobbied Congress 
for a new air-mail route through the Circle City. It 
promoted the consolidation of all townships within Marion 
County to achieve uniform assessment of property and equal 
distribution of the costs of poor relief. It tried to lure 
businesses to town and individual members contributed to the 
EWC. 2 1 The Chamber helped convince the city council to cut 
131 
spending in 1932 and 1933 so that increases in taxes would 
be as low as possible. 22 Without the funding to actually 
subsidize the EWC though, the Chamber of Commerce was 
limited in what it could do. Most of its efforts went 
toward lobbying the government and enticing businesses to 
move to the Circle City, but most of those efforts failed. 23 
As a result of unemployment and cuts in pay many 
philanthropic organizations across the nation faced a budget 
crisis. Cities showed decreases in giving between 1932 and 
1933. Spending overall, though, increased between 1931 and 
1933 due largely to public funding. 2 4 
Indianapolis followed the national trend. Gifts to 
private philanthropic agencies were higher in 1933 than in 
1929, but not as high as in 1931. Private contributions for 
relief increased 42.6 percent from 1929 to 1933, but 
actually fell 37.9 percent from 1931 to 1933. Overall 
spending for relief in Indianapolis, however, including both 
private and public agencies, increased dramatically, 735 
percent, during the period. 25 
Unemployment was especially hard felt in the black 
community. FWS records show that blacks made up more than 
30 percent of relief cases throughout the period. The EWC 
also shows large percentages of African-Americans on its 
rolls after the summer of 1931, although the percentage of 
132 
African-Americans on EWC work lists did shrink as more 
whites became unemployed. If national estimates hold for 
Indianapolis, when general unemployment reached 36.4 percent 
in January 1933, black unemployment hovered around 65 
percent. 26 
Between the fall of 1931 and October 1933, the 
unemployed faced terrible hardships. A composite of relief 
recipients from late 1931 shows that the average family size 
was 7.4, and that one member was under the age of six. 
Seventy seven percent of heads of households were 
unemployed, and 18 percent were absent from the home due to 
imprisonment, desertion, or death. Less than half of those 
involved in the study on unemployment had any source of 
income. The average family needed an income of $23.12 a week 
to live ln an adequate manner, but most families in the 
study brought home less than half that total. The township 
trustee and the FWS gave 92 percent of these families a 
total of $8.35 in cash and in-kind relief. Most families in 
the study brought in about $19 including wages and 
philanthropic gifts, but still fell short of the total 
needed per week by $4.32. 
Almost all of the shortfall could be traced to the 
inadequate township trustee relief food basket, which 
contained only $5.25 worth of food. A subsistence diet for 
133 
the average family required at least $9.23 for food. 
Combining this information with a study of milk 
distribution, which showed 88.6 percent of children under 
age slx were not getting enough milk, one can concur with 
the findings of the first study which averred "Our study 
seems to warrant the conclusion that the relief which is 
being given is inadequate to meet a bare subsistence level." 
Somewhat incredibly, however, 63 percent of respondents 
reported no decrease in their standard of living. According 
to one contemporary social worker, the use of public 
assistance by much of the middle class made accepting such 
aid socially acceptable and actually may have contributed to 
both an increased standard of living for poor families and 
an increase in demands for relief services. 27 Many poor 
families, before the Depression, refused to seek aid because 
it was discouraged and derided by the middle class. Once 
the middle class began accepting aid, large numbers of 
people, including those not recently unemployed, began 
seeking help. 
Indianapolis was not the only city to give inadequate 
relief. Even when state agencies or funds boosted relief 
budgets the unemployed could expect little more than a 
subsistence amount. Even one of the most liberal providers 
of relief, New York City, gave couples only $2.39 and handed 
134 
families with children $6.60 per week. 28 In smaller cities 
it was, in many instances, much worse. The Central Relief 
Committee of Atlanta gave only $.75 per week to black 
families and $2.50 to . white families for food relief. 29 In 
fact, Indianapolis may have provided one of the better 
services to the poor. Maximum totals for individuals and 
family relief in Indianapolis were not cut, as in other 
cities. If one factors in deflation over the period, relief 
giving in Indianapolis actually increased. A $5.00 basket 
of food in 1929 became by 1933 a basket worth approximately 
$6.05. 30 In addition, milk, dried fruit, and other items 
were added in 1932 and 1933 at the behest of the FWS or 
other agencies. This is not to refute the message of 
contemporary social workers, it is only to say that, 
comparatively, Indianapolis citizens could expect a more 
consistent amount of relief. Unfortunately, however, it may 
have been consistently inadequate. 31 
The public sector faced considerable problems in 
adjusting to the unemployment situation. The township 
trustee system came under fire from private philanthropic 
groups and the general public. The Indianapolis News 
charged township trustees of favoritism, unequal relief, and 
fraud. 3 2 Later, Governor Leslie ordered an investigation of 
the system. 33 The News noted that some families were 
135 
getting more food and fuel than they should receive while 
others obtained less. Some families, according to the News, 
should have been ineligible for relief. 
Many of the problems may have been caused by the 
tremendous increases in caseloads and the inability of 
township trustees to handle them. Spending by these offices 
in Marion County increased 13.8 times from 1929 to 1933. If 
one takes . as $260 the average annual relief given to each 
family, then case loads increased from 45 to 6365 ln the 
same period. 34 Even before the Depression hit, township 
trustee offices had not employed enough trained social 
workers. Now, the system simply could not handle the load. 
The Central Investigation Office, an agency that 
investigated relief claims, undoubtedly equalized relief 
cases, because of the township trustees' acceptance of 
private philanthropy's case work methods, but cases taken 
before the invention of the Office in 1932 were rarely 
reviewed, so that fraud and inefficiency should have been 
expected. 35 
Philanthropic leaders learned to accept new priorities 
and cope with limited budgets before the advent of the New 
Deal. The trials of the Community Fund during the entire 
period can never be fully appreciated, though .notes of board 
members detail some of the pressures they faced. During 
136 
fiscal year 1932 (November 1, 1931-0ctober 31, 1932), the 
board sought to aid all of those who needed basic 
necessities first. Character building agency budgets were 
cut and organizations . were created to make philanthropy more 
centralized and efficient. Throughout the period, board 
members worried that not everyone in the community, 
especially children, received enough nourishment. 
Efficiencies had to be found, cuts made, and necessities 
taken care of. Throughout fiscal year 1932 Fund agencies 
made greater strides toward efficiency. In fiscal year 1933 
(November 1, 1932-0ctober 31, 1933), the Community Fund had 
to cut every agency's budget and turn over much of the 
responsibility for relief care to public agencies. 
The fall 1931 campaign, in cooperation with the 
national drive of the Hoover Administration's Employment 
Committee, went "over the top," earning over $1 million for 
agencies to use in 1932. 36 Almost 60 percent of the funds 
gathered came from those making donations of over $250. 3 7 
Eli Lilly, alone, gave $75,000. 38 That the Community Fund 
attained its goal is somewhat surprising; in most cities 
community organizations had to be content with only 78 
percent of their goal. 39 Reaching the goal was made 
possible, in part, by donations made before the 1931 
campaign to erase the deficit from fiscal year 1930-1931. 
137 
The deficit had been accumulated because the board had 
borrowed money to give to relief organizations, specifically 
the FWS, Catholic Community Center, and the Volunteers of 
America. 4 0 
Despite the city's large donation, character-building 
agencies still faced cuts in their programs. Increased 
funding of character building programs was rare. Agencies 
with a mixed relief and character-building tradition or ones 
that were almost fully relief centers received additional 
funds. The Catholic Community Center, FWS, and Volunteers 
of America registered increases, but those were "practically 
all for relief," or for "hiring better people." 41 The 
"Colored YMCA" received an increase that went for providing 
shelter and food to black transients. 4 2 Indianapolis 
leaders, though, did not abandon character-building 
institutions. In other cities these organizations were 
wholly defunded in order to give all money to relief 
agencies. Focusing all available money on relief was not 
necessary because of the existence of a local public system 
of relief. 
Even with the successful 1931 campaign, increases in 
unemployment and requests for additional aid tested the 
financial abilities of relief agencies. By March 1932, the 
FWS, the Catholic Community Center, and other agencies 
138 
clamored for new loans. Additional cuts, from character ­
building institutions, and greater efficiencies needed to be 
made. In March, the Community Fund Board gave $40,000 to 
the FWS, Catholic Community Center, and the Central 
Investigation Office. As needs increased the Fund looked 
internally for additional sources of savings. In September, 
the manager and his assistants took a pay cut of more than 
20 percent. Office expenses were kept to only 3 percent, 
down 1 percent since 1929. 43 
The Fund board also looked to member agencies to cut 
spending. Repeatedly the Community Fund board warned 
individual agencies not to go over budget. Agencies were 
told specifically where cuts were to be made. 44 
Transportation and registration fees to national conferences 
were slashed out of all Community Fund agency budgets. The 
Fund board also ordered all agencies to cut employee wages 
by at least ten percent and warned all member organizations 
that they could no longer sign lease agreements without Fund 
approval. Support letters had to be cleared by the Fund 
board and were only allowed a small window of time to be 
mailed. 
Some agencies, such as the Girl Scouts and the Florence 
Crittenton Home, were allowed to conduct short campaigns for 
specific needs, but these were aberrations. Community Fund 
139 
leaders feared that numerous mini-campaigns would sap the 
strength from the annual campaign and would ultimately lead 
to the destruction of the Fund itself. Several agencies 
were denied the right . to open a funding drive. 45 
Board control over internal policy had never been so 
prevalent as in the years after 1931. Efficiency had to be 
enforced while duplications had to be cut, not only for the 
good of the Fund and the individual agencies in question, 
but ultimately for the city itself. The FWS provides an 
example of the extent to which the Community Fund board 
tried to control internal agency policy. For almost a 
decade the Community Fund board had advocated the merger of 
the FWS's Children's Bureau and Marion County's Children 
Guardian's Home. By 1932 the Fund board insisted that the 
merger occur. The Community Fund board also pressured the 
FWS to fire its manager because of her purported 
incompetence and ordered the FWS to get a reduction ln its 
rent. The manager of the FWS submitted her resignation to 
the FWS board, they accepted it, but she continued 
performing the duties of executive secretary for several 
years . The fact that the manager remained in her office 
illustrates the limitations on Fund board power and the 
ability of member agencies to evade some action, but 
ultimately, Fund agencies had little choice. They had to 
140 
comply with Community Fund directives or face a 
substantially curtailed mission and funding base. 
When Leo Rappaport questioned the Community Fund board, 
as to the legitimacy of Community Fund involvement in FWS 
internal policy, Hugh McK. Landon responded that "It should 
be made clear to the Family Welfare society that the 
Community fund is not an 'outside source,' but is the 
paymaster ·and has a right to go into the proper 
administration of that agency. " 46 The Fund board even 
contemplated eliminating some agencies, or at least not 
including them in the Community Fund annual campaign, so as 
to deprive them of financing in order to more fully fund 
other agencies. 
Individual agencles were not above using the fear of a 
Community Fund split or bad publicity to get additional 
money. Nadia Deem, of the FWS, implied that it would be 
wise for the FWS to get increased funding or the upcoming 
Community Fund drive might suffer. Rents for clients needed 
to be paid in several cases. One case especially affected 
the friend of a Community Fund supporter and campaign agent. 
This individual had raised more money at the railroad yards 
than any other in the last campaign and it would be a good 
idea, Deem explained, if his friend were helped, but that 
could not happen if the FWS did not get an emergency loan. 
141 
The board acceded to Deem's request, but added that al l 
cases should be reviewed for possible savings. 47 Throughout 
the period the Community Fund board constan t l y wres tl ed with 
restless agencies who- themselves were under tremendous 
economic pressure. 
In an effort to cut costs the Community Fund board, 
along with public sector entities , created and funded the 
Central Investigation Office and the Central Registration 
Bureau. The new organizations represented the only new 
spending acceptable to the Community Fund board. 
The Mayor appointed Hugh McK. Landon, of the Community 
Fund board, as the president of the Central Investigation 
Office. Eli Lilly and Company donated the services of one 
of its executives to act as a manager. The Central 
Investigation Office created a place where private relief 
agencies, the five township trustees serving the 
metropolitan area, the social service department of the 
public schools, and outside organizations such as the Red 
Cross and the American Legion, could compare notes and 
hopefully avoid costly duplications of service. Aid would 
immediately be given to an individual or family if so 
recommended by a trustee official. Other groups might also 
aid the individual if needed. The case would . then be turned 
over to the Central Investigation Office for further 
142 
research. 
The more in-depth study could reveal that the 
individual had sufficient means to care for himse l f. I n 
fact by October 1932, - 25 percent of cases turned over to t he 
Central Investigation Office did not qualify for aid. The 
Community Fund created the Central Registration Bureau to 
register transients and more efficiently assign them to 
shelters. · They also acted with local police to send 
transients back to their home communities, so they would not 
become a "burdenn on the city's philanthropic 
institutions. 48 
In light of their attempts to reach maximum efficiency, 
some board actions seem questionable. For instance, if they 
truly wanted to reward efficiency why did they not glve 
Wheeler Mission more funding? Wheeler's Community Fund 
budget actually shrank from $13,000 in 1931 to only $11,728 
in 1932. At the same time the Mission had opened up more 
space to transients, provided them with more meals and 
housing than either the Salvation Army or Volunteers of 
America, and all at a lower cost. In addition, in several 
i n stances Wheeler Mission handled the overflow from both 
organizations, without compensation. It would seem that if 
the Fund board wanted to encourage efficiency -it would have 
rewarded the Mission with more funding, at least in 1932 
143 
when they had additional funds to give to some member 
agencies. The Community Fund board, however, could not 
simply defund the Salvation Army or the Volunteers of 
America. Space was at a prem1um and Wheeler could provide 
little more space than they were already supplying. If the 
Fund board wanted enough beds and meals they would have to 
pay the less efficient agencies to do the work, at least in 
the short · run. 49 
Figure 3.2 Community Fund Appropriations 1931-1932 50 
Organization Type 1931 1932 
Character building $314,008.92 (42.5%) 
Re l ief $443,994.39 (58.5%) 
Centralizing Organizations$ ( 0. %) 
$310,193.37 (36.5 %) 
$540,088.83 (62.4 %) 
$ 9,654.30 ( 1.1%) 
After the Community Fund budget had been set for 1932, 
the Mayor's Relief Committee requested a meeting with the 
executive committee of the Fund. George Torence, an advocate 
for the EWC, asked the Fund board to give the EWC money for 
1932. He suggested that the Community Fund take out a loan 
for the EWC with payment due after the autumn 1932 campaign. 
The EWC had waited until after the Community Fund's campaign 
was finished before it began its' own fund raising, but its' 
efforts resulted in only about $6,000 being raised. The 
money from the Community Fund, Torrence explained, would 
give each worker a cash wage of $1.00 per week. 
Leo Rappaport, and several others, were in favor of the 
144 
wage, although Rappaport noted that it was insufficient. 
Rappaport forwarded the idea of a "quiet campaign" among the 
elite to raise the money, but the board had rejected a 
similar idea as unworkable more than six months before. J. 
W. Fesler and William H. Insley opposed the entire notion. 
A study that revealed children were not getting enough milk 
had recently come before the board. They believed that 
giving babies and children the basic necessities, such as 
milk, was far more important than an additional wage. 5 1 
It is important to note that the leading opponents to 
the plan, J. W. Fesler and William H. Insley, were members 
of the EWC board. The older traditional philanthropic 
agencies, and their mission to aid the most vulnerable, 
should not suffer so that the newly formed EWC could provide 
a very small wage of negligible value. The EWC, by not 
participating in the Community Fund's campaign, had not 
shared in the work of gathering the money, had not agreed to 
abide by Community Fund board policies, and should not 
therefore share in the spoils of a successful campaign. 
With money scarce, the Fund could not be as generous to the 
EWC as it had been in 1931. The Community Fund's fortunes 
were too precarious to risk taking out a loan or operating a 
quiet campaign, if the only return on its' investment was a 
very small wage given to people already aided by other fund 
145 
agencies and the township trustee. 
Individual agencies within the Community Fund faced 
unusually high demands to provide relief. When the economic 
calamity first appeared board members assumed responsibility 
for all the relief care they could finance. In 1922 the FWS 
pledged, as one of its first purposes, to "perform general 
family social welfare work." 5 2 By the end of 1931 its 
attempts to meet the first directive were overwhelming. It 
had assumed responsibility for paying for general relief, 
providing rent subsidies, giving food to the hungry, and a 
whole host of other social welfare payments, including 
hospital bills. Between the end of 1930 and December of 
1931 the FWS experienced a 64 percent increase in active 
caseloads, almost half due to unemployment. The Community 
Fund continually pressured the agency to find new savings so 
as to remain within budget. Despite the largest grant ever 
received by the FWS from the Community Fund, by April 1932 
the FWS needed an additional $24,500 to subsidize rent 
payments for its clients. 53 By March 1932 several board 
members were questioning whether the FWS should narrow its 
focus and, as in so many other cities, challenge the public 
sector to take over all major forms of relief for the 
unemployed. 5 4 
Between March and October 1932 the FWS stopped paying 
146 
rents, because of its increased expenses, except to widows, 
abandoned women, and the elderly. Demands for relief were 
57 percent higher in 1932 than in 1931. 55 The Community 
Fund took money from other agencies and, against its written 
policy, borrowed $25,000 for the FWS. By the end of March, 
with six more months left in fiscal year 1932, the FWS was 
spending money on relief at an unprecedented rate. The 
organization needed $137,000 to continue giving relief as it 
had in the past, but its entire relief reserves for the rest 
of the fiscal year stood at only $60,000. 56 
A joint FWS-Community Fund board decided that the 
Society would stop paying the rents of the unemployed. The 
Community Fund board would ask the Central Investigation 
Office board, a semi-public body in which all five township 
trustees were members of the board, to request that the 
township trustee begin paying rents for the unemployed. I n 
addition, the Fund board would talk to Josiah K. Lilly and 
Fred Ayres and ask them to convince the Real Estate Board to 
"work out a plan for vacant properties." 57 Leo Rappaport, 
president of the FWS, believed that the public sector needed 
to expand its functions to cover all unemployment relief 
currently being provided by private sector entities like the 
FWS. 5 8 
The meeting and the attempt to create a plan for vacant 
147 
houses led to the creation of an "Emergency Housing 
Committee" within the FWS. As the FWS found it could no 
longer assume as large a share of rent payments as in the 
past, the Central Investigation Office, the EWC, and the FWS 
worked to create an organization that would repair abandoned 
homes. The houses would then be occupied by those needing 
rent relief, thus saving the FWS money paid for rent 
subsidies.· The city's Tax Board exempted such housing from 
taxation while the EWC repaired the residences. 59 For 
people with limited resources, the partnership provided a 
home. 
Those without homes could turn to a number of 
organizations that helped the homeless and wandering 
transients, including Wheeler Mission, the Salvation Army, 
and Volunteers of America. Wheeler Mission was, perhaps, 
the Community Fund's most efficient agency. During fiscal 
year 1932 it cut costs, received less from the Fund than in 
fiscal year 1931, reduced expenses by 3.4 percent, and faced 
increases of from 57 to 84 percent in meals and lodging. 60 
By June 1932, even with increased efficiency and reduced 
costs, Wheeler Mission needed $1600 to break even. Herbert 
Eberhardt, the Mission's executive director, mailed a letter 
requesting support at the same time he discontinued the shoe 
repair shop and free laundry service. Another letter and 
148 
additional cuts in programs and personnel came in October. 
Because of the letters, and additional cuts, Wheeler Mission 
stood even, financially, at the dawn of fiscal year 1933. 
Few options existed for cutting more programs or expenses 
and prospects for additional funding looked bleak. In a 
September 13, 1932 letter to the Community Fund, H. W. 
Krause, president of Wheeler Mission, begged the Fund for 
either more money in fiscal year 1933 or more freedom to 
raise their own funds. 61 
Throughout fiscal year 1932 private philanthropy was 
able to handle its part of the relief load. It continued to 
take care of about 50 percent of the relief burden and 
possibly a little more. The FWS did forgo its 
responsibility for the rents for the unemployed, but 
continued to pay the rent of the elderly and women in 
vulnerable situations. Wheeler Mission cared for more 
transients and families than at any time in its history. 
Overall, local resources met local needs, but it became more 
difficult to do with every passing day. Importantly, 
private-sector leaders had to depend on the local public 
sector more than ever before. 
Solutions to mutual problems led to new cooperative 
ventures including the Central Investigation Office, and the 
Central Registration Bureau. These offices strengthened the 
149 
partnership creating an even denser network than before, by 
including township trustees and social work executives 
within the clique. The creation of the Emergency Housing 
Committee illuminates -how the network was able to create 
formal ties to answer mutual problems. Individuals were 
called upon to negotiate with organizations or individuals 
and to create solutions. It is important to note that in 
several instances, when tension could have caused severe 
stress in inter-agency relations, joint meetings served to 
iron out mutually agreeable solutions. 
A structural overview of the partnership by mid-1932 
may help illuminate the various threads that brought the 
community together to solve its relief problems. If an 
individual were unemployed, he could go to any Community 
Fund agency, the township trustee's office or the EWC to 
register for aid. The EWC sent unemployed people to jobs 
where, depending on their status, they might receive a 
supplementary wage and the township trustee's food 
voucher. 62 The unemployed worked on various projects for 
several organizations including city services, philanthropic 
institutions, or public construction projects. The Central 
Investigation Office would check the validity of any request 
for public or private aid. If available, and if the family 
qualified, they might move to free housing provided by the 
150 
Emergency Housing Committee of the FWS. The Central 
Registration Bureau sent all transients to the several 
agencies that cared for them. Almost all of the major 
social agencies in the city were funded directly, or 
indirectly, by both the Community Fund and local government. 
The strongest link in the public-private partnership 
was between the Central Investigation Office and the EWC. 
Both were partially created and their board members chosen 
by the mayor. Both shared the same office space, acted with 
public agencies, and cooperated with one another. The 
Emergency Work Committee began as a way to combat 
unemployment. In its pamphlet "Problems of Unemployment in 
Indianapolis" the ICSE forwarded the idea that the EWC could 
"mitigate the effects of future unemployment [and] carry on 
an organized effort to prevent seasonal and cyclical 
unemployment in the future insofar as it is possible. " 63 It 
assumed, however, that workers would receive wages in 
compensation for their work. By mid-1931 workers received 
only the township trustee's food vouchers in exchange for 
their labors. The bold experiment envisioned, even as late 
as the fall of 1931, could later only be justified by its 
supporters as a better way of handling relief and giving 
something back to the city for its investment: 64 The EWC 
was a failure in terms of stimulating employment or 
151 
relieving the burdens of relief agencies, but it was a 
success in terms of bringing public and private agencies 
together and creating a reservoir of community good will. 
Its failure to participate in and join the Community 
Fund carried a price. Several Community Fund leaders 
objected to helping the EWC when their own agencies were in 
desperate need of increased funding. Relief reserves 1n 
1931 had been given to the EWC, but in 1932 they were handed 
instead to traditional Community Fund relief agencies such 
as the FWS and the Catholic Community Center. 65 
EWC board members wanted to supplement food vouchers 
with cash wages, but could never find the adequate, steady 
funding needed. When the EWC turned to the community for 
support, it usually received warm endorsements. The 
Indianapolis Times donated receipts from three movie 
performances it underwrote. Mary Rigg offered to help 
• 
unemployed wives learn how to make do with less at her 
American Settlement House. Butler University offered free 
garden space and high school football teams played extra 
games with proceeds going to the EWC. 66 The efforts 
resulted in only moderate sums that could only provide a 
small wage or cover administrative expenses for a short 
time. 
George Gill, the executive director of the EWC, 
152 
continued to fine-tune the organization, creating 
efficiencies and greater diversification with more care 
taken for the workers. By August of 1931 the EWC gave 
workers health exams, · lunches, work gloves, and other useful 
items. Work requirements were shortened for individuals 
with small families and men with large families received 
vouchers with increased value. 67 In late November job 
classifications were created and jobs assigned according to 
age, physical condition, character, and proximity to self­
subsistence. 68 
The public-private partnership continued to respond to 
the needs of the unemployed. Disputes or problems between 
organizations were resolved quickly and quietly. In a move 
to reduce costs, the FWS encouraged its clients to double up 
in homes to save on rent. When township trustees refused to 
give two families sharing a single family horne additional 
food vouchers, previously established FWS-township trustee 
linkages worked out a solution that both saved people money 
on rent, gave them more food, and helped the FWS reduce its 
rent-aid expenses. 69 
Agencies outside of the Community Fund also faced a 
difficult financial situation. The Indianapolis Foundation 
had less money in fiscal year 1932 than in any other year of 
the Depression. The board endeavored to continue its non-
153 
relief-based mission, but circumstance overtook philosophy. 
The Foundation board again assumed the costs for the 
Indianapolis Employment Bureau because the city could not 
afford to do so. 70 In addition, 105 high school and college 
students received scholarships. 71 Board members wanted to 
be able to do more. They regularly requested updates on the 
A. P. Pettis lawsuit, which drained some $17,000 from their 
normal yearly budget. Many worthwhile projects that the 
board wanted to aid could not be helped. The Foundation 
could not give additional assistance to the Community Fund 
when they sought more money nor could they give the EWC 
funding for administrative expenses. 72 Help, however, 
sometimes arrived from unlikely and unknown sources. The 
Indianapolis Orphans Home, for example, could not meet its 
budget because several counties did not remit their relief 
payment for orphans for several months, money which 
accounted for the Home's income. The Foundation was 
powerless to help. Fortunately, an "anonymous donor" sought 
to give the Home $9,000 if the Foundation would match it. 73 
The Foundation could match the donation, but could not 
afford to meet the entire expense. The Home continued to 
operate because of a wealthy leader, in spite of the 
inability of county governments to meet their -obligations. 
Character-building and recreational agencies in this 
154 
period were the hardest hit by the Depression. They had a 
shrinking membership base, increasing demands for their 
services, and decreased funding. The Kirshbaurn Community 
Center experienced a 346 percent increase ln attendance 
during the third year of the Depression. 74 Activity at the 
YWCA tripled by May 1932 from its pre-Depression levels . 75 
The increase in demand was reflected in the altered 
mlSSlon of these agencies. In response to pressing problems 
brought on by the Depression, these non-relief agencies 
attempted to provide relief. The Phyllis Wheatley Branch of 
the YWCA held free health services, dispensed free food, and 
acted as a job placement center. 76 During 1931 the YMCA 
found work for a few hundred men, and gave more than a 
thousand individuals free food, lodging, or both. 77 A 1932 
YWCA study found that 85 percent of its members were 
affected by unemployment in their families. 78 Character-
building agency heads knew that they were not equipped to 
handle relief cases, but they could not refuse to aid those 
who needed help. 
Churches, too, rose to the occasion by dedicating 
volunteer relief and financial resources to benevolent 
activity. In 1932 Second Presbyterian Church, alone, 
committed almost $18,000 to Mayer Chapel, Wheeler Mission, 
and other less organized philanthropic activities. 79 Its 
155 
Women's Service Circles donated food and sewed clothing for 
the poor. At St. John's Catholic Church women from severa l 
parishes gathered to make garments for Red Cross 
distribution centers. ?0 Second Baptist Church, through i ts 
Relief Club, provided food to the surrounding 
neighborhood. 81 
Churches flourished during the economic malaise. 
Throughout the Depression membership grew in most churches 
and churches continued to help the needy. By 1933, in par t 
because of Second Presbyterian's funding, Mayer Chapel was 
able to give 72 quarts of milk per day to undernourished 
children, provide coal for heating homes, and also hand out 
clothing to those in need. After 1933 Second Presbyterian 
dedicated 50 percent of its income to philanthropic work. 82 
This growth in membership, however, did not translate 
into increased giving. Allen Chapel A. M. E. welcomed ten 
new members each year, Second Presbyterian gained around 100 
annually, and Christ Episcopal experienced a 44 percent 
increase in membership. Significantly, all three churches 
experienced significant decreases in income. 8 3 As a result, 
churches turned to less orthodox ways of raising revenue. 
After 1931 Allen Chapel A. M. E. held annual rallies to 
raise additional money to pay off its building debt. 8 4 Holy 
Rosary Catholic Church depended upon lawn fetes, festivals, 
156 
bingo games, and spaghetti dinners. 85 Even o lder , we ll ­
established churches, such as Second Presbyterian, relied on 
funds that had previously been used to support non-essen t ial 
projects. 86 
Beyond relief, churches provided places to spend unused 
time and receive counseling. St. John's Catholic Church 
offered adult education classes and created literary clubs, 
which were open to all. 87 Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church 
revived its Committee on Homes and Rooms to help members 
find the best housing. 88 The Family Welfare Society, 
Indianapolis Employment Bureau, and the Church Federation 
worked with area congregations to set up employment 
services. 8 9 
The Black community joined efforts to help the 
unemployed. Several African-America n organizations 
contributed to the EWC and the Community Fund during the 
period. The Hod Carriers Union, for instance, donated $100 
to the EWC, relating to George Gill that the donation was 
made because "you've been pretty nice to our people." 90 The 
Walker Theater was one of three theaters to raise money for 
t h e EWC relief fund in 1932, and every year the Recorder 
urged blacks to give to the Community Fund, reminding them 
that five African-American organizations stood to benefit. 91 
By the third winter of unemployment, however, blacks also 
157 
became more active in securing aid for themselves. 
The Recorder joined a national campa1gn promoted by the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP) . The campaign sought jobs for African-Americans in 
businesses that profited from the black community. Leaders 
later known to the community at large helped to organize the 
Citizen's Employment League in October 1931, including 
Freeman B; Ransom. The group held its first meeting at 
Bethel A.M.E. Church. The League started its "Work-For-
Negroes Drive" immediately. It choose grocery stores and 
other businesses that served the black community but rarely 
hired African-Americans. The League would first talk to 
managers of the business and, if no satisfactory response 
was given, would boycott area stores. The plan had worked 
in Chicago, Cleveland, and other Midwestern cities. The 
idea succeeded in Indianapolis as well. 92 
The general population of unemployed were also joining 
"self-help" groups. These groups received the hearty 
endorsement of members of several boards. Some of the 
organizations included "garden" movements which provided 
free space to grow one's own food, "unemployment leagues" 
that fought for government relief and gave counseling to 
those who were newly unemployed, and "leisure ·hour clubs" 
that allowed the unemployed to have places for recreation. 
158 
As fiscal year 1932 became fiscal year 1933 
Indianapolis braced for worse economic news. The city's 
private-public partnership structure had become more 
efficient, centralized, and pervaslve. It seemed prepared 
for new problems. 1932 was an election year and promised 
change came in massive proportions. A new governor and 
president would take office in early 1933, with consequences 
for the public-private partnership and the role of 
philanthropy. 
With the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt to the 
presidency in early 1933 national aid to local areas became 
grants rather than loans, with attending national control. 
The Federal Emergency Relief Act created the Federal 
Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and gave it the power 
to designate state committees to spend the $500,000,000 
contained in the original bill. The National Industrial 
Recovery Act empowered the Department of Labor to create the 
Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Civilian 
Conservation Corps (CCC) . The bill also set up the National 
Recovery Administration (NRA) which was supposed to cut 
competition and stabilize profits by setting prices and 
pooling resources. FERA administrators, with Harry Hopkins 
as their manager, created national social work guidelines 
and relief standard minimums. By the summer of 1934 over 
159 
four million Americans had been employed by the CWA and the 
CCC and all had received cash wages for their work. 93 
Democratic Governor Paul McNutt, elected in November of 
1932, created the Governor's Commission on Unemployment 
Relief (GCUR). At first it acted as a coordinating 
committee, forwarding petitions for federal loan money on 
behalf of municipalities, but did not dispens e state funds 
to cities: Later it was given authorization to spend state 
money in order to qualify for federal grants. In May 1933, 
FERA designated the GCUR its agent in Indiana with the power 
to distribute federal funds and implement social work 
standards in township offices. Later, the Department of 
Labor made the GCUR its representative, with responsibility 
for assigning relief recipients to jobs with the CCC and 
CWA. The Department of Agriculture also empowered it to 
distribute surplus agricultural projects. 94 
State and federal resources did not immediately rescue 
area agencies. Instead, local resources, increasingly 
public ones, shouldered the burden. Even before the New 
Deal hit with full force in 1934, the public sector, albeit 
the local public sector, had assumed responsibility for the 
poor and unemployed. For philanthropic agencies after 
fiscal year 1932 the changes promised by Washington's new 
leaders were far off. Throughout the winter of 1932-1933 
160 
local agencies continued to try to aid the unemployed. 
At the Community Fund the euphoria engendered by the 
success of the 1931 campaign did not carry over to 1932. 
The dismal results of · the 1932 campaign were especially 
disappointing. The shortfall amounted to over $200,000, 
with the Special Gifts Division failing to provide $113,000 
of the total deficit. Liggett wanted the board to consider 
RFC money; but the board decided Washington's money should 
be used only by public agencies. 95 Although distressed, 
many Community . Fund board members expressed agreement with 
Roy Adams, who noted that it was "unsound for the federal 
government to finance such activities. " 96 
The Community Fund members allowed themselves few 
options. By refusing RFC money, their only alternatives 
were to give most or all available funds to relief agencies, 
run an additional campaign in early summer, or ask local 
public agencies to accept more of the relief burden. The 
first two options were not unprecedented in other cities, 
but somewhat strangely they were not given serious 
consideration by the Indianapolis Community Fund board. The 
Fund board sought new efficiencies and streamlining in 
programs of member agencies first. Secondly they asked the 
public sector to accept additional costs, previously born by 
Community Fund groups. Finally, they considered 
161 
consolidating or eliminating agencies or programs. 
Instead of long-term structural changes, board members 
discussed more short-term solutions. Questions over the 
budget continued into · July 1933. The budget did not become 
fairly settled until sometime in March 1933. In February of 
the same year Liggett went to a meeting of Midwest Community 
Fund executives in Chicago. Various proposals were 
discussed ·on how to deal with the nation-wide reduction in 
philanthropic glvlng. None of the plans considered in 
Chicago and discussed with Indianapolis Community Fund board 
members were ever implemented. 97 
Besides rejecting federal assistance, Board members 
seemed stuck in insular thinking. They rejected other plans 
because the public-private partnership seemed to be 
accomplishing goals deemed important to civic leaders. 
Community Fund agencies and township trustees were providing 
sustenance to the populace. Wage payments and other goals 
were acceptable, but not absolutely necessary. State and 
federal funding was later welcomed, though it was not 
sought. 
After the fall 1932 fund ralslng campalgn results 
became known the Fund board realized it would have to make 
new cuts in all of its programs. In January the board again 
resolved that it would not go into debt. Some agencies 
162 
voluntarily reduced their requested appropriation for fiscal 
year 1933. The Red Cross, for instance, surrendered almost 
30 percent of its funding in 1933 and, in agreement with the 
national Red Cross board, requested that its membership in 
the Fund be terminated in 1934. Others received deep cuts 
because of perceived inefficiencies. The Salvation Army's 
appropriation was reduced by 43 percent in fiscal year 1933 
because, in part, Fund board members believed that the 
group's presentation of how funds were used in fiscal year 
1932 was "the worst of any." 98 The FWS also received a 
significantly reduced grant because Fund board members 
believed general expenses and salaries had not been cut 
enough in fiscal year 1932 and the township trustee had 
taken over many relief cases. 99 
Other money-saving ideas received consideration. In 
fiscal year 1933 the Community Fund board began funding 
Leisure Hour Clubs so as to be able to cut some of the 
recreational budget from agencies of the Fund. They also 
studied the possibility of combining similar agencies or 
stopping funding for agencies doing similar work. 100 The 
township trustee had agreed sometime in early 1933 to start 
making rent payments, the most expensive FWS budget item. 
In addition the board believed that the FWS needed to cut 
general administration expenses. 101 
163 
Groups in Indianapolis tried to help the Community 
Fund. The Polk Milk Company changed its donation from milk 
to cash and offered all Fund agencies a 20 percent discoun t 
on the wholesale price. 102 The Civic Music Association 
donated its profits for the year to the Community Fund . 103 
The Fund was not, however, willing to accept all forms of 
help. Board members refused to accept donations from events 
that they ·believed were beneath the dignity of the 
organization. The Board rejected an offer by the Red Cross 
to put on a benefit show. David Liggett noted that "this 1s 
obviously the type of activity the Fund does not enter 
into. " 104 
Funding to character building groups were aga i n cut 
deeply (see Figure 3.3). Some character building agency 
members believed that they had been cut too deeply. A 
representative of the YMCA noted his agency's need of 
$10,000 for rent. For him it was simple. Moral standards 
were on the decline and the Community Fund must protect 
those values by properly funding his agency, and those like 
it. He told the Fund board that "moral standards is one 
thing that cannot be dispensed with and that is what the 
YMCA is establishing and maintaining at all times. " 105 Later 
in the year close to $68,000 in federal and state grants 
went to character building organizations. 106 One of the 
164 
grants went to the YMCA to set up a junior college. 
Relief agencies were given the largest percentage of 
total allocations. The federal government had begun, by 
March, to give relief~ but the bulk of relief care did not 
begin until 1934. The FWS still had families to aid, 
Wheeler Mission remained the primary care giver to 
transients, and private philanthropy continued to be a 
significant, although increasingly junior, partner with the 
local public sector in the battle against the effects of the 
Depression. Despite its warnings that it would not go into 
debt in fiscal year 1933, the Community Fund borrowed at 
least $65,000 during the year, with most going to relief 
programs . 107 
Figure 3.3 Community Fund Appropriations 1932-1933 10 8 
Organization 
Character-building 
Relief 
Centralized agencies 
1932 
$310,193.37 (36.5 %) 
$540,088.83 (62.4%) 
$ 9,654.30 ( 1.1%) 
1933 
$231,810.00 (35.2 %) 
$393,900.00 (59.9%) 
$ 31,347.81 ( 4.8%) 
Agencies within the Fund had to adjust to the reality 
that the Fund had little money to give them. Fiscal year 
1933 tested the FWS's ability to withstand extreme pressure. 
Because of the disastrous Community Fund campaign, the FWS 
garnered $100,000 less in fiscal year 1933 than in 1932. 10 9 
The County Council reduced per diem expense payments for 
orphaned children by more than 10 percent. 110 ·rn addition, 
needs continued to grow as unemployment rates accelerated. 
165 
The township trustee helped relieve the crisis felt by 
the FWS by agreeing to aid transients, large families, and 
to pay rent for the unemployed in January 1933. 111 Over the 
course of fiscal year· 1933, the township trustee accepted 
administrative and financial responsibility for the 
Emergency Housing Committee. 1 - 2 Supplemental relief expenses 
were also cut, by asking the trustee to enlarge the food 
basket. 1 13 · 
Despite decreased responsibility for the unemployed, 
the FWS failed to remain within budget. By May 1933, the 
FWS board expected the Society to face a $5,000 deficit. 
The Community Fund could not borrow any more money for the 
Society. Desperate measures were undertaken. No relief or 
rent payments were made for two months. 114 In October three 
district offices were consolidated into one and many staff 
members released to state organizations, including the GCUR. 
By early November Rappaport was convinced that the 
budget must be cut deeply and that every possible case had 
to be turned over to the public offices. 11 5 Many of its 
other programs were merged with other agencies, including 
some of its oldest programs, the Children's Bureau and the 
Social Service Exchange. The number of cases under FWS care 
clearly shows the downward trend after mid-1933 (see Figure 
3. 4) . 
166 
Figure 3.4 Family Welfare Society Cases 1930-1934 
for Selected Months 116 
Month 
February 
May 
August 
November 
1930 
1296 
1696 
1931 
3431 
2140 
n/a 
n/a 
1932 
n / a 
n / a 
1863 
1691 
1933 
2450 
2561 
342 
1352 
1934 
364 
347 
n / a 
n / a 
In an early 1933 letter, Wheeler Mission wondered why 
its appropriation had been cut so deeply. Comparing itself 
to the Salvation Army and the Volunteers of America, the 
Mission protested that unlike those agencies it had done 
everything that the Fund had asked of it. Wheeler Mission 
used $1478.70 to help the Volunteers of America feed and 
house its clients saving the Community Fund $2209.25 ln 
reduced costs. By March 1933, Herbert Eberhard informed 
David Liggett that Wheeler Mission would not continue taking 
care of Volunteers of America or Salvation Army clients 
without compensation. 117 In actuality, it was an empty 
threat. Wheeler Mission continued to take care of 
transients the other two agencies could not. 
Efficiencies could not ultimately make up for the 910 
percent increase in the sheer numbers of transients and 
families needing help, without increased support from the 
Fund. 118 Wheeler Mission board members had to · acknowledge a 
$5,600 deficit in May. A support letter went out requesting 
167 
more help in erasing this deficit and Eberhardt asked board 
members to recruit new supporters. A new letter, mailed to 
the faithful in September, 1933, reported the discouraging 
news that the Mission·, because of a lack of funds, had 
closed its family relief department, discharged four 
employees, and again reduced salaries. 
Needs continued to increase at Wheeler Mission until 
late ln 1933 when federal and state agencies relieved it of 
some of its burden. Even so, in 1934 Wheeler Mission still 
served more people more meals and gave them more garments 
than it had in 1931. 119 
By the end of 1933 character building agencies had 
glven up almost all "relief" activities, or had been ordered 
to do so by the Community Fund. If they had relief 
departments they were closed and many social workers 
transferred to other agencies. Free or subsidized rooms 
remained one of the last vestiges of the past. By July 1933 
character-building agencies were going on the offensive 
inside the Community Fund, demanding more money to protect 
their mission. 120 
The 1934 Community Fund budget was slightly different 
than that of 1933. Funding levels for character-building 
agencies increased for the first time in four · years. Relief 
agencies had turned most of their cases over to the public 
168 
sector and could therefore no longer claim a special place. 
Relief organizations garnered only 56.3 percent of the 1934 
budget, the lowest percentage since 1930. 121 
In fiscal year 1933 many civic and political leaders 
seemed to have neglected the EWC. It began the year with a 
small deficit. Community support, through various 
activities, replenished the EWC bank accounts in early 
December 1932, but it was not enough to begin any large cash 
wage relief effort. 122 Community support made possible the 
small wage, given to selected workers, of $1.00 per week, 
but it did not last for the entire period and was only 
selectively given. 123 Neither the city government nor the 
Community Fund had found a way to support the EWC. City and 
county employees continued to supervise EWC projects and 
Community Fund agencies still used EWC labor for repair and 
construction projects, but no direct grants had been made to 
the EWC since 1931. Without adequate funding the EWC 
remained a tool to convert public relief into public works, 
but little else. 
In late 1932 and early 1933 many on the EWC board were 
frustrated. Financial worries led to frustration over not 
being able to carry out the EWC's original mandate. Board 
member Daniel B. Luten noted that the EWC was · supposed to 
give wages and relief and not act "merely as a placement 
169 
bureau." No money could be raised by appeal to the 
Community Fund, the city, or the county, but no attempts 
were made to seek federal assistance until May 1933. George 
Gill reported that the EWC was doing "our utmost to see 
everyone gets a Square Deal. " 124 
The EWC facilitated cooperation among private and 
public agencies, but in some ways this was not always 
positive·.· The state tax department denied the city 
government's request for $85,000 in taxes because the 
department decided that the money, and the taxes needed to 
pay for it, could be saved by the city if they used EWC 
workers rather than paid employees. The EWC protested the 
judgment, but it stood. 125 
On the positive side, in a 1932 study, 81 percent of 
respondents working for the EWC reported satisfaction with 
their situation, in part because they were able to work for 
what they were given and therefore did not see it as a "hand 
out." 1 26 State and local public agencies constantly sought 
to help the EWC. State agencies helped the EWC qualify for 
RFC loans before 1933 and afterward helped it register for 
the NRA. 127 Small benefits also helped to create situational 
satisfaction. Children of EWC workers received free 
admission to movies on Friday nights. 128 
The activities reports for early 1933 showed a 
170 
disturbing trend of increasing unemployment. In 1930, 
George Gill estimated that the EWC could easily fit about 
6,000 workers into make-work jobs. In the activities report 
for January 1-February 25, 1933, the EWC averaged some 6,025 
workers, a more than 50 percent lncrease over the same time 
in 1932. 129 By the end of March 1933, 6,907 different men 
had reported for placement throughout the month. 13 0 
George Gill met with Frances Perkins, the future 
secretary of Labor, in New York during early March 1933. 
After that meeting the EWC teamed with the GCUR and later 
forwarded names to the Governor's Committee for placement 
with the CCC. 131 By May, when the first RFC grants reached 
the EWC, the group and its director had become an integral 
part in transferring men from local relief to federal jobs 
with the CCC and later with the CWA. 132 By late June, partly 
because of the beginnings of federal jobs programs and 
partly because of a slightly healthier economy, the EWC 
placed only 5551 people into EWC jobs. 133 Between July and 
November, the EWC continued to behave as it had in fiscal 
year 1932, except it also placed men into federal and state 
jobs. On November 20, 1933 the GCUR took over the EWC's 
work, staff, files, and active list of 4,924 unemployed. 
The cornerstone of the public-private partnership was 
gone. 134 Some board members continued to hold meetings after 
171 
November, seemingly confused as to the nature of the GCUR 
incorporation. 
For the Indianapolis Foundation, 1933 did not begin 
auspiciously. The Community Fund failed to make its goa l 
and would want the Foundation to help. The Indianapolis 
Orphans Asylum would need further aid. As in 1932, the 
Indianapolis Foundation helped rescue the Orphans Horne and 
gave more ·money to the Community Fund. More than $3,000 was 
revoked from studies and other agencies to help the Orphans 
Horne. Eugene Foster and Mary Mueller, the secretary of the 
Foundation, voluntarily reduced their salaries by 10 
percent. 135 Administrative expenses were cut almost 2 
percent. Education-related institutions and children's 
organizations received most of the funding from the 
Foundation. To help the largest number of students, the 
board decreased the amount awarded per individual and 
increased the number of awards given out. All of the 
increased amounts went to high school students. 
The activity of the Foundation lS significant, for it 
shows the desperation and the depth of need. In 1929 Eugene 
Foster advised a new Rhode Island community foundation 
executive that he should refrain from giving the Community 
Fund money, unless they it failed to attain its goal. 136 In 
that year the Indianapolis Foundation gave the Community 
172 
Fund $15,000, or 13 percent of the Foundation's income. By 
1933 the Foundation gave $35,000 to the Fund, or 37 percent 
of its depleted budget. -37 In addition the budget outlays 
for relief organizations, not for experimental programs of 
those agencies but for their basic necessities, increased 
from almost nothing in 1929 to 58.6 percent in 1933. 138 
The trend in scholarship aid bespeaks the fear of 
limited opportunities. The Foundation became more concerned 
with primary education rather than college or advanced 
training. In 1929 several women received the opportunity to 
gain advanced training in social services and teaching 
through the Foundation on top of the 66 scholarships divided 
between high school and college students. By 1932, no 
advanced training scholarships were given by the Foundation 
and the balance of scholarships went to high school 
students. By 1933, high school students received 93 
scholarships compared to the 27 given to college students. 
Foster and board members agreed that priority should be 
given to high school students so they could get a basic 
education. A college education was not deemed as important 
as giving a larger number of youths a basic education. 
By the end of fiscal year 1933 many philanthropic agencies 
had virtually surrendered their previous mlSSlon. 
Character-building institutions endeavored to supplement 
173 
relief agenc1es by giving emergency aid. The Indianapolis 
Foundation had become not an innovator, but a second source 
for Community Fund agencies. Most of its money did not go 
to new programs or to · helping agencies buy technology. 
Relief organizations, while functioning as providers of 
relief, could not perform up to the level they desired. By 
October 1933 almost all philanthropic resources were being 
diverted to relief, and it was not enough. 
There are no indications that private philanthropy 
would have been able to retake even as little as half of the 
unemployment-relief burden after 1933 nor is there reason to 
believe most board members had the inclination to do so. 
Most board members had surrendered the notion that it was 
private philanthropy's duty to shoulder the responsibility 
for unemployment aid. Instead, private philanthropy became 
the facilitator of centralizing relief in the county through 
the Central Investigation Office, the EWC, the Central 
Registration Bureau, and other organizations. 
How does one explain the change in board member's 
mentality from willingness to take on the responsibility of 
unemployment relief care in 1930 to the belief that it is 
the government's duty in 1933? Network sociologists believe 
that those who are linked through several associations and 
resemble one another closely, in terms of race, ethnicity, 
174 
age, and wealth, tend to form opinions that are similar and 
that those beliefs are reinforced through constant 
interaction . Surely this constant interaction had something 
to do with the change . in belief, but experience with and 
frustration over not being able to fully fund projects, and 
therefore ably aid individuals, prodded them to accept total 
public funding for unemployment relief. 139 One must keep in 
mind, though, that leaders did not expect the federal 
government to act; instead they relied on the local public 
sector. 
Business leaders, many of whom were also leaders in 
philanthropy, recognized the inability of private resources 
to meet the need. They embraced the NRA fully, and lauded 
the work relief efforts of the CWA and the CCC, even if they 
did not particularly care for their national flavor. 
Although no one stated so publicly, the positive reaction to 
the First New Deal may have been due, in part, to the fact 
of its basic conservatism and allegiance to a pro-business 
philosophy. Many of the federal-relief duties fell to state 
committees whose posts were filled by local leaders, and 
therefore may have appeared less threatening than if they 
had been staffed with outsiders. 
It is important to keep in mind also that board members had 
not held a consensus on the role of the state ln relief 
175 
work. Publicly funded relief was the norm in 1929 and 1933. 
Many business leaders did not agree that the federal 
government should be involved, but they did not find local 
public relief problematic. 140 
Social work thought, and its tendency to approve of 
government-funded relief, also influenced board members. 
By October 1933, several social work executives had become 
part of the network through their participation in board 
activities. The professionalization of social workers and 
the dominance of social work thought coincides with the 
coming to real power of social work executives and those who 
believed in their ideas. In 1933 Eugene Foster sat on the 
boards of several local philanthropic organizations 
including the Central Investigation Office. William H. Book 
and Nadia Deem became the director and assistant director, 
respectively, of the GCUR in early 1933. George Gill became 
the state's employment coordinator in the same period. Most 
of these agencies were public state offices and were at the 
forefront of the war on unemployment in Indiana. They 
offered powerful solutions to unemployment and relief to the 
populace. In addition, at the national level, Harry Hopkins 
turned to social workers for advice and established mlnlmum 
requirements based on their criteria. 
In addition, social work thought did not go very far 
176 
against the assumptions of the business society. 
Businessmen and social workers agreed that direct relief, or 
the "dole," denigrated the individual and that work relief, 
which paid a wage, was the best form of assistance. They 
agreed that work relief would give the individual dignity 
and allow him to keep the "habits of industry." They 
disagreed as to the amount of the wage, but this was a minor 
detail. By 1933 the only real disagreement was the question 
of where the ultimate center of power should lie, with the 
local community or with Washington, D.C. Social workers had 
decided that it should rest with the federal government. 141 
Some board members rejected the beliefs of their 
colleagues and the intrusion of the federal government ln 
local affairs, but many on the separate boards acted as did 
the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Louis Borenstein. 
He led the Chamber to cooperate as fully as possible with 
the federal government's initiatives. He sat on the Indiana 
NRA board and the GCUR board, helped decide which projects 
would be funded for slum clearance, and attempted to help 
businesses register for the NRA. Borenstein welcomed the 
NRA and the First New Deal. The Chamber became an 
organization that received Works Progress Administration 
funds for projects. 142 
One should not believe, though, as historian Thomas C. 
177 
Cochran has suggested, that business leaders were inactive 
or did little in a positive way to try to combat 
unemployment. Several leaders in Indianapolis developed 
plans that would have· brought real relief and hope to area 
residents. Marshall D. Lupton, a member of the EWC board, 
believed it possible not only to give work to the 
unemployed, but also to those who were underemployed. FWS 
board members wanted the EWC to pay good wages to their 
clients. There were other ideas that might have helped, but 
all suffered from the same ailment. No money was available 
for Lupton's idea. The Chamber of Commerce, the Community 
Fund, and the mayor, who created the ICSE and thus also the 
EWC, never provided adequate funding. The Chamber was 
continually in serious debt, the Community Fund deemed the 
EWC an outsider, and the mayor's office claimed that funding 
the organization would be illegal. After the advent of the 
New Deal, several prominent businessmen became board members 
of state committees that controlled federal assistance. 
After the national victory of the New Deal the Chamber 
of Commerce embraced the NIRA and the NRA. Business leaders 
in Indianapolis did embrace the New Deal, or at least the 
First New Deal. 143 By the end of July, 1933, the Industrial 
Commission of the Chamber helped businesses file petitions 
with the NRA. In 1934 the Chamber created a national 
178 
legislation committee. William Block Company executives 
placed a full-page ad in the Indianapolis St ar in 1933 
promising the president their support while holding out hope 
for a speedy recovery·. 144 
In the black community during fiscal year 1933 the 
Recorder continued its "Good Fellows" Christmas campaign, 
giving a large number of food baskets and toys away. The 
Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the YWCA and Flanner House also 
gave out food and medical care. Flanner House alone gave 
out 118 bushel baskets of food in January 1933. 145 
The New Deal was heartily welcomed by the black 
community in Indianapolis because, in part, it was the first 
time in over four years that significant increases in 
employment could be registered in the African-American 
community. Even before December 1933, when it was reported 
that 3,000 blacks would be employed by the CWA, the editor 
of the Recorder supported Roosevelt's programs. A July 
editorial praised Roosevelt and stated "let all Americans 
join with their leader . " At the end of December another 
Recorder editorial jubilantly read "the nation is going 
forward. "146 
By mid-1933 the New Deal had begun to make its presence 
felt in Indianapolis. On May 6, a Department ·of Labor 
representative arrived 1n Indianapolis to consider Gill's 
179 
system of selection for the EWC. During June, George Gill, 
Eugene Foster and other social work executives met with 
Department of Labor officials in the Morgan-Monroe County 
Forest. RFC money arrived in time to pay off EWC debts. 
Federal relief on a large scale, however, had not yet 
actually materialized. On August 8, EWC board members 
received news that federal funds had to be used on public 
projects, that even non-sectarian private organizations such 
as Flanner House would not be eligible for EWC work as they 
had been for the past three years. The public-private 
partnership then had to officially come to a close. The 
entire philanthropic community could no longer be included 
and even organizations such as the Central Investigation 
Office and the Central Registration Bureau seemed to be ln 
some doubt because the social workers employed were, ln 
reality, loaned to the semi-public agencies from private 
groups. Indianapolis was not the only city affected by the 
Department of Labor's edict. 
The answer to the dilemma of how Indianapolis could 
restructure its agencies serving the unemployed quickly 
became known. Private social work agencies surrendered 
their employees, public-private groups such as the EWC were 
incorporated by wholly public entities, and federal agencies 
took responsibility for major employment initiatives. The 
180 
GCUR took over the function, files, and staff of the EWC. 147 
The CWA announced plans to put all relief recipients to 
work. Private philanthropic groups found themselves 
scrambling to create -a justification for their presence. As 
1933 became 1934 control and authority passed forever from 
local to national authorities. 
On September 1, 1933 the most visible parts of the 
public-private partnership were officially dismantled by the 
United States government. The loss of control over relief 
work must have baffled some of those who had led the efforts 
to help the needy. Frustration must have been vented over 
the loss of the centralizing agencies. After four years of 
work nothing was left. The federal government, through the 
GCUR, controlled local township trustee social work 
standards, including the size and make-up of relief 
provisions. Only private philanthropy remained solidly under 
local control. 
181 
Notes for Chapter 3 
In citing archives in the notes, short titles have generally 
been used. Works frequently cited have been identified by 
the following abbreviations: 
CATH Papers 
CF papers . 
CoC Papers 
CoC-CoC 
DL Papers 
FWS Papers 
GCUR Papers 
Papers of the Archdiocese of 
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Archdiocese 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Community Fund, United Way 
of Central Indiana Archives, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, Offices of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 
Papers of Daniel B. Luten, Manuscripts 
Division - Indiana State Library, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Family Services 
Association, Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Governor's Committee on 
182 
IF Papers 
YWCA Papers 
WM Papers 
Unemployment Relief, Indiana State 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Offices of the Indianapolis Foundation, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of the YWCA of Indianapolis, 
Indiana Historical Society, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Papers of Wheeler Mission Ministries, 
Indiana University - Purdue University 
Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
1. Sister Rose Angela Horan, The Story of Old St. John: A 
Parish Rooted in Pioneer Indianapolis (Indianapolis: Litho 
Press, 1971), 245. Sister Horan notes that over 2,000 
people attended his funeral and that a Jewish Rabbi, several 
Protestant ministers, high Catholic officials, and many 
individual citizens could be counted among those in 
attendance. 
2. Jeffrey Singleton, "Unemployment Relief and the Welfare 
State, 1930-1935," (Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University, 
1987), 1-2. 
183 
3. Hoover as quoted by Irving Bernstein ln A History of the 
American Worker, 1929-1933: The Lean Years (Boston: Houghton 
Mifflin Co., 1960), 287. 
4. Gene D. L. Jones, "The Chicago Catholic Charities, the 
Great Depression, and Public Monies," I llinois Historical 
Journal 83 (Spring 1990): 14-16. Illinois reached its $45 
million RFC limit before any other state, early in 1933. 
States with mostly rural populations also felt the need to 
relieve their local areas. Oklahoma appropriated $300,000 
in January 1931 to its counties for unemployment relief. 
See also Udo Sautter, "Government and Unemployment: The Use 
of Public Works before the New Deal," Journal of American 
History 7 3 ( 19 8 6 ) : 5 9 - 8 6 . 
5. Josephine Chapin Brown, Public Relief 1929-1939 (New 
York: Henry Holt & Co., 1940), 89- 90. 
6.Singleton, "Unemployment Relief," 125. 
7. "Final Message of Governor Harry G. Leslie to the 
Seventy-Eighth Indiana General Assembly, Thursday, January 
5, 1933," in Henry J. Richardson Papers, Indiana Historical 
Society, M472, Box 4, File 3. 
8. Bonnie Fox Schwartz, "Unemployment Relief in 
Philadelphia, 1930-1932: A Study of the Depression's Impact 
184 
on Voluntarism," in Bernard Sternsher, ed. Hitting Home: 
The Great Depression in Town and Country, Revised Edition 
(Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Inc., 1970, 1989), 60-76. Note that 
the FWS of Philadelphia was actually named the Family 
Services Agency. I used the designation FWS for comparative 
purposes and for easier reading. 
equivalent of Indianapolis' FWS. 
It was indeed the 
9. Charles H. Trout, Boston, the Great Depression, and the 
New Deal (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 88-99. 
10. Douglas L. Smith, The New Deal in the Urban South 
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988), 36. 
11 . According to historian Douglas Smith, most southern 
cities needed the federal government because they no longer 
had the tax base, voluntary zeal, or bonding power to 
continue funding their projects. See "The Persistence of 
the Past: Memphis in the Great Depression," Journal of 
Southern History 52 (May 1986): 190-193. 
The New Deal in the Urban South, 15-41. 
See also Smith, 
12. B. J. T. Jeup, "Survey of the Municipal Government of 
Indianapolis , Indiana, 1932," copy in Indiana Division, 
Indiana State Library. See also Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce report on the city's budget included with the March 
185 
17, 1932 meeting notes, in "Minutes of the Board of 
Directors of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1932," 
CoC-CoC. 
13. Indiana Business Review 20 January 1932, 3; Indiana 
Business Review, 20 December 1933, 6. The magazine reported 
that employment was "17.5 percent above a year ago" in the 
December 1933 issue. The December 1932 issue reported 
employment at 35.8 percent below that of May 1929. While 
there are problems with the way the survey was compiled, a 
general pattern does emerge to show that employment was 
higher in December 1933 than in December 1932, apparently 
significantly so. 
14. Business production was on par with Atlanta, New 
Orleans, and Birmingham, which faced decreases of 50-70 
percent. See Table 6, "Summary for Industrial Areas: 1933," 
in Biennial Census of Manufacturers, 1933 (Washington, D.C.: 
GPO, 1936), 37-38. See "Statistical Report for the State of 
Indiana for the Year Ending September 30, 1929" in Year Book 
of Indiana, 1929 (Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne Printing Company, 
19 3 0) . 
15. Indiana Business Review 20 March 1933, 7h 
16. Indiana Business Review 19 August 1933, 7. 
186 
17. "Facts About the Finances of the Indianapolis Public 
Schools," Published by the Board of School Commissioners, 
Indianapolis, September 1940. Copy in Indiana Division, 
Indiana State Library. 
18. Lawrence S. Connor, Hampton Court: Growing Up Catholic 
1n Indianapolis Between the Wars (Indianapolis: Guild Press 
of Indiana, 1995), 13-14. 
19. While businesses such as General Motors and U.S. Steel 
were cutting wages and hours, Eli Lilly and Company made a 
large enough profit to keep their workers on full time at 
full wages. Lilly cut hours at the plant in 1933, but 
raised wages to compensate for the loss in hours. During 
the 1930s Lilly did face decreased profits and could have 
cut hours or laid off employees to make up for the loss; 
however, not one employee at Lilly was laid off. Many were 
kept busy painting, cleaning, and doing other work projects. 
See James H. Madison, Eli Lilly: A Life, 1885-1977 
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1989), 96-97. 
20. From fiscal year 1930 to fiscal year 1933 total assets 
of the Chamber fell 17 percent, income fell by over half, 
and it lost 75 percent of its membership. The Chamber cut 
its budget by almost a fifth to prevent further losses. See 
187 
George Geib and Miriam Geib, Indianapolis First 
(Indianapolis: Chamber of Commerce, 1990), 71-73. See also 
minutes for December 19, 1929 and December 21, 1933 in 
"Minutes of the Board of Directors for the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, 1933," and "Minutes of the Board of 
Directors for the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1929," 
CoC-CoC. The report for December 19, 192 9 reports income of 
$93,471.36 for the 1928-1929 fiscal year. The 1933 minutes 
show an income of only $44,287.23 for fiscal year 1932-1933. 
21. See Meeting Minutes, July 21, 1932-August 18, 1932 ln 
"Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce, 1932," CoC-CoC. 
22. See March 30, 1930, February 18, 1932 and February 18, 
1933 meeting minutes in "Minutes of the Board of Directors 
of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1930," "Minutes of 
the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, 1932," and "Minutes of the Board of Directors of 
the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1933," CoC-CoC. 
Attachments to these notes concern city expenses and the 
Chamber's lobbying efforts. The September 28, 1933 meeting 
notes reveal that board members believed that the council's 
economies as presented in the 1934 budget were "very 
pleasing." One board member met with Mayor Sullivan and 
188 
city council representatives and was assured the city would 
do all it could to reduce budget expenses. 
23. See The Indianapolis Real Estate Board, 1912 to 1962 : 
50 Years of Community Service to the Greater Indianapolis 
Area for Home-Business-Industry (Indianapolis : Indianapolis 
Real Estate Board, 1962), chapter titled "1930 to 1940 . 
Depression Years." The Chamber did not get the unified 
county tax unit it wanted nor the air-mail route, but it did 
help bring the Paper Art and Stokely Van Camp companies to 
town. 
24. Emma A. Winslow, Trends in Different Types of Public 
and Private Relief in Urban Areas, 1929-1935 (Washington 
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1937). 
25.Winslow, Trends, 74, "Table B: total and per-capita 
expenditures from public and from private funds for relief 
in 117 specified urban areas; 1929-1935." 
26. For unemployment rates see Indiana Business Review 20 
January 1933. William A. Sundstrom, "Last Hired, First 
Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great 
Depression," Journal of Economic History 52 (June 1992): 
415-429, estimates that black unemployment was as much as 80 
percent higher than that of whites in northern urban areas. 
189 
Reports from the EWC, the Chamber of Commerce, and the FWS 
reveal that black unemployment was much higher than that of 
whites, especially before October 1931. The rates of aid 
given even out somewhat after October 1931. One must keep 
in mind, however, that blacks made up only 12 percent of the 
population, but as much as 50 percent or more of the Center 
Township trustee's cases. Sundstrom believes that much of 
the high rates are due to the type of pre-depression 
employment blacks were engaged ln, primarily low-skill 
construction, one of the first areas to suffer and the last 
to recover. In March 1933, the Indiana Business Review 
reported that construction was off by as much as 85.9 
percent from its May 1929 level. See also Rita Helmbold, 
"Downward Occupational Mobility during the Great Depression: 
Urban Black and White Working Class Women," Labor History 29 
(1988): 135-172. Helmbold shows that unemployment for black 
women was worse due to racism than that for black men. 
27. Minutes for 18 January 1932, ln "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931 to December 1934, CF Papers. The township 
trustee gave a total of $5.47 of relief, including milk and 
coal. 
28. Milton Meltzer, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?: The 
Great Depression, 1929-1933 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 
190 
Inc., 1969), 99. Meltzer also discloses that over 73 
percent of blacks living in Harlem did not receive any 
relief. 
29. Smith, The Urban South, 37. 
30. Indiana Business Review 20 July 1933, 4, states that 
cost of living fell 26.5 percent between 1929 and June 1933 . 
31. An historian has recently found that social workers may 
have misrepresented the total need of families during the 
Depression in order to attain social work goals that would 
not be accepted in normal times. See Winifred D. Wandersee 
Bolin, "The Economics of Middle-Income Family Life: Working 
Women During the Great Depression," Journal of American 
History 65 (June 1978): 60-74. 
32. Indianapolis News, 5 April 1932. 
33. Indianapolis Star, 24 September 1932. 
34. Actual caseloads in December 1933 were 6,885, which was 
actually down from the over 11,000 cases held in March 1933. 
"Marion County Comparative Expenditures for 1929, 1932, 
1933, 1934, 1935 and Appropriations for 1936 (including 
supplemental appropriations to June 15, 1936) ," W.P .A. 
Project no. 6152, "Box 12, GCUR Papers. 
35. See "Marion County Comparative Expenditures for 1929, 
191 
1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and Appropriations for 1936 
(including supplemental appropriations to June 15, 1936), 
W.P.A. Project no. 6152," Box 12, GCUR Papers. 
36. See June 20, 1931 PECE news release, attached to the 
June 23, 1931 Community Fund Board Minutes, concerning 
PECE's involvement in Community Fund campaigns around the 
nation. See also board member notes from November 13, 1931 
to December 31, 1931. "Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-
December 1934, CF Papers. 
37. November 16, 1931 letter from the Community Fund's 
accountants gives specific data concerning donations, 
grouped by businesses, individuals, and other criteria, in 
"Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
38. Letter to the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 
Foundation from the Community Fund, requesting additional 
aid for 1932. In the letter, A. V. Brown discloses that Eli 
Lilly gave $75,000 and challenges the Foundation to give at 
least $20,000. Copy in "Minutes," Book 3, 1928-1932, IF 
Papers. 
39. Board notes, December 15, 1932, reveal that in 1931 
Community Fund organizations around the nation collected an 
average of 78 percent of their goal. 
192 
"Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
40. Community Fund board member notes, September 24, 1931. 
The notes reveal thab several "citizens" erased the deficit 
so that the Fall 1931 campaign could be a success. "Fund 
Board Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
41. Minutes for December 31, 1931, ln "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
42. Ibid. Three percent is very good. The Indianapolis 
Foundation's costs averaged 10 percent. 
43. Minutes for November 28, 1931, ln "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
44. Family Welfare Society executive committee minutes, 
November 22, 1933, reveal that board members asked the 
township trustees to take over financial responsibility for 
large families and transients. A November 15, 1933 letter 
from David Liggett gives specific declarations on how and 
where FWS money could be spent. "Minutes of the Board of 
Directors of the Indianapolis Family Welfare Society," 
BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
45. Minutes for June 10, 1932, in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
193 
46. Minutes for December 15, 1932, in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
47. See "Typical Family Welfare Society Cases Involving 
Non-Payment of Rent," written by Deem and sent to Liggett, 
dated May 13, 1931, attached to the May 21, 1931 board 
member notes. See same meeting for the Fund's response to 
Deem. "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the 
Indianapolis Family Welfare Society," BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
48. The Central Investigation Office brought together the 
EWC, the FWS, and township trustees. Healthy reciepients of 
trustee relief would be investigated by the Central 
Investigation Office, "employed" by the EWC, and paid, in 
kind, by the trustee. In addition, if the recipient had 
other needs it was possible that the FWS, the Red Cross, or 
other organizations might render assistance. Community Fund 
Board Minutes, March 10, 1932, in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
49 . The Community Fund Board, though, had another reason 
for giving Wheeler Mission less money. They knew Wheeler 
had the contacts to cover the lessened grants from the Fund. 
They even admitted as much 1n a letter to Herbert Eberhardt, 
the Mission's director, in 1933. Proof came as the Mission 
194 
was never allowed to go too far in debt by its protectors 
and by the multitude of Christian supporters throughout the 
city. Wheeler Mission alone constituted its own sub­
network. Over 200 churches supported its Sunday Breakfast 
Club, radio programs, and religious ministries. 
50. For fiscal year 1931 see "Budget Allowances to Member 
Agencies" (1931-1932), attached to Board Member Notes, 
November 30, 1931. For fiscal year 1932 see "Budget 
Allowances to Member Agencies, years 1932 and 1933," 
attached to Board Member Notes, December 15, 1932. "Fund 
Board Minutes," January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
51. Joint Community Fund-Mayor's Relief Committee Meeting, 
January 18, 1932, "Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-
December 1934, CF Papers. 
52. "Miscellaneous Papers of the Family Welfare Society 
1932-ca. 1960," Box 3, File 2, FWS Papers. 
53. Minutes for March 11, 1932, in "Minutes of the Board of 
Directors of the Indianapolis Family Welfare Society," 
BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
54. Joint Meeting of the Executive Committee$ of the Family 
Welfare Society and the Community Fund Budget Committee held 
195 
April 24, 1932, Ibid. Rappaport, Wollen, and Clifford were 
in favor of narrowing the FWS's focus and presented their 
idea to do so in the April 27, 1932 board meeting. 
55. Minutes for September 30, 1932, ln "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Family Welfare 
Society," BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
56. Minutes for March 24, 1932,Ibid. 
57. Ibid. 
58. Minutes for April 24, 1932,ibid. 
59. Minutes for December 9, 1932 and for April 6, 1933, 
Ibid. 
60. Letter to Supporters from H. E. Eberhardt, dated 
October 17, 1932, Box 7, File 3, WM Papers. 
61. Letter to supporters from Eberhardt, dated September 
28, 1933,Ibid. 
62. The Red Cross made available wage payments to 
unemployed veterans through the EWC and some individuals 
were chosen by EWC personnel to receive a small 
supplementary wage. 
63. Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of 
196 
Employment, "Problems of Unemployment in Indianapolis," 
(Indianapolis: 1930), 4. 
64. See George E. Gill, "Helping the Man and the City, 
Too," Nation's Business (September 1931), copy ln Indiana 
Division, Indiana State Library. See also William H. Book, 
"How Indianapolis combines Poor Relief with Public Work," 
National Municipal Review (September 1931), copy in Indiana 
Division, Indiana State Library. 
65. Joint meeting of the Community Fund and the Mayor's 
Relief Committee, January 18, 1932 in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
66. EWC notes February 3, 1933 relates the Butler offer to 
provide garden space and Mary Rigg's offer to aid wives of 
the unemployed, Folder 3, DL Papers. See the Indianapolis 
Times, 16 November 1931, concerning the proceeds of football 
games. 
67. EWC notes August 20, 1931, "Activities Report," October 
31, 1931, and EWC Board meeting notes for November 6, 1931, 
Folder 3, DL Papers. 
68. EWC notes, March 25, 1933, ibid. 
69. See Consultant's Report for December 19_31, p. 2, ln 
197 
"Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 
Family Welfare Society," BV1231b, FWS Papers. 
70. "Board Minutes,". July 21, 1931 and September 17, 1932, 
Books 3 and 4, IF Papers. 
71. "Manager's Report," February 5, 1932, Folder 4, DL 
Papers. 
72. A letter to the Indianapolis Foundation board from A. 
V. Brown of the Community Fund, dated October 20, 1931, 
sought support for the 1932 fiscal year. The board also 
received and discussed a letter from the EWC dated October 
23, 1931. See "Minutes," Book 3, 1928-1932, IF Papers. 
73. "Minutes," March 14, 1932, Book 4, IF Papers. The 
donor was probably on the board of directors of the 
Foundation or a close friend of one of the board members. 
Within three days of the previous board meeting the 
mysterious donor appeared willing to help the Home. The 
donor wanted to give the money to the Foundation for the 
express purpose of helping the Home. 
74. Judith E. Endelman, The Jewish Community of 
Indianapolis: 1849 to the Present (Bloomingto~: Indiana 
University Press, 1984), 167. The Center was visited by 
198 
87,289 more people 1n 1932 than in 1928. 
75. Janice Shriver, "The YWCA in Indianapolis 1895-1935" 
(M.A. thesis, Indiana · University, 1965), 80. 
76. Indianapolis Recorder, 15 October 1932. 
77. Indianapolis Star, 5 January 1932. 
78. Shriver, "YWCA," 79. 
79. Moore, Second Presbyterian, 104. 
80. Horan, Old St. John's, 259. 
81. Second Baptist Church Records, Box 1, Indiana 
Historical Society, Indianapolis. See also Indianapolis 
Recorder. Church records reveal a relief club, but no 
existing records tell of its activities. An article in the 
Recorder in 1930 reveals that the Church opened a soup 
kitchen. 
82. Geib, Lives Touched By Faith, 122-125. 
83. See History of Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church 
(Indianapolis: Allen Chapel, A. M. E. Church, 1944), 61; 
Geib, Lives Touched By Faith, 114-115; Eli Lilly, History of 
the Little Church on the Circle: Christ Church Parish, 
Indianapolis, 1837-1955 (Indianapolis: Christ Protestant 
Episcopal Church, 1957). 
199 
84. History of Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church, 37 . 
85. Divita, A History of the Italians, 44. 
86. Geib, Lives Touched By Faith. 
87. Horan, Old St. John's, 260-261. 
88. History of Allen Chapel A. M. E. Church, 39. 
89. Edwin L. Becker, From Sovereign to Servant: The Church 
Federation of Greater Indianapolis, 1912-1987 (Indianapolis: 
The Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis, 1987), 27. 
90. Transcript of Oral Interview with George Gill, 30. 
91. Indianapolis Recorder, 22 October 1932, 12 November 
1932, 30 September 1933. 
92. Indianapolis Recorder, 10 October 1931, 21 November 
1931, 31 October 1931. Several people were hired at Kroger 
stores, at least in part, because of the League. 
93. Finis Farr, FDR (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 
1972), 217, 246-247; Dexter Perkins, The New Age of Franklin 
Roosevelt, 1932-1945 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 
1957), 24-26; "Unemployment Relief," The Indiana Bulletin 
(December 1933), 162-167, 236-253. 
94. Fred Hoke and William Book, "Governor's Commission on 
Unemployment Relief," and "Unemployment Relief," The Indiana 
200 
Bulletin (December 1933), 162-167, 236-253. 
95. Minutes for December 15, 1932, in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December . 1934, CF Papers. 
96. Ibid. 
97. Community Fund Board Member Notes, February 27, 1933, 
CF Papers. In the meeting Liggett related several options 
that other cities were trying. Kansas City used a 
commissary plan, which fed people on relief several meals at 
reduced costs to the Fund. Direct assistance was cut to 
almost nothing. Chicago used RFC money and gave agencles 
only 25 percent of their operating budget. The other 75 
percent was expected to come from supporters of the 
particular agency. Three Midwestern cities divided their 
agencies into two groups, relief and character building, and 
ran separate campaigns. 
98. The Salvation Army's budget decreased from $30,667 in 
1932 to only $17,500 in 1933. See "Budget Allowances to 
Member Agencies, years 1932 and 1933," attached to Board 
Member Notes, January 9, 1933, in "Fund Board Minutes," 
January 1931-December 1934, CF Papers. 
99. Minutes for January 9, 1933, Ibid. 
201 
100. See Minutes of March 22, 1933 to May 25, 1933, Ibid. 
Leisure Clubs were given $1728.95. 
101. Minutes for January 19, 1933, ibid. 
102. Minutes for February 27, 1933, ibid. 
103. Minutes for December 21, 1933, ibid . 
104. Minutes for January 9, 1933, ibid. 
105. Minutes for July 6, 1933, ibid. 
106. Minutes for September 19, 1933, Ibid. 
107. Minutes for September 19, 1933 and December 21, 1933, 
ibid. 
108. "Budget Allowances to Member Agencies, years 1932-
1933-1934," attached to the September 19, 1933 Community 
Fund Minutes, in "Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-December 
1934, CF Papers. 
109. The FWS's budget was cut from $330,006.24 in 1932 to 
$229,900.00 in 1933. See "Budget Allowances to Member 
Agencies, years 1932-1933-1934," attached to the September 
19, 1933 Minutes, in "Fund Board Minutes," January 1931-
December 1934, CF Papers. 
202 
110. Board notes for December 9, 1932, in "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Family Welfare 
Society, BV1231b, FWS Papers. The FWS received $0.65 per 
day per child rather than $0.75 per day. 
111. Board notes for January 13, 1933, Ibid. 
112. Board notes, January 13, 1933, Ibid., reveal that the 
trustee agreed to pay the water bills for residents of 
emergency housing. The April 6, 1933 Board Notes detail 
that the salary of the director of the Emergency Housing 
Committee was to be paid by the trustee. Finally, in the 
October 6, 1933 FWS Board Notes, one finds that the trustee 
took over the entire project. 
113. Board notes for March 24, 1933, ibid. 
114. Board notes, May 5, 1933 and May 23, 1933, ibid. Rent 
relief was to be stopped for June and August, while general 
relief payments were to be discontinued for July and 
September. 
115. Board notes for October 6, 1933, ibid. 
116. "Monthly Reports November 1930-November 1935," Box 6, 
File 3, FWS Papers. 
203 
117. Letter to Liggett from Eberhardt dated March 9, 1933, 
Box 4, File 11, WM Papers. 
118. Information contained in a letter dated May 19, 1933 
from Krause to Liggett, Box 4, Folder 11, WM Papers. 
119. "Monthly Budget Reports,u Box 50, Folder 6 and Box 53, 
Folder 5, WM Papers. 
120. Minutes of July 6, 1933 meeting, in "Fund Board 
Minutes, u January 1931-Decernber 1934, CF Papers. 
121. Relief agencies were budgeted for $308,500 in fiscal 
year 1934, out of a total budget of $547,816. See memo 
attached to September 19, 1933 Notes, ln "Fund Board 
Minutes, u January 1931-Decernber 1934, CF Papers. 
122. EWC meeting notes, November 4, 1932, show a debt of 
$260.58. The Meeting Notes of December 2, 1932 note that a 
football game raised $4,000 for the EWC. Folder 3, DL 
Papers. 
123. EWC meeting notes, May 27, 1933, folder 4, DL Papers. 
124. See Daniel B. Luten's Statement of February 3, 1934. 
See also the Also the Activities Report of the EWC for 
February 3, 1933, in Folder 4, DL Papers. 
125. EWC meeting notes, February 4, 1933, ln Folder 4, DL 
204 
Papers. 
126. See "A Study of Township Trustee Cases, March 23, 
1932," copy in Indiana Division, Indiana State Library. 
127. See EWC meeting notes for May 27, 1933 concerning the 
RFC loan and the September 1, 1933 meeting regarding NRA 
membership, in Folder 4, DL Papers. 
128. EWC meeting notes, February 25, 1933, Ibid. 
129. "Activities Report" for February 25, 1933, Ibid., 
noted an average of 6,025 workers reported to EWC job sites. 
During the same time in 1932 the average was only 3,98 7 . 
130. "Activities Report," March 28, 1933, ibid. 
131. "Activities Report," April 29, 1933, ibid. The EWC 
registered 914 people with the CCC, 26 percent of who were 
black, sometime in late April. 
132. In May and June, Gill and others met with federal and 
state representatives no less than three times for at least 
four days. See meeting notes for June 2, 1933 and May 26, 
1933, ibid. 
133. "Activities Report," June 24, 1933, ibid. 
134. The EWC placed workers into state and federal jobs at 
205 
least four times between late July and late October. In the 
last list given to the CCC, 44 .5 percent of the men were 
black. See Executive Committee Meeting Notes, October 27, 
1933; "Activities Report," September 29, 1933; meeting 
notes, October 6, 1933; Executive Committee meeting notes, 
October 27, 1933; and George Gill's Final Report to the EWC 
Board, January 2, 1934, ibid . 
135. "Minutes," December 20, 1932, Book 4, IF Papers. 
136. Letter from Foster to James Cook of the New Haven 
Foundation dated February 28, 1929 and attached to the March 
15, 1929 Director's Report, Book 3, 1928-1932, IF Papers. 
137. 1929 and 1933 fiscal year reports, "Minutes," Book 3, 
1928-1932, Book 4, IF Papers. 
138. In 1929 the Indianapolis Foundation gave the 
Indianapolis Orphan's Asylum $2,161.29 for necessities and 
$13,051.92 for a demonstration project. Money for other 
relief organizations was for experimental programs. By 1933 
the Orphan's Asylum was given $3,500 for necessities while a 
school for crippled children was given $15,947, because its 
funding was stopped by other agencies. The Community Fund 
received $35,000. It is important to note that Foundation 
leaders did not want to provide much money tor the Fund. 
206 
Their desire was to provide experimental programming that 
otherwise could not be funded. Only need made Foundation 
leaders give the Fund so much of Foundation income. 1929, 
1933 Annual Reports, Book 3, 1928-1932, Book 4, IF Papers. 
139. See John Scott, Social Network Analysis: A Handbook 
(Newbury Park, California: SAGE Pub l ications, Inc., 1992), 
12-36. See also Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust, 
Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications (NY: 
Cambridge University Press, 1994), 292-297 and 303-315. 
140. Thomas C. Cochran, "The History of a Business 
Society," Journal of American History 54 (June 1967) 15-17. 
Cochran believes that business leaders failed to take a 
forceful lead during the Depression. 
141. See Frank J. Bruno's presidential address "Social-Work 
Objectives in the New Era," in Proceedings of the National 
Conference of Social Work (Chicago: University of Chicago 
Press, 1933), 3-19. See also Harry L. Hopkins, "The 
Developing National Program of Relief," ibid., 65-69. 
142. The study on comparative expenditures for 1929, 1932-
1936, W. P. A. Project number 6152 was completed by the 
Chamber of Commerce. See "Marion County Comparative 
Expenditures for 1929, 1932, 1933, 1934, 193.5 and 
207 
Appropriations for 1936 (including supplemental 
appropriations to June 15, 1936) , 11 W.P.A. Project no.6152, 
Box 12, GCUR Papers. 
143. Minutes for July 20, 1933-July 19, 1934, 1n "Minutes 
of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, 1933, II and "Minutes of the Board of Directors of 
the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1934, 11 CoC-Coc. 
144. Full-page ad found in Indianapolis Star, 23 July 1933. 
For the Chamber's cooperation in the First New Deal see 
Board Meeting Notes from September 28, 1933 to July 19, 
1934, in "Minutes of the Board of Directors of the 
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 1933, II and "Minutes of the 
Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 
1934, 11 in CoC-CoC. William H. Book sent a confidential memo 
on what the members could do to cooperate with state and 
federal projects. 
145. Indianapolis Recorder, 21 January 1933. For the 
numbers of people aided by the "Good Fellows" organization 
see Indianapolis Recorder, 31 December 1932 and 30 December 
1933. In 1932 the Good Fellows helped over 800 individuals. 
By the end of 1933 they gave out gifts and food to 1000 
people. 
208 
146. Indianapolis Recorder, 29 July 1933 and 30 December 
1933. Remember also that of the CCC workers chosen from 
Indianapolis, between 26 percent and 44 percent were b l ack. 
147. See Manager's Report attached to November 20, 1933 EWC 
Minutes, Folder 4, DL Papers. 
209 
Chapter 4 
An End to the Partnership? 
In an interview in 1963 Louis J. Borinstein told a 
reporter for the Indianapolis Times what was most important 
to him. He said that he was proud to receive Manual High 
School's 1963 Man of the Year award from his alma mater. 
Borinstein was a successful businessman and civic leader. 
He had been president of the Chamber of Commerce, president 
of his own company, and vice president of another. The most 
important thing he remembered, though, was that he had spent 
his life trying "to do some small good." For Borinstein 
part of that good was serving on civic and philanthropic 
boards. In the 1930s he presided over the Chamber an 
unprecedented five years and also served on the GCUR. He 
sat on the City Plan Commission for twenty-eight years and 
devoted significant time to at least seven philanthropic 
agencies. Most of the men and women in this tale spent a 
lifetime trying to do a little good and searched for answers 
~ 
to the problems of their city. For Bor. instein "anyone in 
~ 
late years of life who can't . . dream of some small good 
he might have done is lost." 1 
The public-private partnership of the early 1930s 
worked because a group of dedicated civic leaders were 
210 
sometimes willing to put the good of the community ahead of 
the good of individual agencies. The boards of Wheeler 
Mission and the FWS never seriously considered breaking away 
from the Fund. The community accepted responsibility for 
the crisis. As a result of the economic, political, and 
philanthropic decisions of the elite, Indianapolis 
philanthropy was able to aid the needy during the 1929-1933 
period. The partnership did not die in 1933 and continues 
today. 
Financial problems plagued policy makers. Community 
leaders failed to fully fund, and therefore ably empower, 
their most potentially powerful private-public partnership 
tool, the EWC, except for a brief period in early 1931. For 
some Indianapolis citizens, the relief available to them was 
inadequate to meet basic requirements, but did that mean the 
partnership was a total failure? 
The answer to the question is no, but neither was the 
partnership a complete success. The Indianapolis community 
gave its unemployed food, but failed to give them hope for 
future employment, or even sometimes an acceptable form of 
relief. Many agencies had to give up their stated mission 
in order to take on the responsibility of relief, affecting 
some long-term projects. The Indianapolis community 
succeeded in better measure than other cities due to the 
211 
presence of a group of men and women who, tied through 
various organizations and through social commitments, were 
willing to use both the public and the private sectors for 
relief without extravagant expectations or flamboyant 
productions. Their search for efficiency and cooperation 
led to a partial success story. While this partnership 
failed to wholly provide adequate relief to all families, 
its attempts reached more, and provided relief more 
consistently over time, than in other cities. 2 In addition, 
its measures proved adaptable and malleable. 
Some will question the motives of those involved in the 
1930s public-private partnership. There are many who 
believe that philanthropy exists as a power play against the 
poor by those who are wealthy. 3 Such grandiose neo-Marxist 
theories need not necessarily be believed. Is it not 
possible that many of the men and women who have passed 
through this story were led by compassion, and a sense of 
civic duty, to help the unfortunate? It may be a simplistic 
answer as to their motives, but it is perhaps closer to the 
mark than explanations based wholly on economic motives. 
Most of the men and women deemed leaders in this study 
came from a traditional religious background, which not only 
encouraged giving, but required it as a test of their 
spirituality. 4 Many of the spiritual leaders of the decade, 
212 
such as Jean Milner of Second Presbyterian Church, 
encouraged the Vlew that social service was a prerequisite 
for holiness. The religious factor, combined with years of 
the expectations of prominent leaders in business as to 
philanthropy, led civic leaders to attempt to meet the needs 
of the city's populace through a mixture of a sense of 
religious and civic duty. In addition, traditional 
Midwestern civic values held localism dear. As leaders of 
the community they were responsible for its well being. 
Assigning solely economic motives to the group seems trite 
and condescending. The fear of communism was widespread and 
added to the activities of local leaders, but this 
researcher does not believe it was their primary concern. 
The traditions they practiced and passed on did not die 
in 1933. Civic leaders moved on and formed new partnerships 
with the local public sector that aided both the city at 
large and the public. Instead of shrinking from 
responsibility, local elites and local social work 
executives found positions and authority for themselves 
within local branches of state departments. Fred Hoke, 
William Book, Louis J. Borinstein, Leo Rappaport and many 
others held key appointments within the GCUR. 
Leaders in Indianapolis immediately began to evade the 
1933 rule against using public money to help private 
213 
philanthropic groups, a position taken in other Midwestern 
cities as well. 5 By 1936 Works Progress Administration 
funds supported the work of Wheeler Mission's Women 's 
Auxiliary and the Catholic Community Center. 
The success of the partnership in the 1930s and the 
desire to keep local control may have emboldened city 
leaders to reject federal aid into the 1960s. William H. 
Book, director of the GCUR in the 1930s and president of the 
Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s, discouraged civic leaders 
from taking government money because he feared that the 
consequences of taking federal money was national control. 
Book was not alone. Every mayor elected in the 1940s and 
1950s, both Republican and Democrat, concurred with Book at 
least in action if not in sentiment. Only with the election 
of John J. Barton, in 1963, and his successor Richard G. 
Lugar, did the city begin to apply for federal aid to 
cities. 
Barton's term, however, did not signal the decline of 
local elite control over the city's fortunes. Barton 
created the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) 
in 1965, an entity he considered his best achievement. It 
brought together the elite in a single board to act as an 
unofficial advisor to the mayor. The board was later 
credited with having a powerful say in local government 
214 
decision making. 6 
The 1970s and 1980s only witnessed an acceleration of 
the private-public partnership. The Greater Indianapo l is 
Progress Committee, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, 
the Lilly Endowment, and the Indianapolis Foundation 
continued to guide the city from near ruin to what one 
historian termed the "silver buckle on the rust belt." 7 The 
restoration of the downtown area, the refurbishment of 
entire neighborhoods, and the creation of Indiana 
University-Purdue University at Indianapolis are among the 
crowning achievements of the partnership 1n recent decades. 
By 1980 Lilly Endowment President Thomas H. Lake openly 
suggested that the new federalism promised by President 
Ronald Reagan would lead to a new look at the benefits of 
private-public partnerships. 8 Lake undoubtedly knew these 
benefits first hand because Indianapolis had been operating 
1n such a manner for over a century. 
In the end the public-private partnership continues to 
the writing of this thesis. In 1997 the Lilly Endowment, 
the City of Indianapolis, and the State of Indiana enticed 
the National Collegiate Athletic Association's national 
headquarters to the Circle City. The work of the 
Rappaports, the Lillys, the Efroymsons, and the Browns, to 
mention but a few, continues. Many quarrel with the 
215 
secretive nature of the partnership or the potential for 
harm, but few can argue that it has not been a boon to the 
city. It was certainly not a hindrance in the 1930s when 
federal relief was unknown and misery multiplied as the 
economic crisis grew. In general, local entities could not 
fight successfully against the economic catastrophe, but 
they did endeavor to aid those touched by it, and sometimes 
they were able to do some small good. 
216 
Notes for Chapter 4 
1. Indianapolis Times, 17 February 1963, 6. 
2. Even national aid did not solve the entire problem. 
When the United States entered World War II many incoming 
recruits were malnourished. 
3. A good example of such a Vlew is the work on the 
Cleveland Foundation completed by the National Committee for 
Responsive Philanthropy. See The Cleveland Foundation and 
the disadvantaged: top-down solutions for the toughest 
problems: a report of the Community Foundation 
Responsiveness Project (Washington, D.C.: National Committee 
for Responsive Philanthropy, 1991). 
4. See John Errett Lankford, "Protestant Stewardship and 
Benevolence, 1900-1941: A Study in Religious Philanthropy" 
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1962), 2-7, on 
philanthropic giving by mainstream Protestant denominations. 
5. See Gene L. Jones, "The Chicago Catholic Charities, The 
Great Depression, and Public Monies," Illinois Historical . 
Journal 83 (Spring 1990): 22. Jones describes how Chicago 
Catholic Charities openly evaded the 1933 ruling by using 
their political muscle. 
217 
6. For a brief account of John J. Barton see author's 
entry, "Barton, John J., Administration of" in Encyclopedia 
of Indianapolis, eds. David J. Bodenhamer and Robert G. 
Barrows (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), 298-
299. See also a series of articles by Philip J. Trounstine 
entitled "Who's Who In City's Power Structure" 1n 
Indianapolis Star, 28 November 1976. A follow up series was 
completed in 1993--see Indianapolis Star, 6 June 1993. The 
News also did an insightful piece on the . power of the Lilly 
Endowment and Lilly money in general. See "Shaping a City: 
The Lilly Legacy" in Indianapolis News, 13 November 1989. 
For more information on William Book and the general 
attitude of the business community in Indianapolis during 
the 1950s and early 1960s see the Chamber's Indianapolis, 
Modern Trailblazer: 64 Years on social, Cultural and 
Economic Frontiers (Indianapolis: Indianapolis Chamber of 
Commerce, 1952), 12-13. In the monograph the author proudly 
states that the chamber "opposed a new category of federal 
aid for libraries . . disapproved bills to regulate and 
subsidize industrial safety programs . , The author 1s 
especially proud of the "Hoosier Rebellion-a stand against 
federal and state handouts, featured by a story in the 
Saturday Evening Post and Readers digest." See also "Book 
Leaving C of C Post" in Indianapolis Times, · 23 September 
218 
1963 and "Book Knew C. of C. Had To Change" in Indianapolis 
News, 6 July 1967, 27. 
7. Robert G. Barrows, "Indianapolis: Silver Buckle on the 
Rust Belt," in Snowbelt Cities: Metropolitan politics in the 
Northeast and Midwest since World War II (Bloomington: 
Indiana University Press, 1990), edited by Richard Bernard. 
8. 1980 Lilly Endowment Annual Report (Indianapolis, 1981), 
3. 
219 
Appendix A 
Network Analysis Methods and Results 
For more information concerning network analysis see 
John Scott's Social N~twork Analysis, A Handbook (Newbury 
Park, CA: SAGE Publications Inc., 1992) and Stanley 
Wasserman and Katherine Faust, Social Network Analysis: 
Methods and Applications (New York: Cambridge University 
Press, 1994). Dr. Eric Wright of Indiana University's 
Sociology Department has proved indispensable in 
interpreting the data collected and used in the text. For 
information on the uses of UCinet see Steven Borgatti, 
Martin Everett, and Linton Freeman. UCinet IV Manual 
(Columbia: Analytic Technologies, 1992). 
The closeness of the individuals involved in decision 
making during the Depression in Indianapolis was both 
helpful and somewhat destructive. The density of the 
cliques that made up the Indianapolis elite between 1929 and 
1933 helps to explain their aversion to new avenues of aid 
and their ability to sustain contemporary means of relief. 
The group was able to withstand criticism and not allow the 
stress of those early years to break the philanthropic 
community apart. They communicated effectively with each 
other, thus facilitating a flow of information and resources 
220 
between groups. But, the close-knit nature of the 
leadership group made them resistant to change, in part 
because of the very strength that allowed them to succeed. 
A dense network often. chokes off new ideas or at least makes 
heterodox ideas less palatable. 
A network analysis gives the researcher a tool to 
impart knowledge concerning the interconnectedness of 
people. The popular sentiment "it's not what you know, but 
who you know" typifies the beliefs that underlie network 
analysis research and writing. Sociologists think that 
membership within sub-groups of society such as churches, 
families, formal voluntary associations such as clubs, and 
informal associations - termed network ties, make up the 
foundation of communities. Some sociologists consider 
cliques, one type of network tie, the most important tie, 
after family. 1 
The overlapping clique membership integrates almost the 
entire population to create a social system of tiered 
informal relationships that are usually designated a 
"community." In essence, individuals who come from a 
similar social strata, or those who are focused on the same 
ideas and who participate in the same activities will tend 
to become interpersonally tied. The intercon~ectedness of 
these individuals is strengthened the more they interact 
221 
with one another. If interaction is frequent and individual 
clusters are tight enough activity can be coordinated, and 
beliefs and ideas will tend to be shared, forming a general 
consensus. Sociologi$tS measure the strength of a clique 
through its density. Density is found by measuring the 
number of possible connections and their frequency of 
occurrence within a set of social actors. Density is always 
shown as a percentage and corresponds to the percent of 
actors that are co-members of a particular organization. 1 
Centrality is another measure of how important, powerful and 
influential an individual is within a network or clique. 
The first step in collecting historical data of the 
type needed for this study is to determine the major groups 
and individuals that affected the policies of philanthropic 
and government agencies in Indianapolis between 1929 and 
1933. The agencies selected included both wholly private 
groups, public bodies, and public-private organizations 
created for the emergency. After determining the groups, 
individual members were identified. A MxN matrix was 
created in a database (see Figure A.1 for an example and 
figure A.2 for the actual matrix). In the vertical column, 
(M), individual names were placed. The (N) column 
represents philanthropic and public-private agencies to 
which the individuals belonged. A 1 or 0 was placed in the 
222 
line to denote activity ln the group or the absence of such 
activity, respectively. 
Name Agency 1 
Person 1 0 
Person 2 1 
Person 3 1 
Figure A.l 
Ex~ple of a MxN matrix 
Agency 2 
1 
1 
0 
Agency 3 
1 
0 
1 
The computer program manages the data in two different 
ways. First, the interconnectedness of the individuals is 
determined. In the example, persons two and three are 
connected through agency one. Person one and two are 
connected through agency two and persons three and one are 
connected through agency three. Essentially, all three 
people are interconnected, but none belong to all three 
agencies. Further, by reversing the matrix it is easy to 
see that all agencies are connected through the three 
individuals. While this is a very simple example, one can 
see that it is possible for information to be shared among 
groups and between individuals without a particular 
individual actually belonging to a specific group. 
In practical terms what this means is that the 
probability of sharing information, beliefs, and resources 
223 
are increased as individuals share memberships, and thus 
time and social capital, in organizations. 1 The more 
connections that are made the more likely the possibility 
that there will be a $bared culture. The connections also 
may allow for coordination of resources, the sharing of 
personnel, or possibly an informal sharing of beliefs and 
philosophy. Further, it may show that most of the 
individuals within the sample share a similar social 
position, if as in example A.l, the individuals are highly 
connected then most probably all three individuals belong to 
the same social cohort or clique. It is important to note 
that this lS an interpretive version of what the data 
imparts. The information gleaned from the matrices give the 
researcher facts concerning pairs of actors. In example A.l 
each individual is a part of a pair because each person is 
tied to another on at least one board. 
In the study on Indianapolis the groups included were 
social clubs, including the Woodstock Club or the Athenaum, 
civic groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, public-private 
groups, namely the Emergency Work Committee, public groups 
including the City Council, and philanthropic organizations. 
The individuals on the boards of these groups were then 
studied to see if they had any other connectiQns, for 
example by marriage or schooling. The best way to obtain 
224 
this information was by collecting such data in archival 
sources. In many board minutes the member's names were 
listed. In other instances it was impossible to find such 
information because s~ch records are no longer available. A 
second way to gather the data was to go to Blue Books, Who's 
Who listings and other biographical data that would list 
board memberships. 
After all the data was collected the MxN matrix for 
Indianapolis between 1929 and 1933 looked like Figure A.2. 
Figure A.2 
MxN Matrix Data for Indianapolis, 1929-1933 
A 
Roy E. Adams 
Henry C. 
Atkins 
Wiliam A. 
Atkins 
Worksheet 1 
B CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY Z 
48 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
62 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 
51 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
Frederic M. 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 
Ayres 
Hugh J. Baker 4 8 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
Arthur R. 54 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 
Baxter 
Earl Beck 
William C. 
Borcherding 
Louis J. 
Borinstein 
Arthur V. 
Brown 
35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
59 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
49 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
67 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 
John A. Brown 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Volney M. 31 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 
Brown 
James F. 
Carroll 
Charles E. 
Coffin 
48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 :L 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 
70 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 
Helen Coleman 54 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
225 
Joseph J. 
Daniels 
Henry L. 
Dithmer, Sr. 
Brandt C. 
Downey 
Nelle Bowman 
Downey 
Frank A. 
Dunlop 
Gustave A. 
Efroyrnson 
Morris M. 
Feuerlicht 
Eugene C. 
Foster 
Mortimer C. 
Furscott 
Frank Gates 
Francis H. 
Gavisk 
Theodore B. 
Griffith 
George Gill 
William A. 
Hacker 
Walter B. 
Harding 
40 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 
61 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
57 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
56 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 
56 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 
51 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 
53 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 00 0 00 010 0100 00 010 0 0 
57 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
64 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 
40 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
C . L . Harrod 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
Jacob F. Hoke 59 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 
J arne s I . 54 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Holcomb 
Henry H. 50 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Hornbrook 
Edward Hunter 46 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
Orlando B. 61 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 
Iles 
William H. 
Insley 
Edward 
Jackson 
Arthur Jordan 
Edward Kahn 
Leo Krauss 
Hugh McK. 
Landon 
Zeo Leach 
Wallace 0. 
Lee 
60 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 
57 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
65 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 
54 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
63 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 :L 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 
40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
40 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 
226 
Perry W . L e s h 3 4 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
Louis H. 7 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 
Levey 
Herman Lieber 
Josiah K. 
Lilly, Sr. 
Marshall D. 
Lupton 
Walter C. 
Marmon 
A. Kiefer 
Mayer 
Felix M. 
McWhirter 
William J. 
Mooney, Jr. 
Samuel 
Mueller 
Walter D. 
Myers 
James W. Noel 
Nicholas H. 
Noyes 
George S. 
Olive 
Thomas J. 
Owens 
Leo M. 
Rappaport 
C. A. Reeve 
Mrs. Peter C. 
Reily 
Paul Q. 
Richey 
James 0. 
Ritchey 
David Ross 
Curtis H. 
Rottger 
Almus G. 
Ruddell 
Thomas D. 
Sheerin 
William R. 
Sinclair 
L. Ert Slack 
Elmer W. 
Stout 
56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
69 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 
54 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 
10 0 0 0 00100 0 00 0 010 0110 0 0 0 
44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 
52 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 
52 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
47 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
63 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 
49 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
60 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
51 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
55 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
39 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 
65 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
66 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
57 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 
46 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
10 000000 00 0000000000 010 0 
54 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 
227 
Reginald 
Sullivan 
Gertrude 
Taggart 
Guy A. 
Wainwright 
Harold B. 
West 
George T. 
Wheldon, Sr. 
c. c. 
Winegardner 
Evans 
Woollen, Jr. 
Evans 
Woollen, Sr. 
51 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
54 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 
36 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 
52 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
33 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
66 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 
Key for Worksheet 1 
(A) - Name of Individual (B) - Age in 1930 (C) - Member of 
Republican Party (D) - Member of Democratic Party (E) -
Mystic Tie Mason (F) - Scottish Rite Mason (G) -
Mystic Shrine Mason (H) - Murat Shrine Mason (I) - Member of 
First Baptist Church (J) - Member of Second Presbyterian 
Church (K) - Member of Meridian Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church (L) - Member of Christ Church Episcopal 
Protestant Church (M) - Member of the Unitarian Church 
(N) - Member of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation 
(0) - Member of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church 
(P) - Member of the Woodstock Club (Q) - Member of the 
Columbia Club (R) - Member of the Athletic Club 
(S) - Member of the Athletic Club (T) - Member of 
Highland Golf Club (U)- Member of the University Club 
(V)- Member of the Chamber of Commerce (W) -Board 
Member of the Community Fund (X) - Board Member of the Boys 
Club (Y) - Board Member of the YMCA (Z) - Board member 
of the YWCA. 
A 
Roy E. 
Adams 
Henry C. 
Atkins 
Wiliam A. 
Atkins 
Frederic M. 
Ayres 
B C D 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
Worksheet 2 
EFGHIJ 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
K L M N 
0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 
0 P Q R S 
0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 1 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
228 
Hugh J. 
Baker 
Arthur R. 
Baxter 
Earl Beck 
William C. 
Borcherding 
Louis J. 
Borinstein 
Arthur V. 
Brown 
John A. 
Brown 
Volney M. 
Brown 
James F. 
Carroll 
Charles E. 
Coffin 
Helen 
Coleman 
Joseph J. 
Daniels 
Henry L. 
Dithmer, 
Sr. 
Brandt C. 
Downey 
Nelle 
Bowman 
Downey 
Frank A. 
Dunlop 
Gustave A. 
Efroymson 
Morris M. 
Feuerlicht 
Eugene C. 
Foster 
Mortimer C. 
Furscott 
Frank Gates 
Francis H. 
Gavisk 
Theodore B. 
Griffith 
George Gill 
William A. 
Hacker 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 10 0 0 0 0110 0 0 01010 
0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 00 0 0 0 
01 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 01 
0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 01 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 
0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
10 110110 0 0 0 0 0 0010 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
01 1110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0110 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
01 0 0110 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
229 
Walter B. 
Harding 
C. L. 
Harrod 
Jacob F. 
Hoke 
James I. 
Holcomb 
Henry H. 
Hornbrook 
Edward 
Hunter 
Orlando B. 
Iles 
William H. 
Insley 
Edward 
Jackson 
Arthur 
Jordan 
Edward Kahn 
Leo Krauss 
Hugh McK. 
Landon 
Zeo Leach 
Wallace 0. 
Lee 
Perry W. 
Lesh 
Louis H. 
Levey 
Herman 
Lieber 
Josiah K. 
Lilly, Sr. 
Marshall D. 
Lupton 
Walter C. 
Marmon 
A. Kiefer 
Mayer 
Felix M. 
McWhirter 
William J. 
Mooney, Jr. 
Samuel 
Mueller 
Walter D. 
Myers 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 01010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
1 0 
1 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
1 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
1 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 1 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 
0 0 0 1 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 1 1 0 0 
0 0 1 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 
0 0 11010 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0110110 0 00 0 0 0 
01 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 010 00110 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 10 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 
0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 01 
230 
James W. 
Noel 
Nicholas H. 
Noyes 
George S. 
Olive 
Thomas J. 
Owens 
Leo M. 
Rappaport 
C. A. Reeve 
Mrs. Peter 
C. Reily 
Paul Q. 
Richey 
James 0. 
Ritchey 
David Ross 
Curtis H. 
Rottger 
Almus G. 
Ruddell 
Thomas D. 
Sheerin 
William R. 
Sinclair 
L. Ert 
Slack 
Elmer W. 
Stout 
Reginald 
Sullivan 
Gertrude 
Taggart 
Guy A. 
Wainwright 
Harold B. 
West 
George T. 
Wheldon, 
Sr. 
c. c. 
Winegardner 
Evans 
Woollen, 
Jr. 
Evans 
Woollen, 
Sr. 
0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00110 
01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0110 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00110 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00110 
0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 
01 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 010 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 010 
0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0 0 0 0 
0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 010 0010 0 
231 
Key for Worksheet 2 
(A) - Name of Individual (B) - Board Member of Wheeler City 
Rescue Mission (C) - Board Member of the Family Welfare 
Society (D) - Board Member of the Red Cross 
(E) - Board Member of the Indianapolis Foundation 
(F) - Board Member of the State Board of Charities 
(G) - Board Member of the Indianapolis Employment 
Bureau (H) - Board Member of the Emergency Work Committee 
(I) - Board Member of the Mayor's Relief Committee 
(J) - Board Member of Christamore House (K) - Member of 
the City Plan Commission (L) - Member of the City Council 
(M) -Member of the Marion County Board of Children's 
Guardians (N) - Board Member of the Indianapolis Public 
Health and Charities Board (0) - State Representative or 
State Senator (P) - Board Member of the Jewish Welfare 
Federation (Q) - Board Member of the Indianapolis 
Commission for the Stabilization of Employment (R) -
Board Member of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 
(S) - Member of the Indianapolis Department of Law 
Once the data was collected within a database it was 
refigured using UCINet IV software, version 1.0. The MxN 
information was then converted to a NxN matrix. The NxN 
matrix allows the overlap of individuals to be calculated. 
It shows the number of organizations or groups to which each 
pair of actors belongs. The MxN data is also imported into 
a MxM matrix. The MxM data shows how many pairs of actors 
were members of particular organizations, thus calculating 
the overlap of organizations. 
232 
Figure A. 3 
Data from NxN matrix 
Name Degree Name Degree 
R. E. Adams 71 . 0 H . c. Atkins 75 . 0 
W.A . Atkins 68 . 0 F. M. Ayres 65.0 
H. J. Baker 76.0 A. R . Baxter 76.0 
E . Bec k 50.0 W. c. Borcherding 52 . 0 
L. J. Borinstein 72.0 A . V . Brown 77.0 
J . A . Brown 36.0 v. M. Brown 74.0 
J. F. Carroll 69 . 0 c. E. Coffin 69.0 
H. Coleman 47.0 J. J. Daniels 70 . 0 
H. L. Dithmer 63 . 0 B . c. Downey 75 . 0 
N . B. Downey 67.0 F. A. Dunlop 65.0 
G. A. Efroyms on 69.0 M. M. Feuerlicht 63.0 
E. c . Foster 69 . 0 M. c . Furscott 55.0 
F. E. Gates 56.0 F. H. Gavisk 71.0 
T. B. Griffith 74.0 G. c. Gill 53 . 0 
W. A. Hacker 51 . 0 w. B. Harding 68.0 
c . L. Harrod 74.0 J. F. Hoke 77.0 
J. I . Hol comb 67.0 H. H. Hornbrook 35.0 
E. Hunter 65 . 0 0. B . Iles 74.0 
W. H. Insley 74 . 0 E . Jackson 59.0 
A. R . Jordan 67 . 0 E . A. Kahn 73.0 
H. w. Krause 74 . 0 H. M. Landon 68 . 0 
z. w. Leach 70.0 w. 0. Lee 71.0 
P . W. Lesh 76 .0 L. H . Levey 67.0 
H. P. Lieber 61 . 0 J . K. Lilly 77 . 0 
M. D. Lupton 57 . 0 w. c. Marmon 71 . 0 
A. K. Mayer 66 . 0 F. M. McWhirter 63.0 
w. J . Mooney 57.0 s. Mueller 65.0 
w. D . Myers 51 . 0 J. w. Noel 70.0 
N. H. Noyes 74 .0 G. s. Olive 71.0 
T . J . Owens 47 .0 L. Rappaport 64.0 
c. A. Reeve 59.0 M. s . Reily 62 . 0 
P . Q. Richey 58.0 J . 0. Ritchey 53.0 
D. Ross 29.0 c. H. Rottge r 78.0 
A. G. Ruddell 74.0 T. D. Sheerin 56.0 
w. R . Sinclair 55.0 L. E. Slack 26.0 
E . w. Stout 74.0 R. G. Sullivan 55.0 
G. Taggart 69.0 G. Wainwright 58.0 
H. B. West 68 . 0 G. T. Wheldon 49.0 
c. c. Winegardner 60 . 0 E. Woollen, Jr. 62.0 
E. Woollen, Sr. 64.0 
Mean 63.8 Standard Deviation 11.05 
233 
Figure A.4 
Data from MxM matrix 
Organization Name 
Woodstock Club 
Columbia Club 
Athletic Club 
Athenaum 
Highland Country Club 
University Club 
Chamber of Commerce 
Community Fund 
Boy's Club 
Young Men's Christian Association 
Young Women's Christian Association 
Wheeler Mission 
Family Welfare Society 
Red Cross 
Indianapolis Foundation 
State Board of Charities 
Indianapolis Free Employment Bureau 
Mayor's Relief Committee 
Christamore House 
City Plan Commission 
City Council 
Marion County Board of Children's Guardians 
Indianapolis Public Health Board 
Indiana General Assembly 
Jewish Federation 
Indpls Comm. for the Stabilization of Employment 
Department of Law, Indianapolis 
Mean 
Standard Deviation 
Degree 
19.0 
24.0 
23.0 
23.0 
14.0 
19.0 
17.0 
26.0 
13.0 
16.0 
2.0 
12.0 
12.0 
23.0 
20.0 
13.0 
15.0 
14.0 
7.0 
12.0 
6.0 
11.0 
3.0 
11.0 
11.0 
17.0 
9.0 
14.62 
6.51 
In the co-membership matrix (NxN) the mean number is 
1.82, signifying the number of people who share a common 
group membership. The number for density shows the average 
number of co-memberships. 1.82 is a high number. On 
average each individual belong to 1.82 boards. In other 
234 
words, 68 percent of all possible individuals are co-
members. Indianapolis leaders were, therefore, highly 
connected through these organizations. Everyone was part of 
the same group, with a few people who formed a closely-knit 
group at the top. In essence there were no identifiably 
significant cliques among leaders. Everyone within the 
sample was part of one large pyramid shaped clique. 
Usually, several clusters of cliques appear, signifying 
different power bases that can compete for influence and 
resources. In Indianapolis between 1929 and 1933 there were 
160 groups that made up one large clique, as defined by the 
number of individuals completely connected to ten other 
people, but an absence of clear clusters. 
Degree gives an estimate of centrality. Those who hold 
the highest number of memberships and react with the largest 
number of people are assumed to be the most influential. C. 
H. Rottger, with 78 degree and J. K. Lilly, with 77, appear 
to be the most influential people in Indianapolis, as 
measured in terms of their involvement in the groups that 
were the focus of this study, in the 1929-1933 period. 
Numbers might be misleading, but there is evidence that in 
this case the data are correct, at least for J. K. Lilly. 
At almost every turn various organizations, including those 
where he was not a board member, sought his advice. In a 
235 
few instances he lS mentioned as speaking at board meetings 
in which he does not have a seat on the board. Rottger took 
an active role in the Community Fund, but existing archival 
records do not show that he had as powerful a voice in 
affairs as Lilly. Archival records could also be misleading 
however, since they cannot describe what occurred in private 
rooms and business offices. 
The event, or organization, matrix (MxM) tells much the 
same story as the NxN data. The mean is 14.62 with a 
standard deviation of 6.51. What the numbers translate to 
is that on average 14.62 pairs of people were involved in 
more than one organization. The network of agencies had a 
centralization index of 43.65 percent. Five organizations 
make up a core group, but the same pyramid structure existed 
with organizations that existed with individuals. There was 
no clear demarcation between patterns of relationships. 
Both the NxN and the MxM matrixes show a very high level of 
overlap and integration. The network had a centralization 
rate of 27.51 percent when looking at the NxN matrix. What 
the percentage translates to is that each individual shared 
membership in the network with fifty-three other people. In 
the MxM matrix one finds that at the minimum one person sat 
on a board or boards with twenty-six of the possible 
seventy-nine. At a maximum one person sat on several boards 
236 
with seventy-eight of the seventy-nine people. 
The greatest weakness of the study is that it did not 
analyze the city's elite on a year by year basis, but 
instead uses all four . years, 1929-1933, as a single unit. 
If there was much turnover then, indeed, one could say that 
the study is invalid. However, there was not significant 
turnover in board membership. Many of the seats that became 
empty after 1930 were filled by those within the clique that 
made up the elite in 1929. Overall the study does tend to 
overestimate the strength and density of the elite cohort 
somewhat, but not to a degree that would invalidate the 
study or the findings culled from the information. Many of 
the elite continued to have a powerful voice in the business 
of the city long after the Depression ceased. 
237 
Appendix B 
The names of board members who served between 1929 and 
1934 appear below. These are organized by group rather than 
by Individual. In some of these listings the name of social 
work executives will also appear since they were ex-officio 
members. Note that some of the organizations listed were 
not included in the network analysis described in Appendix 
A. The list of groups that appear in Appendix B are meant 
to convey the interconnectedness of individuals throughout 
the community, but in a different manner than in Appendix A. 
Sources for these lists include various archives and the 
Indianapolis Blue Book. 
Emergency Work Committee 
Formed December 20, 1930 
A. Kiefer Mayer 
John A. Goodman 
James W. Fesler 
Daniel B. Luten 
David C. Liggett 
George P. Torrence 
Eugene C. Foster 
William E. Holmes 
Bowman Elder 
William H. Insley 
George Gill, Director 
238 
Herman P. Lieber 
Irving W.Lernaux 
James W. Noel 
W. H. Trimble 
William H. Book 
Family Welfare Society 
1930 
George Buck 
Mrs. Russell Fortune . 
Mrs. Howard Gay 
Alexander R. Holliday 
Mrs. Richard Lieber 
Rev. M. W. Lyons 
Leo M. Rappaport 
Dr. James H. Taylor 
John F. White 
Dr. F. S. C. Wicks 
Mrs. Frank W. Wood 
Judge James A. Collins 
Mrs. Elliot Hooton 
William H. Insley 
Mrs. J. A. Goodman 
Herbert S. King 
Donald S. Morris 
Mansur B. Oaks 
Mrs. Stanley Timberlake 
John R. Welch 
Warrack Wallace 
John S. Wright 
John A. Brown 
Mrs. Joseph Daniels 
Rabbi M. M. Feuerlicht 
Mrs. Fred Gardner 
Rev. Francis H. Gavisk 
Mrs. Fred Hoke 
J. I. Holcomb 
Mrs. Hugh McGibney 
Mrs. Gavin Payne 
Rev. Floyd Van Keuren 
Evans Woollen, Jr. 
Louis Hollweg 
Rhoda Morrow, General Secretary 
239 
1934 
George Buck 
Mrs. Russell Fortune 
Edward Dirks 
Alexander R. Holliday 
Mrs. Richard Lieber 
Rev. M. W. Lyons 
Leo M. Rappaport 
Dr. James H. Taylor 
John F. White 
Dr. F. S. C. Wicks 
Mrs. Frank W. Wood 
Judge James A. Collins 
Mrs. Elliot Hooton 
William H. Insley 
Earl Buchanan 
Herbert S. King 
Mrs. Larz Whitcomb 
Mansur B. Oaks 
Mrs. Stanley Timberlake 
John R. Welch 
Warrack Wallace 
John S. Wright 
John A. Brown 
Mrs. Joseph Daniels 
Rabbi M. M. Feuerlicht 
Mrs. Robert F. Scott, Jr. 
Mrs. Earl Barnes 
Mrs. Fred Hoke 
Samuel Mueller 
John F. White 
Mrs. Fermor S. Cannon 
John J. Madden 
Evans Woollen, Jr. 
Planner House 
Mrs. W. F. Rotherburger 
Dr. H. L. Hummons 
Mary E. Cable 
Mrs. Thomas Paddock 
Dr. W. F. Rotherburger 
Mary Campbell 
Myrtle Roper, Supervisor 
1930 
F. B. Ransom Dr. Sumner Furniss 
Pauline Batties 
Mrs. Charles W. Fields 
Dr. C. H. Winders 
Mrs. J. W. Putnam 
Mary Planner 
Rev. H. L. Herrod, Superintendent 
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 
1929 
Paul Q. Richey 
Frank E. Gates 
C. L. Harrod 
Edward Hunter 
George S. Olive 
Charles F. Coffin 
Dick Miller 
Nicholas H. Noyes 
Curtis H. Rottger 
Elmer Stout 
W. A. Atkins 
Louis J. Borinstein 
Henry L. Dithmer 
Theodore B. Griffith 
Orlando B. Iles 
Marshall D. Lupton 
A. Kiefer Mayer 
Hugh J. Baker 
Walter Harding 
Leland Huey 
Perry W. Lesh 
William J. Mooney, Jr. 
Harold B. West 
George T. Wheldon 
240 
1934 
Paul Q. Richey 
J. R. Beckett 
C. L. Harrod 
William Fortune 
George S. Olive 
Sam Mueller 
J. W. Putnam 
W. H. Trimble 
Curtis H. Rottger 
E. J. Wuensch 
M. K. Foxworthy 
Louis J. Borinstein 
Henry L. Dithmer 
Theodore B. Griffith 
F. J. Horuff 
Marshall D. Lupton 
Frank B. Planner 
Dick Miller 
Howard Griffith 
Clarence Crippin 
Perry W. Lesh 
Wm. J. Mooney, Jr. 
Harold B. West 
George T. Wheldon 
Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of Employmen t 
Created 1930 
G. M. Williams 
Paul Q. Richey 
Frank D. Stalnaker 
Roy L. Davidson 
Evans Woollen, Sr. 
William H. Book 
E. Kirk McKinney 
William H. Insley 
Ray D. Everson 
Elmer W. Stout 
Charles Lutz 
A. Kiefer Mayer 
Nicholas H. Noyes 
Daniel B. Luten 
Russell Willson 
Otto P. Deluse 
Edward A . Kahn 
Leo F. Welch 
Curtis H. Rottger 
James A . Stuart 
Henry C. Atkins 
Reginald Sullivan 
James W. Fesler 
George P. Torrence 
J. W. Putnam 
William Holmes 
John E. Shearer 
John E. Smith 
Boyd A. Gurley 
Eugene C. Foster 
Leroy J. Keach 
Indianapolis Foundation 
1929 
James K. Lilly 
Francis H. Gavisk 
Henry H. Hornbrook 
Louis H. Levey 
Henry W. Bennett 
Gustave A. Efroymson 
Eugene C. Foster, Director 
1934 
Thomas D. Sheerin 
Walter Meyers 
Henry H. Hornbrook 
Louis H. Levey 
Henry W. Bennett 
Gustave A. Efroymson 
Indianapolis Free Employment Bureau 
John F. White 
C. C. Winesgarner 
Henry E. Calland 
Eugene C. Foster 
Walter B. Harding 
1929 
Daniel B. Luten 
Rhoda W. Morrow 
Leonard Strauss 
C. H. Winders 
William A. Hacker 
George Gill, Director 
241 
J. I. Halcomb 
Joseph A. Kebler 
Louis H. Levey 
Pearl B. Forsyth 
George Torrence 
Frank Stalnaker 
J. S. Holliday 
William J. Mooney 
Mayor's Relief Committee 
Herman Lieber 
Reginald Sullivan 
Henry R. Danner 
J. I. Holcomb 
Victor 0. Kendall 
Warren C. Fairbanks 
Wheeler Rescue City Mission 
1929 
H. W. Krause 
William C. Borcherding 
Jesse E. Hanft 
I. E. Woodard 
Chas E. Reeve 
Royer H. Brown 
J. M. Milner 
Ed Jackson* 
Wallace 0. Lee 
Thomas J. Owen 
Dr. David Ross 
Eugene C. Foster 
F. M. Dickerman 
Robert E. Hicks 
*former governor of Indiana 
Herbert E. Eberhardt, Director. 
242 
1934 
H. W. Krause 
William C. Borcherding 
Harper J. Ransburg 
I. E. Woodard 
Edward Dirks 
Royer H. Brown 
J. M. Milner 
Ed Jackson* 
Wallace 0. Lee 
Robert Nipper 
William E. Osborn 
Eugene C. Foster 
F. M. Dickerman 
Henry Ostrom 
Appendix C 
Individual Accounts 
The following are short accounts of individuals who were 
part of the philanthropic, civil, and social elite of 
Indianapolis between 1929 and 1933. Some of those listed 
below were not included in the network analysis. Most 
information is for 1929/1930 and so not all information 
gathered is listed. Some information, including 
associations are for the lifetime of the person listed. It 
is my intent to illustrate how involved these individuals 
were in the community. Sources Include Indianapolis Men of 
Affairs; Kin Hubbard, ed. A Book of Indiana (Indianapolis: 
The Indiana Biographical Association, 1929); Justin E. 
Walsh, ed. A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General 
Assembly, vol. 2, 1900-1984 (Indianapolis: Select Committee 
on the Centennial, Indiana Historical Bureau, 1984); Who Was 
Who in America, vol. 1; Who Was Who in America, vol. 2; 
History of Marion County; Indiana Lives (Louisville, Ky: 
Biographical Society, 1967); Indianapolis Times 17 February 
1963; Clipping Files, Indiana Division, Indiana State 
Library. 
243 
Name: 
Date of Birth: 
Religion: 
when known. 
Key to accounts 
Name of individual considered. 
Date and place of birth. 
General Denomination and specific church 
Political Affiliation: Political Party adherence. 
blank, adherence is unknown. 
If 
Education: High school, when known, college, when 
attended, and degree. 
Personal: 
any. 
Occupation: 
1933. 
Parent's names, marriage, children if 
Position held in 1929 or during 1929-
Civic Organizations: Civic positions/associations held. 
Dates given when known. 
Philanthropic Activities: Membership in charitable groups. 
Dates given when known. 
Social Activities: Membership in clubs and other social 
organizations. 
Name: Roy E. Adams 
Date of Birth: 1882 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Purdue University ([B. A.] 1903). 
Personal: 
Occupation: Chairman of the Board, J. D. Adams Manufacturing 
Company. 
Civic Organization: Crown Hill Cemetery trustee. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
19 3 3) . 
Social Activities: Athletic Club; Columbia Club; Scottish 
Rite; Woodstock Club; Rotary; Ancient Landmarks Lodge. 
Name: Henry C. Atkins 
Date of Birth November 27, 1868 in Atlanta, Idaho. 
Religion: Baptist - First Baptist Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Classical School (Indianapolis); Yale University 
(B. A. 1889). 
Personal: Son of Elias C. Atkins and Sarah F. (Parker). 
Married Sue Winter January 7, 1896- Children: Elias C., 
Keyes W. , Henry C. , j r. 
Occupation: President, E. C. Atkins Company. 
244 
Civic Organizations: Chamber of Commerce; Board of Trade; 
Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of Employment 
(director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: YMCA; Community Fund (director, 
1929-1932, president 1929). 
Social Activities: Country Club of Indianapolis; Mystic Tie 
Lodge; Rotary; Columbia; University Club; Dramatic Club; Psi 
Upsilon. 
Name: William A. Atkins 
Date of Birth: July 7, 1879. 
Religion: Baptist - First Baptist Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican (National Convention 
Delegate 1952, 1956). 
Education: Purdue University (M. E. 1901). 
Personal: Married Suemma V. Coleman in 1901. 
Occupation: President, Hotel Severin. 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Airport Commission; Purdue 
University Trustee; Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Woodstock Club; Athletic 
Club; Dramatic Club; Sigma Chi. 
Name: Frederick M. Ayres 
Date of Birth: February 17, 1872 in Geneva, New York. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Classical School; Yale University 
Personal: Son of Lyman S. and Maria Helen (Murray) Ayres. 
Married Alma Hoegh, of Minneapolis, May 11, 1904 - Children: 
Lyman S., Frederick M., jr. 
Occupation: President, L. S. Ayres & Company 
Civic Organizations: 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
19 3 2) . 
Social Activities: Athletic Club; University Club; Columbia 
Club; Indianapolis Country Club. 
Name: Hugh J. Baker 
Date of Birth: December 20, 1882 in Alexanderville, OH. 
Religion: Church of Christ - Third Church of Christ. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Ohio State University (B. S. civil engineering, 
1905) . 
Personal: Married Velma Fenstermaker - two sons. 
Occupation: President, Hugh J. Baker Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund. 
Social Activities: Rotary Club; Meridian Hills Country Club; 
245 
Columbia Club; Oriental Lodge; Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine. 
Name: Arthur R. Baxter 
Date of Birth: December 8, 1976 in Indianapolis 
Religion: Methodist 
Political Affiliation: Republican (State Senator 1921-1925) 
Education: Indianapolis Public Schools 
Personal: Son of Emory and Mary Alice (Jordan) Baxter. 
Married Frances D. Doyle February 18, 1901 - Children: Emory 
R., R. Norman, Frederick, Marion D. 
Occupation: President and General Manager, Keyless Lock 
Company. 
Civic Organizations: Chamber of Commerce; Indianapolis Metal 
Trades Association; Associated Employers of Indianapolis; 
State Library and Historical Building Commission, president, 
(1930-1934); 
Philanthropic Activities: James Whitcomb Riley Memorial 
Association; Community Fund (director, 1931-1933); Central 
Indiana Boy Scout Council; Red Cross. 
Social Activities: Mystic Tie Lodge; Scottish Rite; Athletic 
Club; Columbia Club; Highland Golf Club; Rotary Club. 
Name: Henry William Bennett 
Date of Birth: August 26, 1858 in Indianapolis 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Indianapolis Public Schools 
Personal: Son of William H. ·and Helen (Root) Bennett. 
Married Ariana Holliday October 8, 1890 - Children: Edward, 
Jacquelin, Louise. 
Occupation: President, Indianapolis Stove Company. 
President, State Life Insurance Company. 
Civic Organizations: 
Philanthropic Activities: Indianapolis Foundation; William 
E. English Foundation. 
Social Activities: 
Name: William H. Book 
Date of Birth: November 22, 1891 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education : Franklin College (B. A. 1919). 
Personal: 
Occupation: Director of Governmental Research, Indianapolis 
Chamber of Commerce (1926-1933); Director of Unemployment 
Relief, Governor's Committee on Unemployment Relief (1933-
19 3 4) . 
Civic Organization: Emergency Work Committee · (director 1929-
1933); Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of 
246 
Employment (director, 1929) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Red Cross. 
Social Activities: 
Name: William C. Borcherding 
Date of Birth: October 12, 1871 in Cincinnati, OH 
Religion: Methodist - Capitol Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Cincinnati Public Schools 
Personal: Son of Henry and Mary Borcherding. Married Mary 
Ethel Smith in 1897 - Children: Mary Helen, Sarah Margaret. 
Occupation: President, Treasurer, W. C. Borcherding Company 
Civic Organizations: 
Philanthropic Activities: Wheeler City Rescue Mission 
(director 1929, 1933). 
Social Activities: Irvington Lodge F. & A.M .; Scottish 
Rite; De Malay Commandery; Old Colony Club; Columbia Club. 
Name: Louis J. Borinstein 
Date of Birth: December 29, 1 881 in Indianapolis 
Religion: Judaism - Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Emmerich Manual Training High School 
(valedictorian, 1899). 
Personal: Son of Joseph A. and Anna (Cohen) Borinstein. 
Married Eva Oppenheim June 30, 1908- Children: Marcus E., 
Helen E., Lucille J., Robert A. 
Occupation: General Manager, A. Borinstein Company 
Civic Organizations: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929-
1933, president, 1931-1936); Governor's Commission on 
Unemployment Relief; City Planning Commission. 
Philanthropic Activities: B'nai Brith; Jewish Orphan's Home 
(Cleveland); National Jewish Hospital (Denver); Jewish 
Federation; Salvation Army; Red Cross; Christamore House. 
Social Activities: Indianapolis Club; Broadmoor Country 
Club; Athenaeum; Marion Club; Columbia Club. 
Name: Arthur V. Brown 
Date of Birth: March 17, 1863 in New Bethel, IN. 
Religion: Methodist - Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church 
Political Affiliation: Democrat 
Education: Butler University (Ph. B. 1885). 
Personal: Son of Dr. samuel M. and Mahala S. (Brady) Brown. 
Married Katherine Malot January 8, 1896 - Children: Volney, 
Malott, Arthur V., Jr., Katherine M. 
247 
Occupation: President, Union Trust Company. President, 
Indiana National Bank (1932 -) 
Civic Organization: Butler University (trustee); Chamber of 
Commerce; Methodist Hospital. 
Philanthropic Activities: Deaconess Home; Community Fund 
(director, 1929-1933, president 1934); Indianapolis Clearing 
House Association; Butler Foundation; Christamore House; 
Flower Mission Society; Boys Club; Salvation Army. 
Social Activities: Indiana /Indianapolis Bar Associations; 
University Club; Athletic; Columbia Club; Woodstock Club; 
Dramatic Club; Sigma Chi; Marion Lodge no. 35 F. & A.M .; 
Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine. 
Name: John A. Brown 
Date of Birth: January 31, 1874 in Harrison, OH. 
Religion: Presbyterian 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Indiana University 
Personal: Son of Henry T. and Louisa (Kerner) Brown. 
Married Nelle May Smith - Children: Marjorie May, Miriam 
Nelle. 
Occupation: Agent, State Board of Charities. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Family Welfare Society (director 
1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Pi Kappa Psi; 
Name: Volney M. Brown 
Date of Birth: July 7, 1899 
Religion: Methodist 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Brooks School for Boys; Wabash College (B. A. 
1922) . 
Personal: Son of Arthur V. and Katherine Fletcher (Malott) 
Brown. Married Suzanne Swain- Children: Suzanne S., Arthur 
v. 
Occupation: Real Estate. Deputy Prosecutor for Marion 
County. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: James Whitcomb Riley Memorial 
Association 
Social Activities: Ancient Landmarks, no. 319, F.& A.M.; 
Beta Theta Pi; Woodstock Club; Columbia Club; Athletic Club; 
Lawyer's Club; American Legion; Scottish Rite~ 
Name: James F. Carroll 
Date of Birth: 1882 in Greenville, IL. 
Religion: Episcopal - Trinity Episcopal Church. 
248 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Hamilton College (1906). 
Personal: Married. 
Occupation: President, Indiana Bell. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933); Red Cross (chairman, 1943-1946). 
Social Activities: Woodstock Club; Dramatic Club; University 
Club. 
Name: Charles E. Coffin 
Date of Birth: Born in Salem, IN. 
Religion: Methodist - Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: a business college 
Personal: Son of Zachariah T. and Caroline (Armfield) 
Coffin. Married Mary Birch Fletcher September 20, 1897 -
children: Clarence Eugene, Jean Fletcher (Mrs. J. H. 
Ingram), Caroline(Mrs. Charles H. Bradley, Jr.). 
Occupation: President, Central Trust Company. Secretary ­
Treasurer, Star Publishing Company 
Civic Organization: Board of Public Works; Chamber of 
Commerce (director, 1929); Indianapolis Art Association. 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Indiana Historical Society; Society of 
Colonial Wars; Woodstock Club; Athletic Club; Columbia Club; 
University Club; Contemporary Club; Optimist Club. 
Name: Joseph J. Daniels 
Date of Birth: April 13, 1890 in Indianapolis 
Religion: Presbyterian 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Wabash College (B. A. 1911); Harvard University 
Law School (L. L. B. 1914). 
Personal: Son of Edward and Virginia (Johnston) Daniels. 
Married Katherine A. Holliday - Children: Katherine 
Elizabeth (Mrs. L. I. Kane). 
Occupation: Attorney, Baker & Daniels. 
Civic Organization: Trustee, Wabash College. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund; English 
Foundation. 
Social Activities: Beta Theta Pi; Literary Club; Columbia 
Club; Athletic Club; Press Club; University Club; American 
Legion. 
Name: Henry L. Dithmer, Sr. 
Date of Birth: July 13, 1869 in Brooklyn, NY. 
249 
Religion: Congregational - First Congregational Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married Gertrude Minor March 27, 1894. 
Occupation: President, Polar Ice. 
Civic Organization: Better Business Bureau; Chamber of 
Commerce (director, 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Salvation Army. 
Social Activities: Oriental Lodge; Scottish Rite; Mystic 
Shrine; Kiwanis. 
Name: Brandt C. Downey 
Date of Birth: February 17, 1873 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: Methodist - Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Indianapolis Public Schools; Wabash College 
( 1892-1894) . 
Personal: Son of William B. and Florinda (Woods) Downey. 
Married Nellie M. Bowman June 25, 1902 - Children: Brandt 
C., Jr. (deceased 10/12/1922), Bowman. 
Occupation: Vice-President, National City Bank. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
1932) 
Social Activities: Ancient Landmarks, no. 319, F. & A.M.; 
Keystone Chapter, no. 6, R. A.M.; Raper Commandery No. 1, 
Knights Templar; Scottish Rite; Exchange Club; Riverside 
Golf Club; Lions club; Columbia Club; Athletic Club; Hoosier 
Square and Compass Club; Delta Tau Delta. 
Name: Nelle Bowman Downey 
Date of Birth: July 12, 1876 in Knightstown, IN. 
Religion: Methodist - Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican (State Representative 
1941-1955) 
Education: Shortridge High School; Indianapolis Normal 
School; University of Chicago. 
Personal: Married Brandt Chase Downey June 25, 1902 -
Children: Brandt C., Jr. (deceased 10/12/1922), Bowman. 
Occupation: Homemaker; Chairwoman, U. S. National Committee 
on Mobilization of Human needs, state committee (1929-1935). 
Civic Organization: Daughters of the American Revolution; 
Federated Church Women; Indianapolis Symphony · Orchestra. 
Philanthropic Activities: Alpha Home; Community Fund 
(director, 1931-1933); YWCA. 
Social Activities: Beta Sigma Phi; delta kappa gamma; 
American Legion Auxiliary. 
250 
Name: Frank A. Dunlop 
Date of Birth: October 14, 1874 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married E. Garrett Brown September 23, 1896 -
Children: Ruth Hildred (Mrs. W. Harrison Marsh). 
Occupation: Partner, Dunlop & Holtegel. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Kiwanis; Oriental Lodge, no. 500, F. & A. 
M.; De Molay Commanders; Mystic Shrine. 
Name: Gustave A. Efroymson 
Date of Birth: January 21, 1870 in Evansville, IN. 
Religion: Judaism 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Jacob and Minnie (Paul) Efroymson. Married 
Mamie W. Wallenstein April 14, 1896 - Children: Clarence W., 
Robert A. 
Occupation: President, Real Silk Hosiery Mills, Inc. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: William E. English Foundation; 
Jewish Federation; Indianapolis Foundation (director, 1929-
1933); Community Fund (1931-1933). 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Highland Golf Club; 
Broadmoor Country Club. 
Name: Rabbi Morris Marcus Feuerlicht 
Date of Birth: January 15, 1879 in Tokay, Hungary. 
Religion: Judaism - Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat 
Education: Hughes High School (Cincinnati); Union College 
(B. H. L., 1901); University of Cincinnati (B. A. 1901). 
Personal: Son of Rabbi Jacob and Kate (Deutsch). Married 
Mildred Mayerstein October 26, 1909 - Children: Maurice, 
Jr., Catherine. 
Occupation: Rabbi, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. 
Civic Organization: State Board of Charities; Chamber of 
Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Jewish Welfare Board; Red Cross; 
Family Welfare Society (director, 1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Literary Club; Athenaeum; Athletic Club; 
Art Association; Elks. 
Name: Eugene C. Foster 
Date of Birth: 1877 ln Brecksville, IN. 
251 
Religion: Baptist - First Baptist. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Oberlin College; Associated Charities of 
Cleveland (social service training). 
Personal: Single. 
Occupation: Manager, Indianapolis Foundation (1924-1948). 
Civic Organization: Church Federation; Indiana Probation 
Board; Indianapolis Employment Bureau (director 1929-1932); 
Emergency Work Committee (director 1929-1933); Indianapolis 
Commission for the Stabilization of Employment (director, 
19 2 9) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Christamore Settlement House; 
American Red Cross; Wheeler City Rescue Mission (director 
1929, 1933); Flower Mission Society. 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; American Association of 
Social Workers; Sons of Veterans; Social Workers Club. 
Name: Mortimer C. Furscott 
Date of Birth: Born in Charleston, SC. 
Religion: Judaism - Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Bryant & Stratton Business College. 
Personal: Married Claribel K. 
Occupation: President, Kahn Tailoring Company. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
1933). 
Social Activities: Broadmoor Country Club; Columbia Club; 
Civil Theatre. 
Name: Frank E. Gates 
Date of Birth: 1873. 
Religion: Methodist - North Methodist Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married Bertha M. Gates in 1896 - one son, one 
daughter. 
Occupation: President, Frank E. Gates Real Estate. 
Civic Organization: Art Association of Indianapolis; 
Indianapolis Real Estate Board; Chamber of Commerce 
(director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Blue Lodge; Mystic Shrine; Ancient 
Landmarks; Scottish Rite. 
Name: Reverend Francis H. Gavisk 
Date of Birth: April 6, 1856 in Evansville, IN. 
Religion: Catholic -St. John's Catholic Church. 
252 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: St. Meinrad Seminary. 
Personal: Son of Michael and Mary (Tierney) Gavisk. 
Occupation: Rector, St. John's Catholic Church (1890-1932) 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Art Association; Chamber of 
Commerce; Board of State Charities (1907-1932). 
Philanthropic Activities: Red Cross; Indianapolis Foundation 
(1916-1932); Community Fund (1929-1932); Catholic Charities; 
Family Welfare Society (director, 1929-1932). 
Social Activities: 
Name: George E. Gill 
Date of Birth: 1890 in Ireland, IN. 
Religion: Disciples of Christ - Downey Avenue Christian 
Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Indiana University (B. A. 1912); Columbia 
University (M. A. 1917). 
Personal: Married Urith- two sons. 
Occupation: Secretary-Manager, Indianapolis Employment 
Bureau (1924-1933). 
Civic Organization: Emergency Work Committee (manager, 1929-
1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Service Club; Irvington Masonic Lodge; 
Knights Templar; Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine; Acacia; 
American Legion. 
Name: Howard Griffith 
Date of Birth: 1883 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married Margot Doane. 
Occupation: President, Udell Works. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (1931-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund. 
Social Activities: Rotary Club; Calvin Prather Masonic 
Lodge; Scottish Rite; Woodstock Club; Athletic Club; 
Dramatic Club. 
Name: Theodore Barton Griffith 
Date of Birth: November 11, 1888 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: Episcopal - Christ Church Cathedral. 
Political Affiliation: Independent 
Education: Shortridge High School; Williams College (B. A. 
1910) . 
253 
Personal: Son of Claude T. and Lizzie Bell (Stone) Griffith. 
Married Helen Margaret Wheelock June 1, 1918 -Helen (Mrs. 
Daniel F. Reagan), Sylvia (Mrs. John E. D. Peacock). 
Occupation: General Manager, L. S. Ayres & Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929); 
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. 
Philanthropic Activit·ies: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933). 
Social Activities: University Club; Columbia Club; 
Athenaeum; Kappa Alpha; Dramatic Club. 
Name: William A. Hacker 
Date of Birth: May 31, 1882 in Hunington. 
Religion: Unitarian. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Valparaiso Normal School (B. A. 1912); Indiana 
University (M.A., social work, 1932). 
Personal: 
Occupation: Director, Social Service Department, 
Indianapolis Public Schools. 
Civic Organization: Indiana State Department of Public 
Welfare; State Conference on Social Work; Indianapolis 
Employment Bureau (director 1929-1932). 
Philanthropic Activities: Family Welfare Society (director 
,1929); Community Fund (director, 1931-1933). 
Social Activities: Social Workers Club; Phi Delta Kappa. 
Name: Walter B. Harding 
Date of Birth: April 1 1872 in Manchester, England. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Wellington College ([B. A.] 1893). 
Personal: Son of Thomas and Margaret (Davies) Harding. 
Married Ethel Ellison Tweedale in 1897 (deceased 1908) -
Children: Jack. Married Gertrude Ellison Tweedale November 
16, 1910. 
Occupation: President, G & J Tire Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929); 
Indianapolis Employment Bureau (director 1929-1932). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Victorian Society; Athletic Club; 
Athenaeum; Hoosier Motor Club; Kiwanis; Meridian Hills 
Country Club. 
Name: Clifford Lawson Harrod 
Date of Birth: 1886. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
254 
Education: Purdue University (B. S. 1911). 
Personal: Married Florence Kerr - one son. 
Occupation: President, Indianapolis Power & Light Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929-
1933) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933) . 
Social Activities: Rotary Club. 
Name: Jacob Frederick Hoke, Jr. 
Date of Birth: August 9, 1871 in Jeffersontown, KY. 
Religion: Methodist 
Political Affiliation: Democrat (town clerk, Sullivan, IN) 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Andrew Jackson and Mary Frances (Snyder) 
Hoke. Married Katharine Cushman April 14, 1896 - Children: 
Cushman, Frank, Mary (Mrs. Perry W. Lesh). 
Occupation: Secretary, Treasurer, Halcomb & Hoke 
Manufacturing Company. 
Civic Organization: Trustee, Depauw University; Trustee, 
Methodist Hospital; Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
1933); YMCA; 
Social Activities: Mystic Tie Lodge; Scottish Rite; Knights 
Templar; Mystic Shrine; Rotary Club; Highland Golf Club; 
Woodstock Club; University Club; Athletic Club; Democratic 
Club. 
Name: James I. Holcomb 
Date of Birth: May 1, 1876 in La Salle, IL. 
Religion: Methodist - Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: University of Michigan. 
Personal: Son of William Henry and Rebecca (Doubler) 
Holcomb. Married Musetta Black- Children: Jessie (Mrs. Dr. 
C. R. Strickland). 
Occupation: President, Holcomb & Hoke Manufacturing Company. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Family Welfare Society (director, 
1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Highland Golf Club; 
Athletic Club; Elks; Mystic Tie Lodge; Scottish Rite; Mystic 
Shrine. 
Name: Henry Hallam Hornbrook 
Date of Birth: February 15, 1870 in Evansville, IN. 
Religion: Methodist. 
255 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: DePauw University (Ph. B. 1892); Harvard 
University (1893-1894). 
Personal: 
Occupation: Attorney. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Indianapolis Foundation. 
Social Activities: 
Name: Edward Wilbert Hunter 
Date of Birth: November 24, 1884 in Johnstown, PA. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married Mary E. Duerson in 1913. 
Occupation: Secretary, Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929-
1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Elks; Mystic Tie Lodge; Scottish Rite; 
Mystic Shrine; Advertising Club. 
Name: Orlando B. Iles 
Date of Birth: May 31, 1869 ln Brown County, OH. 
Religion: Baptist. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: DePauw University (Ph. B. 1894). 
Personal: Son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Ewing). Married 
Esther Day Jordan (daughter of Arthur Jordan) October 25, 
1899 - Children: Elizabeth Ewing (Mrs. Edward A. Ogle), 
Arthur Jordan Iles 
Occupation: President, International Machine Tool Company 
(partnership with Arthur Jordan and Charles L. Libby). 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929); 
Indianapolis Employers Association; Indianapolis Employment 
Bureau (director 1929-1932). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Marion Club; Kiwanis; Indianapolis Lodge, 
no. 56, Knights of Pythias; Mystic Tie Lodge; Scottish Rite; 
Mystic Shrine; Columbia Club; Highland Golf Club; Athletic 
Club; Phi Kappa Psi. 
Name: William H. Insley 
Date of Birth: January 16, 1870 in Terre Haute, IN. 
Religion: Methodist - Irvington Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: DePauw University (B. Sc. 1892); Rose Polytechnic 
Institute (M. S. 1900, C. E. 1910). 
Personal: Son of William Quinn and Celia (Whitmore) Insley. 
256 
Married Jane Williams January 1, 1903 - Children: Francis H. 
Occupation: President, Insley Manufacturing Company. 
Civic Organization: Board of Managers, Rose Polytechnic 
Institute; Indianapolis Art Association; Emergency Work 
Committee (director 1929-1933); Indianapolis Commission for 
the Stabilization of Employment (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: Family Welfare Society; Community 
Fund (director, 1931-1933); YMCA; Volunteers of America. 
Social Activities: Society of Indiana Pioneers; Irvington 
Masonic Lodge; Literary Club; Rotary Club; University Club; 
Dramatic Club. 
Name: Edward Jackson 
Date of Birth: December 27, 1873 in Kokomo, IN. 
Religion: Disciples of Christ - Irvington Christian Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican (Secretary of State 1916, 
1920 - 1926, Governor 1926-1929). 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Presley Jackson. Married Mrs. Lydia Beaty 
Pierce Novermber 23, 1920. 
Occupation: Former Governor. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Wheeler City Rescue Mission 
(director 1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine; Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows; Knights of Pythias; Improved Order of 
Red Men; Marion Club; Columbia Club. 
Name: Arthur Jordan 
Date of Birth: September 1, 1855 in Madison, IN. 
Religion: Baptist - First Baptist Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Gilmore and Harriet Isabel (McLaughlin) 
Jordan. Married Rose Burke December 15, 1875 - Children: 
Robert Gilmore, Esther Day (Mrs. Orlando B. Iles). 
Occupation: President, Meridian Life Insurance Company. 
Civic Organization: Trustee, Arthur Jordan conservatory of 
Music; Crown Hill Cemetery; Butler University. 
Philanthropic Activities: YMCA; Arthur Jordan Foundation 
(founded 1928); Community Fund (director 1929-1932). 
Social Activities: 
Name: Edward A. Kahn 
Date of Birth: 1876. 
Religion: Judaism - Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married - one son, one daughter. 
257 
Occupation: Vice President, Treasurer, People's Outfitting 
Company. 
Civic Organization: Jewish Community Center Association; 
Indiana Merchants Association; Chamber of Commerce; 
Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of Employment 
(director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activit·ies: American Red Cross; Community Fund 
(director, 1929-1932); Jewish Federation; Boy Scouts; 
Flanner House. 
Social Activities: Broadmoor Country Club; Columbia Club. 
Name: Leo Krauss 
Date of Birth: April 17, 1886 in Budapest, Hungary. 
Religion: Judaism - Jewish Temple 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Louis and Hannah Rebeccah (Fisher) Krauss. 
Married Rose Secttor June 12, 1900. 
Occupation: Jeweler. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Boy Scouts; Community Chest; 
Jewish Federation. 
Social Activities: Elks; Athletic Club; Broadmoor Country 
Club; Elks; Monument Lodge, no. 657, F.& A. M. 
Name: Hugh McKennan Landon 
Date of Birth: June 22, 1867 in Muscatine, IA. 
Religion: Unitarian. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat. 
Education: Phillips Exeter Academy (1888); Harvard 
University (B. A. 1892). 
Personal: Son of George Washington and Emily Alice (Reeves) 
Landon. Married Suzette Merrill · Davis (deceased 1918) -
Children: Elizabeth Davis (Mrs. Robert F. Scott), Alice 
Reeves (Mrs. David P. Sawyer), Margaret McLean (Mrs. John W. 
Delaplane. Married Jessie Sapulding Walker (deceased 1930) 
Occupation: President, Fletcher Trust Company. 
Civic Organization: National Citizens Relief Committee; 
Crown Hill Cemetery; Central Investigation Office (director 
19 3 2) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
1933); Goodwill Industries; Boys Club; Children's Aid 
Society; Indianapolis Clearinghouse Association; Greenfield 
Riley Old Home Society; Riley Memorial Association. 
Social Activities: Woodstock Club; University Club; Athletic 
Club; Athenaeum. 
Name: Zeo W. Leach 
258 
Date of Birth: 1890 in Great Falls, Montana. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Butler University. 
Personal: Married Josephine M. - one son, two daughters. 
Occupation: Service Engineer, Indiana Bell. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933). 
Social Activities: 
Name: Wallace 0. Lee 
Date of Birth: November 8, 1890 in Edgefield, SC. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Major Orison Perry and Rosa Ada (Whittel) 
Lee. Married Fay Elizabeth Springer June14, 1911 -
Children: Virginia Luana Lee and Mary Louise Lee. 
Occupation: Assistant Vice-President, Indianapolis Power & 
Light. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: YMCA; Boy Scouts; Wheeler City 
Rescue Mission (director 1929, 1933). 
Social Activities: American Club; Riverside Golf Club; 
Mystic Shrine; Scottish Rite; Square and Compass Club; Elks; 
Hoosier Motor Club; Advertising Club; Jovian Fraternity; 
Athenaeum; Athletic Club. 
Name: Perry W. Lesh 
Date of Birth: March 24, 1896 in Indianapolis 
Religion: Methodist - North Methodist Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Shortridge High School; DePauw University (B. A.) 
Personal: Son of Charles Perry and Ora (Wilkens) Lesh. 
Married Mary Hoke September 3, 1921 - Children: Charles 
Perry; Frederick Hoke. 
Occupation: President, C. P. Lesh Paper Company. 
Civic Organization: Crown Hill Cemetery; DePauw University; 
Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund; Riley Memorial 
Association. 
Social Activities: Scottish Rite; Mystic Tie Lodge; 
Woodstock Club; Press Club; Dramatic Club. 
259 
Name: Louis H. Levey 
Date of Birth: January 19, 1856 in Madison, IN. 
Religion: Presbyterian - First Presbyterian Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Son of William P. Levey. 
Occupation: Former President, Levey Printing Company 
(retired in 1919). 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce; Indianapolis 
Employment Bureau (director 1929-1932) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Indianapolis Foundation. 
Social Activities: Scottish Rite; Country Club of 
Indianapolis; Woodstock Club; University Club; Columbia 
Club; Maennerchor. 
Name: Herman P. Lieber 
Date of Birth: October 9, 1873 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: Republican (City Council) 
Education: 
Personal: Married Alma Bachman in 1903 - two sons. 
Occupation: President, Treasurer, H. Lieber Company. 
Civic Organization: Emergency Work Committee (director 1929-
1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
1932) ; Mayor's Relief Committee (director, 1930) . 
Social Activities: Athenaeum. 
Name: David C. Liggett 
Date of Birth: Born in Illinois. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: University of Illinois. 
Personal: 
Occupation: Manager, Community Fund of Indianapolis (1929-
1933) 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: 
Name: Josiah Kirby Lilly, Sr. 
Date of Birth: November 18, 1861 in Greencastle, IN. 
Religion: Episcopal - Christ Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Asbury College (now DePauw University, 1874-
1876); Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (Ph.G. cum laude, 
1882) . 
Personal: Son of Eli and Emily (Lemon) Lilly. Married Lilly 
260 
M. Ridgely - Eli, Josiah Kirby, Jr. 
Occupation: Chairman, Eli Lilly & Company (1932-1948). 
Civic Organization: Purdue University (trustee 1927-1938); 
Purdue Research Foundation (founder); Philadelphia College 
of Pharmacy; State Symphony Society; Art Association. 
Philanthropic Activities: YMCA; Indianapolis Foundation 
(organizer); Community Fund; English Foundation. 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Athletic Club; Woodstock 
Club; Society of Indiana Pioneers; Indiana Historical 
Society; Newcomen Society; University Club. 
Name: Marshall D. Lupton 
Date of Birth: March 13, 1876 in Kentland, IN. 
Religion: Presbyterian - Irvington Presbyterian Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Dayton Business School. 
Personal: Married Mary Whitmer October 24, 1901 - two 
daughters. 
Occupation: Vice President, Beveridge Paper Company. 
Civic Organization: Church Federation; Chamber of Commerce 
(director, 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Irvington Lodge; Scottish Rite; Rotary 
Club; Columbia Club. 
Name: Daniel B. Luten 
Date of Birth: 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: 
Occupation: 
Civic Organization: Emergency Work Committee (director 1929-
1933); Indianapolis Employment Bureau (director, 1929-1932); 
Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of Employment 
(director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: 
Name: Walter C. Marmon 
Date of Birth: August 25, 1872 in Richmond, IN. 
Religion: Presbyterian - Second Presbyterian Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Earlham College; Massachusetts School of 
Techno 1 ogy ( [ B . A . ] ) . 
Personal: Son of Daniel W. Marmon. Married Annie B. Hall 
March 29, 1898- Children: Franklin Hall, Elizabeth C., 
Dorothy B. 
Occupation: President, Marmon Auto Company. 
261 
Civic Organization: Crown Hill Cemetery; Board of Trade; 
Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Boy Scouts; Community Fund 
(director, 1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Athletic Club; Highland 
Golf; Country Club of Indianapolis; Woodstock Club. 
Name: A. Kiefer Mayer 
Date of Birth: 
Religion: Presbyterian - Second Presbyterian Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Wabash College. 
Personal: Married Lucy. 
Occupation: President, Kiefer-Stewart Wholesale Drug 
Company. 
Civic Organization: Emergency Work Committee (director 1929-
1933); Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of 
Employment (director, 1929); Chamber of Commerce (director, 
19 2 9) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Children's Guardian Home. 
Social Activities: Athletic Club; University Club. 
Name: Felix Marcus McWhirter 
Date of Birth: June 14, 1886 in Greencastle, IN. 
Religion: Methodist - Meridian Street Methodist Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: DePauw University (B. A. 1906). 
Personal: Son of Felix Tony and Luella Frances (Smith) 
McWhirter. Married Alma Phillips June 12, 1908 - Children: 
Alma Jane, Felix Tony, Luella Frances. 
Occupation: President, People's State Bank. 
Civic Organization: DePauw University; Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: University Club; Kiwanis; Optimist Club; 
Athletic Club. 
Name: William J. Mooney, Jr. 
Date of Birth: 1894 
Religion: Catholic - St. Joan of Arc. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Notre Dame 
Personal: Married Dorothy Clune - two daughters, two sons. 
Occupation: President, Mooney-Mueller-Ward Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929-
1933); Mayor's Relief Committee (director, 1930). 
Philanthropic Activities: Red Cross. 
Social Activities: Knights of Columbus; American Legion; 
Athletic Club; Highland Golf Club. 
262 
Name: Walter Dennis Myers 
Date of Birth: Born in Perry County, PA. 
Religion: Unitarian. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat (Attorney of Indianapolis 
1914-1918; Speaker, Indiana General Assembly, 1931-1933). 
Education: Bloomfield Academy (PA); Yale University (M. A. 
1905); Indiana University Law School (LL. B. 1907). 
Personal: Son of George Rancon and Helen Henrietta 
(Heishley) Meyers. Married Katharine Lyons June 4, 1913 -
Children: Walter, Jr., Joseph Norwood, Katharine (Mrs. James 
K. Northam) . 
Occupation: Counsel, Indianapolis Sanitary Board (1930-
19 3 4) . 
Civic Organization: Indiana University Foundation. 
Philanthropic Activities: Indianapolis Foundation. 
Social Activities: Mystic Shrine; Scottish Rite; Athenaeum; 
American Legion.; Phi Delta Phi .. 
Name: James William Noel 
Date of Birth: November 24, 1867 in Melmore, OH. 
Religion: Methodist. 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: Purdue University (B. S. 1892); Indiana 
University Law School (LL. B. 1895). 
Personal: Son of William Percival and Caroline (Graves) 
Noel. Married Cornelia Horton June 25, 1895 (deceased 
1895). Married Anne Madison June 29, 1899. 
Occupation: Attorney. 
Civic Organization: Purdue University Board of Trustees; 
Chamber of Commerce; Board of Trade; Emergency Work 
Committee (director 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund. 
Social Activities: Literary Club; Athletic Club; Country 
Club of Indianapolis. 
Name: Nicholas Hartman Noyes 
Date of Birth: August 8, 1883 in Dansville, NY. 
Religion: Presbyterian. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Cornell University (B. A. 1906). 
Personal: Son of Frederick W. and Emma Catherine (Hartman) 
Noyes. Married Marguerite Lilly- Children: Nicholas 
Hartman (deceased), Evan Lilly (deceased), Janet (Mrs. 
Frederick M. A~s). 
Occupation: Vice President, Eli Lilly & Company. 
Civic Organization: Cornell University; Indianapolis 
Commission for the Stabilization of Employment (director, 
1929); Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1922-
263 
1942) ; 
Social Activities: University Club; Columbia Club; Meridian 
Hills Country Club; Athletic Club. 
Name: George Scott Olive 
Date of Birth: June 4, 1881 in Lebanon, IN. 
Religion: Unitarian . . 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: Manual Training High School (1899); Harvard (B. 
A. 1903). 
Personal: Married Louise Carpenter June 3, 1909 -Children: 
George Scott. 
Occupation: Senior Partner, George S. Olive & Company. 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 
(director, 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Red Cross. 
Social Activities: Kiwanis; Columbia; Athletic Club; 
Meridian Hills Country Club; Mystic Shrine. 
Name: Thomas J. Owens 
Date of Birth: August, 1870 in Kansas, IL. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Son of Robert and Julia Ann (Davis) Owens. 
Married Mollie Laflen in 1900 - Children: Mary Josephine. 
Occupation: President, People's Life Insurance Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Wheeler City Rescue Mission 
(director 1929). 
Social Activities: Knights of Pythias. 
Name: Leo M. Rappaport 
Date of Birth: June 19, 1879 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: University of Michigan (LL. B. 1900) 
Personal: Son of Philip and Babette Rappaport. Married 
Charlotte Adam June 15, 1900. 
Occupation: Partner, Rappaport & Kipp. 
Civic Organization: State Park Commission. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director 1929-
1932); Family Welfare Society(director 1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Columbia Club; Athenaeum. 
Name: Charles A. Reeve 
Date of Birth: Born near Plainfield, IN. 
Religion: Friends. 
Political Affiliation: 
264 
Education: Earlham (B. S. 1900). 
Personal: Married Katherine Osborne in 1906. 
Occupation: Partner, Ballard Ice Cream Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce; Board of Trade. 
Philanthropic Activities: Bertha Ballard Home; Wheeler City 
Rescue Mission (director 1929). 
Social Activities: 
Name: Ineva Gash Reilly 
Date of Birth: 
Religion: Catholic - SS Peter & Paul Cathedral. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat. 
Education: Asheville College; University of Nashville. 
Personal: Daughter of Ervin Gash. Married Peter C. Reilly 
in 1903. 
Occupation: Home Maker. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund. 
Social Activities: 
Name: Paul Q. Richey 
Date of Birth: 1886. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: 
Occupation: President, Russell M. Seeds Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (president 1929-
1931, director, 1929-1933); Indianapolis Commission for the 
Stabilization of Employment (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Columbia Club. 
Name: Dr. James Oscar Ritchey 
Date of Birth: February 1, 1891 in Otwaco, IN. 
Religion: Disciples of Christ. 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: Valparaiso University; Indiana University (B. S. 
summa cum laude, 1916, M. D. magna cum laude, 1918, M. S. 
cum laude, 1921) . 
Personal: Son of Aaron F. and Christina (Batzell) Ritchey. 
Married Helen Hare (deceased); Married Lydia j.ameson 
Woollen. 
Occupation: Medical Doctor. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Riley Memorial Association. 
265 
Social Activities: University Club; Literary Club. 
Name: Curtis H. Rottger 
Date of Birth: January 16, 1864 in Jacksonville, IL. 
Religion: Disciples of Christ - Central Christian Church. 
Political Affiliation: Republican. 
Education: Brown Business College (1883). 
Personal: Son of John and Emma L. (Entriken) Rottger. 
Married Agnes J. Wilbur June 30, 1897 - Children: Russel 
Curtis. 
Occupation: President, Indiana Bell Telephone Company (1920 
- 1930); Chairman of the Board, Indiana Bell Telephone 
Company (April 24, 1930). 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Commission for the 
Stabilization of Employment (director, 1929); Chamber of 
Commerce (director, 1929-1933). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
19 3 3) . 
Social Activities: Knights of Pythias; Columbia Club; 
Woodside Country Club; Elks; Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine; 
Athletic Club; Knights Templar; Rotary Club. 
Name: Almus G. Ruddell 
Date of Birth: 1873. 
Religion: Presbyterian - First Presbyterian Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: University of the Pacific; Stanford (B. A. 1895) 
Personal: Married Clementine T. - two sons. 
Occupation: President, Central Rubber and Supply Company. 
Civic Organization: Crown Hill Cemetery; Chamber of 
Commerce. 
Philanthropic Activities: Boy Scouts; Community Fund 
(director, 1931-1933). 
Social Activities: Rotary Club (president 1933); Mystic Tie 
Lodge; Scottish Rite; Mystic Shrine; Athletic Club. 
Name: Thomas D. Sheerin 
Date of Birth: 
Religion: Catholic - St. Joan of Arc. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Purdue University (B. S. 1905). 
Personal: Married Jane Mather Ogle in 1915 - two daughters. 
Occupation: Partner, Thomas D. Sheerin and Company, 
Investments. 
Civic Organization: Junior League. 
Philanthropic Activities: Boy's Club; Community Fund 
(director 1931-1933); Catholic Charities Bureau; 
266 
Indianapolis Foundation; Public Health Nursing Association. 
Social Activities: University Club (president 1927-1938); 
Knights of Columbus; Contemporary Club; Literary Club. 
Name: William Richardson Sinclair 
Date of Birth: September 17, 1884 in Belfast, Northern 
Ireland. 
Religion: Episcopalian. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: St. Andrews Preparatory School (Scotland); Rugby 
School (1897-1901). 
Personal: Son of Thomas D. L. and Elizabeth Lecky 
(Richardson) Sinclair. Married Letitia Taggart July 8, 1914 
-Children: Dora Lucy (Mrs. Louis F. Loutrel, Jr.), Thomas 
Taggart, Emily Letitia (Mrs. Thomas F. Mumford). 
Occupation: Vice President, Treasurer, Kingan & Company. 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
19 3 2) . 
Social Activities: 
Name: Elmer W. Stout 
Date of Birth: March 14, 1876 in Paoli, IN. 
Religion: Quaker. 
Political Affiliation: Republican 
Education: Earlham College (B. A.); Harvard University (LL. 
B. 1901). 
Personal: Son of John T. and Adaline (McCarrell) Stout. 
Occupation: President, Fletcher American National Bank. 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Commission for the 
Stabilization of Employment (director, 1929); Chamber of 
Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933, vice president, 1934). 
Social Activities: University Club; Country Club of 
Indianapolis; Athletic Club; Columbia Club; Woodstock Club. 
Name: Reginald Sullivan 
Date of Birth: March 10, 1876 in Indianapolis, IN. 
Religion: Episcopal - St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat (State Senator 1911-1913); 
(City Comptroller 1916-1917). 
Education: Boys Classical School of Indianapolis; Wabash 
College (B. A. 1897); Indiana University Law School (L.L. B. 
1899) . 
Personal: Son of Thomas L. and Alice D. (Moore) · Sullivan. 
Occupation: Mayor of Indianapolis (1930-1934). 
267 
Civic Organization: Mayor's Relief Committee (director, 
1929); Indianapolis Commission for the Stabilization of 
Employment (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: Mystic Tie Lodge; Mystic Shrine; Athletic 
Club; Athenaeum; Democratic Club; Beta Theta Pi. 
Name: Gertrude Taggart 
Date of Birth: 1880. 
Religion: Methodist - Meridian Street Methodist Church. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat. 
Education: LaSalle Seminary. 
Personal: 
Occupation: 
Civic Organization: State Board of Charities; Marion County 
Juvenile Court Committee. 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933); Indianapolis Children's Bureau; Family Welfare 
Society (director 1929-1933). 
Social Activities: Indianapolis Women's Club. 
Name: Guy Alwyn Wainwright 
Date of Birth: November 29, 1889 in Noblesville, IN. 
Religion: 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Purdue University (B. S. 1911). 
Pers onal: Son of Lucius and Victoria (Gray) Wainwright. 
Married Jeanette Harvey January 3, 1922 - Children: William 
Harvey, Stephen Andrew. 
Occupation: President, General Manager, Diamond Chain Co. 
(1931-1956). 
Civic Organization: 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1929-
19 3 3) . 
Social Activities: Rotary Club; Tau Beta Pi; Sigma Chi. 
Name: Harold B . . west 
Date of Birth: 1892 in Syracuse, NY. 
Religion: Congregational - First Congregational Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Wharton School of Finance - University of 
Pennsylvania. 
Personal: 
Occupation: President, West Baking Company. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund. 
Social Activities: Athletic Club; Woodstock Club. 
Name: George T. Wheldon, Sr. 
268 
Date of Birth: 1888. 
Religion: Baptist - First-Baptist Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: Purdue University. 
Personal: Married Mary Ellen Wheldon - one daughter, one 
son. 
Occupation: Appraiser ·. 
Civic Organization: Chamber of Commerce (director, 1929). 
Philanthropic Activities: 
Social Activities: American Legion. 
Name: C. C. Winegardner 
Date of Birth: 1878. 
Religion: Methodist - Broad Ripple Methodist Church. 
Political Affiliation: 
Education: 
Personal: Married Margaret - one son. 
Occupation: Vice President, Diamond Chain Company. 
Civic Organization: Indianapolis Employment Bureau (director 
1929-1932). 
Philanthropic Activities: Community Fund (director, 1931-
1933). 
Social Activities: Broad Ripple Masonic Lodge. 
Name: Evans Woollen, Jr. 
Date of Birth: March 15, 1897 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: Presbyterian - First Presbyterian. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat. 
Education: Hotchkiss School (1916); Yale University (B. A. 
19 2 0) . 
Personal: Son of Evans and Nancy (Baker) Woollen, Sr. 
Married Lydia Douglas Jameson - Children: Jameson, 
Katharine, Evans. 
Occupation: Vice President, Fletcher Trust Company (1930-
19 3 4) . 
Civic Organization: Board of School Commissioners; 
Indianapolis Board of Public Health and Charities. 
Philanthropic Activities: United Way; Indianapolis Clearing 
House Association; Family Welfare Society (director, 1929-
1933). 
Social Activities: Woodstock Club; Columbia Club; Delta 
Kappa Epsilon. 
Name: Evans Woollen, Sr. 
Date of Birth: November 28, 1864 in Indianapolis. 
Religion: Presbyterian - First Presbyterian. 
Political Affiliation: Democrat. 
Education: Yale University (B. A. 1886, M. A. 1888). 
269 
Personal: Son of William Watson and Mary A. (Evans) Woollen. 
Married Nancy Baker (daughter of Governor Conrad Baker) -
Children: Evans, Jr., Rachel (deceased 1906). 
Occupation: President, Fletcher Savings and Trust Company 
(1912-1934). 
Civic Organization: Indiana University Trustee; Indiana 
World War Memorial Trustee; Crown Hill Cemetery; Chamber of 
Commerce; Indianapolis Art Association; Indianapolis 
Commission for the Stabilization of Employment (director, 
19 2 9) . 
Philanthropic Activities: Indianapolis Foundation 
(organizer); Community Fund. 
Social Activities: Contemporary Club; University Club; 
Dramatic Club; Woodstock Club. 
270 
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Vitae 
Bradford W. Sample 
Education 
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Currently enrolled 
in the doctoral degree program in American History. 
Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN. 
Master of Arts, American History, July 1998. 
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Bachelor of Arts, 
Political Science and History, May 1991. Personally 
financed 100 percent of college education. 
Experience 
Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis. 
Special Assistant~ Responsible for authenticating the 
applications of and writing short histories for century-old 
businesses as part of the Society's Historic Business 
Register. 
Editorial Assistant: Temporary position, assigned to 
create an inventory of all primary and secondary documents 
and material objects held at the Lew Wallace Study in 
Crawfordsville, Indiana, completed in December 1997. 
The Polis Center, Indianapolis. 
Research Intern: Intern for the Polis Center's Project 
on Religion and Urban Culture. Responsible for research on 
religious philanthropy and the creation of a religious elite 
culture, as well as other archival research. 
Max & Erma's Restaurant, Indianapolis. 
Server: Provided customer service, office assistance 
and trained new employees. 
Indiana University Graduate School, Indianapolis. 
Research Assistant: Involved in research concerning the 
history of IUPUI. 
Morris-Butler House Museum, Indianapolis. 
Museum Assistant: Interpreted the artifacts .in the 
house and spatial characteristics of the museum for the 
public. Assisted in the cataloging and dating of artifacts. 
Indiana University Graduate School,Indianapolis. 
Teaching Assistant: Taught four discussion classes each 
semester in conjunction with a large lecture course in Post­
Reconstruction American History. Assisted with the 
assembling of resource material, counseled students, and 
graded examinations and papers. 
Research Assistant: . Assisted with research in legal 
history, aided in the selection of materials for 
undergraduate classes, worked as editorial assistant for the 
organization's quarterly newsletter, Public History News, 
proposed topics for articles, assembled copy and proofread 
final typescripts. 
Publications And Research 
"The Indianapolis Leader" entry, The Encyclopedia of 
Indianapolis (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana 
University Press, 1994). 
"John J. Barton" entry, The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis 
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 
1994) . 
Review essay of Public History Review in Public History News 
14:3 (Spring 1994). 
Fifty short business histories in a guide to century old 
businesses to be published by the Indiana Historical 
Society. 
Activities And Honors 
Alpha Sigma Phi: served as Public Relations Chairman, 
Marshall, and Parliamentarian. 
Little 500 Scholarship: Fall 1990, Academic scholarship for 
working students. 
Alpha Sigma Phi Alumni Scholarship: Fall 1988 and Spring 
1990, Academic scholarships.