Records of the Settlement House Association (SHA), Des Moines, Iowa,
which was created in 1968 with the merger of four previously independent
settlement and community houses providing social services to lower-income
and ethnic segments of the population: The Roadside Settlement House
(serving residents of the southeast Raccoon River "bottoms");
the Julia B. Mayer Settlement House (Jewish Community Center); the Southside
Community House (serving the Italian population); and the Willkie House
(Negro Community Center).
Collection includes articles of incorporation and by-laws, mission statements
and fact sheets, minutes, reports, correspondence, information on programs
and services offered, financial records, news articles, organizational
histories and ephemera. In the mid-1970s, as other organizations began
administering programs previously offered by the SHA, the corporation
changed its name to Settlement Services and shifted its focus to in-home
services for the elderly. Settlement Services was dissolved in the 1990s.
Related photographs in State Historical Society of Iowa’s audio-visual
collection.