A Century of Service

The year 2000 will witness well over a century of service by Travelers Aid agencies in this country.  While the modes of transportation and the needs of those in transition have changed, the mission and commitment of Travelers Aid has remained constant.

Much of the credit for the solid foundation of today’s Travelers Aid agencies can be found in the people and the events that shaped them.  The early history of Travelers Aid was codified by Ms. Bertha McCall, General Director of the National Travelers Aid Association from 1932 to 1948.  Ms. McCall chronicled the events that occurred in the organization between 1905 and 1948.  Important historical influences and fascinating but little known facts can be found in her vivid and vibrant writings. Research into those writings has produced various articles (like this one adapted from the work of Olga Osby)  on the history of Travelers Aid in America.

The initial concept of a service to aid travelers, immigrants, migrants, and other displaced groups was modeled after Travelers Aid services in Europe.  The waves of immigrants who came to America early in the last century produced the need for a service to assist the new arrivals in their passage through this country.

Much of the groundwork for the establishment of services to aid travelers was performed by religious and civic organizations, the first of which were established in St. Louis in 1851 and New York in 1885.  Two Boston organizations, the Young Women’s Christian Association and the Girls’ Friendly Society, started outreach programs for young women under the name “Travelers Aid” in 1887.

            The first cooperative effort among these groups was reported in 1904, during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.  A Travelers Aid Committee was formed to aid the attendees of the Exposition, and assisted more than 800 people in need of housing, transportation, and money.  The Exposition highlighted the necessity for a cooperative Travelers Aid service, which could provide protection and information to the displaced.

            One of the leaders to emerge from that Exposition was Ms. Grace Hoadley Dodge, who became known as the “founder of modern Travelers Aid services.”  Ms. Dodge maintained the strong belief that Travelers Aid services should be nonsectarian; promote national and international cooperation among agencies; and that services should be available without regard to “age, race, creed, class or sex and without fee or gratuity.”

            Although Ms. Dodge laid the framework for a National Association of Travelers Aid organizations, she died in 1914, two years before a national association was finally established.  Her vision was carried out by others such as Mr. Gilbert Colgate, Sr., President of the New York Travelers Aid Society, who became the first president of the National Association in 1917.

            Between 1917 and 1920, the newly formed National Association developed an impressive list of accomplishments. Mr. Orin C. Baker, Executive Director of the New York Travelers Aid Society, published Travelers Aid Society in America, which included the definition, purpose, and scope of Travelers Aid and became the guidebook for TA method and practice.

            A national directory was issued in 1917, listing 168 cities throughout the United States that offered Travelers Aid services.  Despite the fact that the national organization was formed three weeks after the outbreak of World War I, it flourished, and provided assistance to refugees, defense workers, and member of the U.S. armed forces.

            By 1920, shaped by war-related individual and family problems and influenced by developments in the social work industry, Travelers Aid began to define itself as a social casework organization.  TA workers started to obtain training in social casework methods through both schools of social work and specially developed Travelers Aid courses and manuals.

 

The Seeds of Travelers Aid…In 1950, Ms. McCall wrote, “From April 1917 to the present, the National Travelers Aid Association has played a major part in the travelers aid movement.  When the whole story of service to strangers, travelers, newcomers, transients, immigrants, migrants, the nonsettled, refugees, defense workers, the armed forces, and displaced persons is written, the history of the National Travelers Aid Association will fall into its proper place.”

In the writings of Ms. McCall, 1920-30 was an exciting and fruitful decade.  Travelers Aid procedures were examined; studies were made of casework and intercity services; and the results were instrumental in developing staff training programs and a manual of practices.  It was during this period that short-term casework became the accepted method of practice for Travelers Aid.  The organization further distinguished itself as a social casework agency in 1923 by joining other national organizations in launching the National Social Work Council. 

            There was rapid growth in Travelers Aid agencies, which coincided with the evolving means of transportation throughout the 1920s.  The Bulletin, the organizations national newsletter, reported 140 member agencies and one thousand and sixty-four cities and towns in the United States “now reached by regular and cooperative Travelers Aid services.”

In the following years, which witnessed a wave of immigration to the United States, member agencies assisted more than 7,000 refugees across the country and sponsored conferences on services on the immigrant population.

The stock market crash of 1929 almost spelled disaster for the organization when it, like so many others, fell short of its fundamental operating budget.  A $10,000 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation saved the agency and preserved critical services.

            From 1930-32, the nation was gripped by massive unemployment, which meant constant travel for individuals and families in search of jobs.  Travelers Aid became intensely involved with the needs of this population, and was commissioned by the federal government in 1931 to undertake a national study of transient families.

            The results were published by the United States Government Printing Office in A Community Plan for Service to Transients.  Twenty thousand copies of the pamphlet were distributed, receiving commendation throughout the country and establishing Travelers Aid as an authority on the issue.

            Not even Ms. McCall could realize how important this decade would be for the future of Travelers Aid.  Many of the seeds that were planted during that time would continue to blossom and bear fruit in the years to come.

--Mark Zipoli

(Thanks to Olga Obsy, MSW, and the TAI 1989 Newsletter)