Regional Oral His Tory of £Ice University of California the Bancroft
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Regional Oral History Of £ice University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Amy Steinhar t Braden CHILD mLFARE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE An Interview Conducted by Edna Tartaul Daniel Berkeley 1965 A11 uses of this manus~ri'~tare covered by an agre9r&t between the ~egentsof the University of California and Amy Steinhart Braden, dated 20 August 1964. The maau- script is thereby mmde available for research purposes, All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the General Library of the University of California at Berkeley, lo part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permissicn of the University Librarian-of the University of California at Berkeley. PREFACE Amy Steinhart Braden has been active in social welfara activities since her graduation' from the University of Cali- . fornia in 1900. From a start in vo~unteerwork, Miss Stein- hart advanced to full-time professional work as one of the first three children's agents for the.State. Board of Control, a position she was appointed to by John Francis Reylan in ~. 1913. She became Chief children's Agent in 1915, and in : .. , , 1925 executive secretary of the nevly-creaked State Depart- ment of Public Welfare, a position she filled until 1930. ~uringthose years as a state appointee she was partitularly . influential in working out the Standards for id to Needy Children grants , and for supervision of orphanages and other institutions for children. In 1924 Amy Steinhart mrried Robert Braden, a member of the State Board .of Control and a close friend of Governor Friend Richardson. A change in state administration in 1930 caused Mrs. Braden to leave state service, as did her husband, but, she continued to work as a volunteer in numerous social welfare group~s. .The work of Hrs,'Braden came to 'the attention of 'tho ~e~iinalCultural History Proj.ct through other taped iderviews related to social welfare services, .amowwhich are recordings with Lawrence Amstein, Dr. Langley Porter, . Mrs. Simon Lubin, and a series on the California Council for the ~lind. Because of her long and effective involvement in the development of California welfare services, partic- ularly those for children, she v9s asked to recount her experiences in these fields on tape. Following the inter- vievs, Mrs. Braden went over the transcript, which had been typed from them, checked names and events, and edited out- a few'anecdotesshe felt were tow personal to the people . involved, The following manuscript is the 'result. This interview is part of a series of tape recorded autobiographies conducted by the Regional Cultural History Project of the University of California at Berkeley with individuals who have contributed significantly to the life. of their time. The Project is under the administtative . supervision of Mr. Julian G. ~ichei,Assistant University Librarian, and the Bancroft Sub-committee of the Library Committee of the Academic Senate at Berkeley. Vi'lla Klug Barn Head ~egionalCultural History Project General Library . University of ~aliforniaat B'erkeley ' . 30 November 1964 . Born in 1879., in San Francisco, into a comfortably situated family with charitable activities tightly hit 'to her home life, Amy stiinhart Bradan absorbed the patterns of thought and action surrounding her early years and car- - - ried them beyond the family to the work she followed. Amy's \ mother, while devoting herself unstintiagly to the needs of the family, sewed for poor orphans ahd patronized the small neighborhood vending operations of-needy heads of families. Her father, William Steinhart, not only financed the mergence of needy relatives from .abroad, he was one of the founders . of the Eureka ~enevolentSociety of San Francisco which be- came the Jewish Family Service Agency. Amy, though, was the first member of the family to take on a paid, professional commitment in social welfare. While she vas vorking as a volunteer in the South Park Settlement, the San Francisco Girlsm Club, and the Juvenile Court, aha was thinking an8 reading herself into an ever-widening con- sideration of social velfere problems and was well prepared L - for her work in Sacramento. Her reports of aotivity in chi& . .. .- drensm a.id programs indic&te a freely-ranging mind in sewh'. : of knowledge about the cause of human poverty, sickness; and - -- - distress. Her attack vas never theoretical; it was based on observation and study. Her programming grew in response to abundantly apparent needs which were clearly interpreted to. the legislature. Mrs. Braden vas intervieved in-the course of seven ses- oions in her apartment at 1950 Clay Street in San ~rancisco during 'bpril, Hay, and Ju~eof 1960. Excerpts from an addi- . tional interview conducted in.June 1964 by Willa hum, head of tho Regional Cultural History Project, have been woven into fasily reminiscences, From a straight-backed, rather low chair, Xrs. Braden conversed enthusiastically,about the sequence of events in her social velfare experiences ranging from early settlement vork to present efforts to ease inter-racial compunity prob- lems. A small person, vith lively eyes,. she vas friendly and easy in her manner. Alvays in clothes of uimple cut and quiet, becoming oolor, she reflected the serene and orderly background of her apartment. Edna Tartaul Daniel Intervievet ' ,Regional Cultural His tom Project 1 General Library i University of California at Berkeley )- . 1 20 August 1964- YOUTHFUL MEMORIES CHJULITABXE WORK Girls Club Siaters' and Brother's Charitable Work Juvenile court 65 Trips to Chica~oand .New York.. 1902 slld 1906 I . 69 \ SAN FRANCISCO FIRE'AND EARTHQUARE, 1906 75 I Personal Recollections 75 ( Disas ter Relief . The Graft Prosecution 89 ENTRY INTO A PA ID PIZOFESSIONAL CAREERCHZLDREE'S - - AGENT FOR THE STATE BOARD OF CONTROL, 1913-1915 97 . I .. CHIEF CHILDREN'S AGENT, 19151924 129 I Personnex ' . 129 Jnstitutione 135 . .. .. - , - . ... Other Aotivitira of the children'; Aaentg . ,. 157. Taxpayer O~~osition ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE mPARTMEHT OF SOCIA5 WEWARB, 1925 170 Robert Braden 170 Combinim the Departments 177 The '~radensMarry, 1924. and Travel. 1930 189 VOLUNTEER WORK 196 Training Sqlvation.Arnw Workers 196 Children's Protective Society and Other Children's Serviceo Ado~tionAgencies Day Care Centers 231 -- Comunity Chest 234 Minority Group Problems 237 Final Commentst On.Im~rovin~.Jails, Women and Social Le~islation. and S.ocialized Mediaine 254 PARTIAL INDEX 258 . -t . - . .. -. .. ..I. .- . ...... -.i . 2 . .,. ............ ..... I ....__.... ..... ., ..... ..... .'. > . ... ......... - . : . .. .. -.. ,, Braden: of W.&I. Steinhart at 3 and 5 ~*tter~Streit. I I reraember being taken down there on Sunday morning I .. , when I was a child and being very impreas.ed with the . - -- I huge iron doors which he had to unbolt. We always went I to fetch the mail at the post office in those days, We. I. .... -.-.-..-..... went' into this large, enormously high-ceilinged building . and, of course, I was a little bit terrified, but with my father with me I felt safe. That was a-regular Sunday morning excursion, to go down to the store. I Daniel: This was a store vhich distributed merchadise? 1~raden: It was a wholesale house, yea. .. tDzniel: ldas it the gold rush attraction which brought him here? . .- iI3redt.n: Yes, I feel very sure it was. In those days, he told what I us, there were. they called "steamer day" in vh'ch . there was a lookout from Telegraph Hill which sighted I T the steamers th.at were coming in. That ms one way they had of getting their mail in the early days here in San Francisco. So, he was a real pioneer, but to be a member of the Order of Pioneers you had to have been here in 1849. He was a member of the Vigilance Commit- tee and he told many interesting stories about the I-- experience of those days, .. -.. ' . ... b-ft Lihrsv 1 , .. .... - . ezrthquake. It was a mining town, but a mining town that seemed to with considerable ambition maiz the fatal mistake of . having a party the,same night that the leader of the . this stor; :with great interest. I don' t think she was, . , .. invited to either party. Anpvay, she told these . stories of how the poor woman sat and nobody came to her party; everybody went to the other party. What other kinds of,stories did'she tell you? ' : I imagine it was not a1,together an easy life. She was . qu'ite a good pianist. She had a stock weltz that she played on all occasions end a stock march. She brought quantities of bound volumes of music with her. I remem- ber ' especially the Chopin weltzes and the popular operas I of the day. she was in great demand .to play the wedding march at weddings. We children danced every night-- Did she play for people who were having dancing parties? No, just to amuse and entertain them. I have a feeling thkt she had had more cultural opportunities than a grest many of the people that cve here. My father was very proud of that. She was pretty proud of it herself. In due course *bey brought my grand- mother to live with us, my mother's mother, after she was widowed. 4 Can you remember her? . Very well indeed! I remern3er--one of the recollections . me. but it was an interesting rime. aiel: Was your grandmother a very lively person? ."-. .. -.,r,,,,---.- : - :;--?.-?*9?v ..: .;r?T--.--?T.. ~ . '%. -- .- . .. - . .-. - -.--. .... ' ' ' . --- 7 -. ... .... ,- .. ,: :. .......... ......... ....... ... '. -. - . .... ..... i " . ' .-.... , . .... ..... ,, . ra2en: And we children spoke german just as naturally .ais :we I . :. - did English. ... ....... : Did you before she came to live .with you? . Oh, I don' t remember any time that she didn t live vi th . : . us. She cane probably long before I was born. ': :[ :. ' . ------ sniel: So you had a bilingual rearing, : We s2oke German and we alvays.