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Investigation background files concerning the International Sunshine Society

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Overview of the Records

Arrangement

Chronological.

Administrative History

The investigation grew out of an application to the Board on April 16, 1913 for its approval of a proposed amended certificate of incorporation extending the corporate purposes of the Society.

The Board's approval was required by law if the certificate specified care of children or certain other purposes. A public hearing held by the Board on November 7, 1913 to determine the merits of the application was inconclusive, and the Board appointed a special committee to further investigate the Society in accordance with provisions of the State Charities Law.

Scope and Content Note

These hearing transcripts, correspondence, and printed items were created or used by the Board's Special Committee to Investigate the Affairs and Management of the International Sunshine Society and its Branches and Affiliated Societes in this State.

The series includes: 1. Records of the Board's consideration in 1909 of a similar application of the Society for extension of corporate purposes: news articles regarding collections and activities of the Society; printed financial report of the Society; transcript of a hearing held by the Board on October 4, 1909 concerning the application, and lists of questions Board members intended to ask at the hearing; and correspondence from the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, and two unsigned letters, accusing the Society of improper or illegal practices; 2. Records of the Society's 1913 application for approval of an amended certificate of incorporation: correspondence between Cynthia Westover Alden, president of the Society, and the Board, and correspondence among Board members, concerning the status of the application; copy of proposed amendment; and transcript of November 7, 1913 hearing;

3. Records of the investigation following 1913 hearing: handwritten notes by a committee member providing dates, pages, and brief quotes of articles from the "Sunshine Bulletin", the Society's monthly magazine. The articles concern the Society's membership and its fund-raising or other collection practices; committee member apparently considered these articles relevant to their investigation. The first page of one set of notes is headed "Matters of Special Importance", and the first page of a second set of notes is headed "Matters of Lesser Importance"; news articles, printed financial reports, and publicity material of the Society; and carbon typescripts of a summary of the published report of the committee to the Board; the summary may have been designed as a press release.

The series also includes eleven issues of the "Sunshine Bulletin" from April 1915 to March 1916, possible collected by the Board to continue tracking the practices of the Society.

Results of the investigation were published in Report of the Special Committee Consisting of Commissioners Stewart, Ridder, Kevin and McGuire, Appointed to Investigate the Affairs and Management of the International Sunshine Society and its Branches and Affiliated Societies in this State (Albany, 1914).

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.

Access Terms