Table of Contents
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Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids
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| Collection |
| Title: | Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, Inc. records |
| Dates: | 1893-2004 (bulk 1950's-1980's) |
| Call Number: | M103 |
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Historical Note
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The first Boys' Club in the United States was founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1860. The formation of other boys' clubs soon followed. In Boston, in 1906, fifty-three clubs decided to affiliate to form the Federated Boys Club (later called the Boys Club Federation). In 1931, the Federation changed its name to the Boys Club of America and in 1990 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The first clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) was founded in Charlestown in 1893. With help from prominent members of the community, Frank S. Mason, a businessman from Charlestown, established the Bunker Hill Boys' Club of Charlestown, modeling it after the Boys' Club in New York City's East Side. The club was meant to be a refuge and alternative space for young boys whose home life and education were not conducive to their development into productive citizens. Mason, who became the club's first superintendent, founded the Charlestown Clubhouse with 38 members. Within six months of opening, the club had increased its membership threefold and established a waiting list.
As the clubhouse in Charlestown began to improve its services and to increase its involvement within the community, efforts were also being made by neighboring communities to develop similar youth centers. In 1910, the Roxbury Boys' Club was founded and by 1917 had 2,500 members. In 1932, the Bunker Hill Boys' Club and the Roxbury Boys' Club joined efforts and merged under the name of the Boys' Clubs of Boston, Inc. (BCOB). While the merger signaled many internal changes for the organization, the BCOB was also deepening and strengthening relationships with the Boston community. In the late 1930's, the BCOB became a member of the Community Federation of Boston, and the Boston Council of Social Agencies. Presently, extensive community partnerships, such as those with the Boston Police Department and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, are an integral part of the BGCB, expanding the opportunities available to members. In 1938, a third clubhouse was founded with the help of a gift from the Charles Hayden Foundation. It opened in South Boston in 1941.
The following 30 years marked a period of development and expansion for all three clubhouses. The BCOB built additions and performed renovations, increased membership, created a separate Girls' Club in Charlestown, and developed youth programs such as summer camps, the Boys' Club International Exchange Program, Project Listen (an outreach program to adolescents, females, Chinese and Spanish youths, and youth living in public housing), and the World of Work Program. Clubhouse Advisory Boards were formed to represent the individual clubhouses within the BCOB corporation. Programs such as Project Harmony, begun in 1980, actively fostered relationships between the different clubhouses and members. In 1981, the BCOB changed its name to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and girls were admitted to all clubhouses as full members for the first time. As the BGCB entered its tenth decade of service, it is evident that the mission of the organization had shifted slightly; the BGCB no longer identified itself as a social/recreational facility but as a youth development agency.
In 1986, the BGCB commissioned an independent study on the effectiveness of the BGCB's city-wide services. One outcome was a discussion of the benefit increased programming or a new clubhouse would bring to the Roxbury/Dorchester area. As a result, the Roxbury Clubhouse extended its outreach and created a satellite program in the Franklin Field Housing Development in partnership with the Boston Housing Authority. By 1988, the BGCB determined that the Roxbury Clubhouse should remain focused on the neighborhood it already served and that a new, fully equipped and staffed clubhouse in North Dorchester was needed. In 1991, the City of Boston reached an agreement with the BGCB, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and the Massachusetts Legislature to build a new clubhouse at the site of an MDC rink on Blue Hill Avenue. The George Robert White Fund agreed to build the facility and contract with the BGCB to manage the property and deliver programs. The clubhouse opened in 1995. It was seen as one step in the revitalization of the Blue Hill Corridor.
The Chelsea Clubhouse started as a satellite BGCB facility in the Innes Housing Development in 1993. The creation of the satellite was the result of the city of Chelsea having been selected as a national Weed & Seed site. The Weed & Seed program is a multi-disciplinary approach to opposing violent crime, drug use, and gang activity in high crime neighborhoods; the goal is to "weed out" violence and drug activity and then "seed" the site with crime and drug prevention programs, human service resources, and neighborhood restoration activities. The program emphasizes a coordinated approach, bringing together Federal, State and local government, the community, and the private sector to form a partnership. In this case, the BGCB received a grant from the Bureau of Justice Administration via the Boys and Girls Clubs of America's National Office to implement a club in partnership with the Chelsea Housing Authority. When the satellite facility in Chelsea opened, there was not a Youth Services Department in the city of Chelsea. The organization was asked to assume the leadership role of coordinating youth services for the city. In so doing, the focus for the clubhouse became the provision of youth services and programs through collaboration with other area organizations. By developing partnerships with organizations such as Choice Thru Education, Chelsea Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program, the Athletic Department of the Chelsea School Department, and Reaching Out to Chelsea Adolescents, the clubhouse has been able to offer many more programs and opportunities to Chelsea's youth than one clubhouse could alone. After relocating multiple times, a permanent clubhouse, the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Clubhouse, opened in 2002.
In 2005, over a century since the first clubhouse was founded, the BGCB serves more than 8,000 urban youths, largely from disadvantaged circumstances, in its five clubhouses in Charlestown, Chelsea, Dorchester, Roxbury and South Boston. More than half of BGCB members come from minority groups. The mission of the BGCB is to aid in the development of youth ages six to eighteen, through programs in six core areas: the arts; education; leadership and character development; life skills; sports, fitness and recreation; and technology. The program activities and support services are designed to assist in the overall educational, emotional, physical and social development of participants, without regard to social, racial, ethnic, or religious background. |
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| Chronology |
| 1893 | Charlestown Clubhouse opens. |
| 1899 | Bunk Hill Boys' Club Association of Charlestown, Inc. becomes a legal entity. |
| 1910 | Roxbury Clubhouse opens. |
| 1922 | The Charlestown Clubhouse changes its name to The Boys' Club of Boston. |
| 1928 | The Roxbury Boys' Club merges with the Boys' Club of Boston. |
| 1932 | The addition of a second clubhouse necessitates a name change to The Boys' Clubs of Boston, Inc. |
| 1935 | Boys' Clubs of Boston, Inc. becomes a member of the Community Federation of Boston. |
| 1936 | Boys' Clubs of Boston, Inc. becomes a member of the Boston Council of Social Agencies and the summer camp program begins. |
| 1937 | Bunker Hill Girls' Club opens. |
| 1938 | South Boston clubhouse is founded. |
| 1941 | Bunker Hill Girls' Club becomes Girls' Clubs of Boston, Inc. |
| 1942 | The Clubs' newspaper, the Patriot, is first printed. |
| 1955 | Board of Overseers sets up Advisory Boards for each clubhouse to connect the overseers with the clubs. |
| 1957 | Club International Exchange Program is established. |
| 1960s | Executive Boards for each clubhouse are formed. |
| 1972 | Project Listen grant is received, and the Boys' Club becomes involved in the World of Work Program. |
| 1980 | Project Harmony, a tri-club program, is instituted. |
| 1981 | Girls are admitted to all clubhouses as full members, and the organization's name is changed to Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. |
| 1988 | In collaboration with the Boston Housing Authority, a satellite clubhouse in the Old Colony Housing Development in South Boston is opened. |
| 1990 | In collaboration with the Boston Housing Authority, a satellite clubhouse in Franklin Field Housing Development in Dorchester is opened. |
| 1993 | In partnership with the residents of the Innes Development and the Chelsea Housing Authority, a satellite clubhouse within the Innes Development in Chelsea is opened. |
| 1995 | Blue Hill Avenue Clubhouse opens in North Dorchester/Mattapan. |
| 2002 | Jordan Boys and Girls Clubhouse opens in Chelsea. |
| 2003 | Keane Children's Center opens at Charlestown Clubhouse. |
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| Chronology of Directors |
| 1893-1899 | Frank S. Mason (Superintendent) |
| 1899-1901 | Francis E. Pearson (Superintendent) |
| 1901-1905 | Emerson L. Hunt (Superintendent) |
| 1905-1908 | Mabel S. Newell (Superintendent) |
| 1908-1910 | Richard A. Briggs (Superintendent) |
| 1911-1935 | Harris G. LeRoy (Executive Director) |
| 1935-1960 | Arthur T. Burger (Executive Director) |
| 1961-1967 | William J. Lynch (Executive Director) |
| 1967-1981 | Donald Murray (Executive Director) |
| 1968-1986? | Frederick Davis (Executive Vice President) |
| 1984-1991 | Ronald D. Young (Executive Vice President) |
| 1992-1998 | Frances Moseley (President and CEO) |
| 1999-present (2005) | Linda Whitlock (President and CEO) |
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| Bibliography |
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Annual Reports, 1893-2004, Box 22, folders 60-71 and Box 23, folders 1-15.
"A Brief History of the Boys' Clubs of Boston, Inc." April, 1962, Box 12, folder 2.
Carroll, Chris. "An Organizational History of the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Boston, Inc." May 1982, Box 22, folder 18.
Lynch, William. "A Glimpse at a Boys' Club: Its Purpose and Operation." (n.d.), Box 12, folder 3.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston Website: http://www.bgcb.org.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America Website: http://www.bgca.org. |
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