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Lafayette Square Community Center Records

 Collection
Identifier: R0060-LSC

  • Staff Only
  • Place requests at folder level.

Scope and Contents

The Lafayette Square Community Center Records documents the functions and activities of the Center between 1958 and 1969. The records are mainly textual and include by-laws, constitution, reports, correspondence, minutes, and publications.

Dates

  • 1958-1969

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Historical Note

The Lafayette Square Community Center was established as a recreation center in 1955 by St. James Episcopal Church. George Taliaferro (b.1927-d.2018), a former Baltimore Colts football player, established a recreation program for youth at the center after his football career ended. The center's goal was to serve the residents of the Harlem Park community. In the tradition of Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago, the Lafayette Square Community Center became Baltimore's first settlement house and recreation facility for low-income children from the Harlem Park neighborhood and surrounding areas. A new building for the center was planned in 1969 and in the 1960s-1970s the services provided by the center included day care, food, health care, recreation, and counseling services.

[Information for this historical note was gathered from several Baltimore Sun articles and an obituary published between 1969 and 2018].

Extent

0.67 Linear Feet (1 container)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in six series:

  • Organizational Records
  • Directors
  • Correspondence, 1960-1968
  • Publications
  • Committees
  • Financial

Custodial History

The collection was originally part of the Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA) records, which were donated to the University of Baltimore by Nancy Roberts, former CPHA Executive Director, on November 24, 1980.

Title
Finding aid for the Lafayette Square Community Center Records
Author
Finding aid prepared by archives staff. Revised by Aiden Faust (2011). Revised by Laura Bell (2022).
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Baltimore Studies Archives Repository

Contact:
H. Mebane Turner Learning Commons, Room 104
1415 Maryland Avenue
Baltimore Maryland 21201 USA
410-837-4253