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MONTREAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL AGENCIES, 1921-1976
The Montreal Council of Social Agencies, a co-ordinating
organization for English-speaking, non-Roman Catholic social
agencies, was formed in 1921 by John Howard Toynbee Falk, head of
McGill's Department of Social Studies, later the McGill
University School of Social Workers. Although details of the
organization of the MCSA have been modified over the years, the
basic structure remained constant: a Board of Directors, elected
from the member agencies, directed the MCSA through
administrative standing committees and, more importantly, set up
numerous special committees to study specific social problems
under the aegis of area advisory groups for health, aging, urban
renewal, recreation, etc. The overwhelming emphasis of the MCSA
on planning and research reflects its role as animator,
information exchange and coordinator of a great variety of social
agencies and groups, from major hospitals and fund-raising
organizations to church groups and boys' clubs. In 1968, the MCSA
merged with its French homologue, the Conseil de Développement
Social; it ceased operations in 1976.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Originals and Printed Materials, 1921-1976, 15 m (M.G. 2076)
The administrative records of the MCSA contain annual reports,
1921-1968; minutes of annual meetings, 1956-1971; minutes and
correspondence of the Board of Governors and its Executive
Committee, 1953-1972; files on budgets and staffing, 1962-1973;
and documents on the merger with the Conseil de Développement
Social. The operations of standing committees (Committee on
Committees, Admissions and Standards, Nominating, etc) are
documented by broken series of minutes from 1937 to 1971. Far
more extensive are the papers of special committees researching
social problems such as school leaving, 1934; single parents,
1949; housing and urban renewal, 1967-1971; dental services for
children, 1950-1961; and low-cost medication, 1970-1971. These
files include case work studies, correspondence, minutes and
reports. The question of day care is particularly well covered,
both through committee materials and through the files of Barbara
Heppner, MCSA Day Care Coordinator, 1969-70. Correspondence files
contain letters and reports from member agencies, university
schools of social work, co-ordinating bodies such as the Canadian
Welfare Council and the Conseil de Bien-Etre du Québec, various
citizen's groups, and government bodies. A large percentage of
this material consists of information files, containing reports
of, and studies by, American and Canadian social agencies,
conference and workshop proceedings, and materials on social
legislation.
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