Social Responsibility Council

The records are divided into 11 series as follows:

• Committee papers, including minutes, reports & financial records 1906-1981
• Women's Offering/Family Offering, papers, 1956-1985
• Education Secretary, papers, c1960-1979
• Chaplain (Canon Armstrong), papers, 1961-1977
• Whitby Moral Welfare Association, papers 1919-1981
• East Riding Branch, papers 1927-1981
• Four Deaneries Family Welfare Association, papers 1957-1981
• York and North Yorkshire Branch, papers 1951-1978
• Cleveland Family Welfare Council, papers 1955-1977
• Teesside Association for Moral Welfare, papers 1920s-1971
• Miscellaneous correspondence, 1965-1977

The records are then arranged into 5 sub sub fonds as follows:

• York Diocesan Maternity Hostel
• Hull Family Welfare Centre
• Heworth Moor House
• St Mary's Home Charity
• Dora Jessop House

Social Responsibility Council (1973-present), formerly the Yorkshire Union of Ladies' Associations for the Care of Girls (1889-1911), the York Association for Preventative and Rescue Work, (1911-1936), the Diocesan Association for Moral Welfare (1936-1964), and the Diocesan Association for Family Welfare (1964-1973).

The Yorkshire Union of Ladies' Associations for the Care of Girls was formed in 1889, including in its work supporting refuges, shelters and rescue homes and maintaining lodging homes for "Young Girls of Good Character and the Fallen". In 1911 this was superseded by the York Association for Preventative and Rescue Work, with the Archbishop of York as president and run by a diocesan secretary and an honorary treasurer, which listed its principle aims as co-ordinating existing agencies for "preventative, rescue and penitentiary work" within the diocese, and founding and maintaining diocesan institutions for these purposes. In conjunction with this association, the York Diocesan Maternity Home was opened at Linnaeus House on 2 February 1915. The association also supported shelters in Hull, York, Malton, Middlesborough, Pontefract and Scarborough and workers at Redcar, Bridlington and Whitby. By the 1920's eight branches of the association, each with a moral welfare worker, had been established, including the York Sheltering Home at Bootham Terrace, Clifton Home, a two-year rescue training home and the Hull Sheltering Home.

In 1936 the organisation became the Diocesan Association for Moral Welfare with the stated aim to "promote moral welfare work in the diocese of York". Heworth Moor House, a second mother and baby home described as a branch of the association was opened in 1947. In 1963 an education worker was employed for the first time and from 1964 the organisation was known as the Diocesan Association for Family Welfare, still with two mother and baby homes, and now with only 5 branches, each with an attached worker. The name changed to the Council for Social Responsibility in 1973.

Today, the Council does not run hostels but works closely with many different sections of the community in order to better understand the needs of society, to address social exclusion and social injustice and to ensure that the church is accessible to all sections of the community.

The system of arrangement is reflected in the scope & content.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation and the wishes of the donors/owners.

The majority of these records were deposited at the Borthwick Institute in May 1995 by the Social Responsibility Council following the closure of Heworth Moor House.

Description compiled by Victoria Stretch, Archives Hub project archivist, January 2004 with reference to the detailed finding aid to the archive of the Social Responsibility Council by Philippa Hoskin, 'A Guide to the Archive Collections in the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research', David M Smith 1973, 'A Supplementary Guide to the Archive Collections in the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research', David M Smith 1980 and 'A Guide to Archival Accessions at the Borthwick Institute 1981-1996' complied by Alexandrina Buchanan, 1997.

A detailed hard copy finding aid is available at the Borthwick Institute.

A reprographics service is available to researchers. Copying will not be undertaken if there is a risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute University of York terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

These records have been appraised in accordance with Borthwick Institute policy.

These archives include the papers of Heworth Moor House, the York Diocesan Maternity Hostel whose papers were sent to Heworth Moor House when it closed, and the York Diocesan Moral Welfare Association, the central organisation that funded and ran both Heworth Moor House and the Diocesan Maternity Hostel. It also includes papers from St Mary's Home Charity, which amalgamated with Heworth Moor House in 1988.

Accruals are expected

• York Diocesan Archive