The Los Angeles Florence Crittenton Home records consists of correspondence, meeting notes and minutes, photographs, publications and newspaper clippings related to the history and development of the Los Angeles Florence Crittenton Home. Apart from the photographs and clippings, the greatest concentrations of material are from 1906-1915, 1947-1955, and the 1990s. The photographic collections span the period between the 1920s and the 1950s, and include many photographs of staff and board members.

The Los Angeles Florence Crittenton Home was established in Los Angeles in 1892, as a cooperative effort between Reverend J. W. Ellsworth and Charles Crittenton, an evangelist who was responsible for the establishment of many similar homes throughout the United States. In 1882, Mr. Crittenton's youngest daughter, Florence, died suddenly of scarlet fever. The shock of her death led Crittenton to give up his highly successful pharmaceutical business and begin an evangelical ministry. Crittenton's ministry soon concentrated on the reclamation of prostitutes and other women who had fallen on hard times. Crittenton would travel the country for the next two decades, preaching to large crowds and donating much of the proceeds of this ministry to the establishment of local homes for the care of "fallen women" and their children. Almost immediately, the home--named for his daughter Florence--became refuges for unwed mothers. In 1898, the Florence Crittenton Mission was given a national charter, which allowed for coordinated control of these various homes across the country.

6.2 Linear feet 12 boxes

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