The collection is comprised of blank letterhead and three bound notebooks containing records relating to the Unemployed Citizens League of St. Louis Local No. 4, some records for Local No. 1 and No. 11, and a blank application for the St. Louis Housewives’ League. The records are arranged alphabetically by title and date from 1933 to 1938. There are no records for 1936.

The three notebooks provide lists of children and families who received aid during the Great Depression in St. Louis, lists of those who provided the assistance, and meeting minutes for a community organization designed to assist its neighbors in times of need. Other lists and committee meetings are noted throughout the notebooks, including the Bone Clinic at City Hospital No. 1 (f.2). While most of the records relate to UCL Local No. 4, there are also some notes concerning No. 1 and No. 11. One notebook bears the name of M. Antoinette Howard, the presumed owner of all three books, who might also have acted as an advisor to other locals in the Unemployed Citizens League of St. Louis. Entries within the notebooks do not appear consistently in chronological order: please check all pages of the notebooks for data. Page numbers have been added to the notebooks for citations.

The Child Welfare Clinic notebook (f.1) is comprised of a notebook and several loose pages (f.2, unnumbered) found within its covers dating from 1933 to 1934. It primarily lists children who were examined by a doctor and/or a nurse who volunteered at All Saints Church (2931 Locust), UCL Local No. 4. Doctors W.P. Curtis and Albert Heard along with nurses Mrs. Williams, B.A. Allen, and M.A. Howard volunteered for the clinic. For most dates there is a summation of who worked at the clinic and how many were served including: number of children present, number of new children, number of mothers, number of new mothers, and number of Red Cross unit workers (sometimes identified). Sometimes there are notes concerning the distribution of milk. Information recorded for each child varies by date and who recorded the information, as it was obviously done by more than one person. There are at least first and last names for the children, usually age and weight with temperature, pulse, and respiratory rate. Other days the information is much more extensive and includes the names of parents, addresses, which school the child attended, date of birth, and place of birth.

Additional information located in the Child Welfare Clinic notebook includes records for four clinics held by UCL Local No. 11 at 4243 W. Belle (p.6, 122, 139, 144); the Mother Club which met after the Child Clinic (p.1); lists of boys and girls who joined the Boy Scouts and Brownies/Girl Scouts, respectively (p.110); and a list of chorus members for Local #11 (p.24). The loose pages include notes from the bone clinic, notes from a meeting of UCL Local #11 (at 4310 W. Belle Pl.) in which Mrs. M.A. Howard is to conduct a Red Cross Sewing Unit, notes on the Sewing Unit class, and notes on diet and a health play by the children (f.2).

The UCL Local #4 Destitute Citizens Relief and Provident Association Aid notebook dates from 1933 to 1935 and 1938 (f.3). Only 32 pages in this book contain records relating to relief given and needed in the neighborhood of All Saints Church. The entries provide names and addresses for people of various ages, often listing their circumstances and aid received, or aid denied, by other relief agencies such as the Red Cross, Bureau for Women, and the Provident Association.

There are three copies of blank UCL Local No. 4 letterhead which lists advisors (Father D.R. Clarke, Frederick Simms, and M. Antoinette Howard) and officers: Mrs. Minnie Davis (president), Mrs. Aurdinice Adams (secretary), and Father D.R. Clarke (treasurer). Also included is a blank application for membership in the St. Louis Housewives’ League with the following pledge: “1. To buy from race enterprises… 2. That I will withdraw my patronage from all stores that show themselves antagonistic to employing Negroes. 3. To endorse fully the slogan We Will Spend Our Money Where We Can Work.”

The final notebook is titled “U.C.L. Minutes (copy)” and dates from September 1937 to May 1938 (f.5). The minutes switch between Local No. 4 and Local No. 1, although, in both cases, Rev. Harry Burrell was listed as president. The minutes record that the locals worked on a constitution and donated to other organizations, and list its committees: Sick, Ways and Means, Housing, Membership for Men, and Membership for Women. They also report the names of members present at meetings, names and addresses of new members, donations, Howard’s presence as a supervisor, summaries of her remarks to the membership, and her work with the adult school at 1406 North Jefferson Avenue.