Contents

Collection Overview

Historical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Thomas Thompson Trust Records, 1844-2001

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Kathleen Banks Nutter.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2003

Historical Note

The 1869 will of wealthy businessman Thomas Thompson established a trust fund "for or towards the relief and support of poor seamstresses, needle-women and shop girls, who may be in the temporary need from want of employment, sickness, or misfortune, in the towns of Brattleboro, Vermont and Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York, the amount being equally divided between the two towns." Thompson's will also required that surplus funds be distributed to other charities in the same towns. Finally, the will declared that the Trust itself would not go into effect until the death of his wife, Elizabeth Rowell Thompson, who died in 1899.

In 1901 the Thomas Thompson Trust (TTT) began to carry out its duties, directed throughout the twentieth century by several Boston-based businessmen and a series of local agents. One businessman in particular, Richards M. Bradley, a native of Brattleboro, was the guiding force of TTT for its first four decades. The first local agent, Augusta Wells, administered the Trust for most of its first twenty years. Florence Hemenway Wells succeeded her adoptive mother, serving as the Trust's local agent from 1921 until the early-1960s. By then, most of the work of the Trust had been taken over by government agencies.

By 1901, when TTT was ready to begin dispensing funds to the "needlewomen" of Rhinebeck and Brattleboro, the very nature of women's work had changed drastically in the three decades since Thompson's will was first written. In Brattleboro, in particular, there had been significant demographic change. Instead of working from their homes or in small shops employing only a handful of people, an increasing number of the town's working women labored within one of several factories. Furthermore, a significant portion of these women were immigrants from the rural countryside or from other countries, especially Ireland. These demographic changes, unanticipated by Thompson in 1869, shaped the decision making of the lawyers appointed to organize TTT. The organizers were also influenced by Progressive era ideas, and since Thompson's will did not specify a plan for disbursement of funds, they were free to devise a plan within the context of those ideas.

Soon after the creation of the Trust was announced in the local papers, the working women of Rhinebeck and Brattleboro formed local committees in an effort to make the best use of the funds available to them. At the same time, the first trustees appointed to oversee TTT, Richards M. Bradley and Boston-based lawyer, Laurence Minot, had their own vision of just how, and to whom, the Trust should dispense its funds in Brattleboro and Rhinebeck. Guided initially by a traditional sense of noblesse oblige, Bradley, in particular, increasingly sought to shape TTT as a model of Progressive era reform, especially in Brattleboro. Thus, from the beginning, TTT sought to prevent illness among working women and their families through public health programs that stressed education in diet and infant care, and by promoting affordable health care. At the same time, small amounts of money were dispensed outright to women in need, sometimes in the form of a loan.

One of TTT's first major contributions to the town of Brattleboro was the funding of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. The hospital, opened in 1904, provided hospital care at a reduced rate for those women covered by the Trust. In 1907, the Brattleboro Mutual Aid Association (BMAA) was created and funded by TTT as a way to oversee direct aid to the working women of Brattleboro. Under the aegis of the BMAA, a district (or public) nursing program to oversee education and treatment was established. The BMAA also oversaw a service providing attendant (or practical) nursing service for working women confined to their homes during a serious illness. For those women simply needing a rest, the BMAA ran a vacation house in Niantic, on the Connecticut shore, from 1910 to 1936. In 1917, responding in part to a nation-wide nursing shortage precipitated by World War I, the BMAA created an attendant nursing school while the hospital maintained a training school for graduate (today known as registered) nurses. In this way, TTT sought to address a potential crisis of care and at the same time provide the opportunity for Brattleboro working women to leave factory work for a more professional (and presumably more lucrative) career. The Influenza epidemic of 1918-19 further emphasized the need for trained health care professionals. The nursing schools remained an important function of TTT throughout the twentieth century.

In 1919, the Town of Brattleboro brought another lawsuit against TTT. The Board claimed that TTT continued to not meet the intent of Thompson's will because they were administering the dispensation of funds inadequately. The working women of Brattleboro, through their organization, the Society of Seamstresses, filed their own complaint but did not join the suit which dragged on for several months before a Massachusetts court ruled in favor of TTT in early-1921. Although technically the victor in the case, Richards M. Bradley was chastened by the legal ordeal and sought to expand the activities of TTT. The Trust increased outright aid and began an ambitious insurance program in the mid-1920s, open to all Brattleboro residents regardless of gender, occupation, or need. The Thompson Benefit Association for Nursing Service (1926) and the Thompson Benefit Association for Hospital Service (1927), each for a small yearly premium, provided coverage for home nursing care as well as the costs associated with a hospital stay. These programs, too, were administered by Florence Wells as TTT's local agent. They would eventually be replaced in the 1950s by commercial health insurance offered in the workplace by Vermont Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

The New Deal profoundly altered the work of the Trust as, for example, the Social Security Act became law. By the early 1960s, Florence Wells herself was a patient at Thompson House, TTT's nursing home in Brattleboro. Her care was funded both by the Trust and the Great Society program, Medicare. The Trust continues to exist in both Brattleboro and Rhinebeck and in 2001, celebrated its centennial in both communities.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Thomas Thompson Trust Records (TTT), 51.5 linear feet, cover the period from the 1890s to the 1960s; the bulk of material is from the early years of the twentieth century.

The bulk of the records date from 1900 to 1960 and consist largely of charity case records of poor women from Brattleboro and some from Rhinebeck, New York. The case files contain correspondence from clients as well as case notes by the local agent that together provide a rich source of working-class women's history in Brattleboro during the early decades of the twentieth century. Because client names can be found throughout the Records, researchers must first sign the Records Access Agreement Form (see p. 9). A significant portion of the collection contains the correspondence and papers of Richards M. Bradley, a trustee who oversaw the trust from 1901 to 1943. Bradley was particularly interested in the professionalization of public health services. His efforts, as documented here, are a fine example of Progressive era reforms in practice, as are the records of the Brattleboro Mutual Aid Association, organized in 1907 as a sort of umbrella agency to oversee local programs. The BMAA records include annual reports, unpublished reports, and correspondence related to specific programs. The programs documented include the practical nursing school and public health programs concerning maternal and infant health care. Material about the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital includes blueprints as well as correspondence regarding its design and opening and the creation of a graduate (registered) nursing school. There is also extensive material documenting the development of health insurance in the 1920s.

For related materials, see the Associated Charities of Brattleboro Records and the Florence H. Wells Papers.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into nine series:

• I. History
• II. Administration
• III. Financial Records
• IV. Legal Records
• V. Agencies/ Service Programs
• VI. Insurance Programs
• VII. Client Records
• VIII. Photographs/Scrapbooks
• IX. Oversize Materials

Arrangement of the Collection

Note: every effort was made to honor the original filing system, when discernible, of the TTT Records. Because both originals and multiple copies were created by the Trustees in Boston and the local agents in Brattleboro and Rhinebeck, there is some duplication of materials throughout the series. For the most part, these records have been arranged in chronological order except where noted.

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SERIES I. HISTORY (1899-1961, n.d.) 1 linear ft.

This series consists of material related to the organization of the Trust as well as several writings, both published and unpublished, that provide an historical overview of TTT. The Women's Educational and Industrial Union-sponsored study, A Legacy to Wage-Earning Women (1925), is especially useful in gaining a sense of TTT's early years. Of particular interest are the Constitutions drawn up by the working women of Brattleboro (n.d.) and Rhinebeck (1901) as the women wage-earners sought to make the best use of the Trust funds available to them.

SERIES II. ADMINISTRATION (1867-1952, n.d.) 5 linear ft.

This series is dominated by material related to the Trustees of the Thomas Thompson Trust, especially Richards M. Bradley who oversaw TTT during its first four decades. There is voluminous correspondence, primarily with local agents in Brattleboro and Rhinebeck but with clients and other public health practitioners around the country also. Writings and speeches by Bradley can also be found here. Also of interest are the deeds for income-producing properties in Boston held by the Trust and several official reports.

SERIES III. FINANCIAL RECORDS (1901-69) 11 linear ft.

This series contains a substantial amount of material that reflects the monies loaned or given outright to clients over the years. Some of this is immediately evident within the Applications for aid subseries. More tedious but equally telling are the several other financial record-keeping systems of TTT, including Invoice and expense reports, Ledger sheets and Check registers.

SERIES IV. LEGAL RECORDS (1844-1946) .75 linear ft.

Of particular interest here are the records of the two court cases (1907-08 and 1919-20) that TTT went through as a result of client complaints. These records include affidavits, petitions and decrees, and correspondence. Also included in this series are several legal interpretations of the will of Thomas Thompson; material regarding properties held by the Trust; and copies of the court-mandated yearly notices of intent, published every year by TTT in the Brattleboro Reformer.

SERIES V. AGENCIES/SERVICE PROGRAMS (1907-77) 5 linear ft.

The material within this series has been separated into three subseries: Brattleboro Mutual Aid Association, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and Rhinebeck. The first two subseries represent agencies in Brattleboro. Rhinebeck contains document related to TTT's less extensive activities in that city. The BMMA subseries contains material regarding the various individual programs that TTT sponsored, including dental hygiene (1916-1942), the Thompson School for Attendant (later Practical) Nursing (established in 1917), the TTT-sponsored Tuberculosis Camp of 1911, and the Thompson Vacation House in Niantic, Connecticut. The Brattleboro Memorial Hospital subseries contains records related to the development and construction of the hospital which reveal Richards M. Bradley as a guiding force. The Rhinebeck subseries includes the records of the North Dutchess Health Service Center (Box 45), notable for an unusually frank discussion of therapeutic abortions in correspondence from 1938.

SERIES VI. INSURANCE PROGRAMS--Thompson Benefit Associations (1926-59) 5.5 linear ft.

In 1926, TTT expanded its services by venturing into the field of insurance, first by offering coverage for nursing care at home and, a year later, insurance benefits covering hospital stays. Premiums offered through the Thompson Benefit Associations were reasonable and coverage was available to all residents of Brattleboro and surrounding towns. The bulk of the material re: the TTT insurance plans is records of premiums paid and payments to beneficiaries. It documents the increasing specialization of medical services even within relatively rural areas such as Brattleboro. These records, most of which are from the 1930s, also document the nascent health insurance industry during a critical period of growth and increasing government involvement.

SERIES VII. CLIENT RECORDS (1901-69) 17.5 linear ft.

This series consists of material most directly related to the working women of Brattleboro and Rhinebeck. In many cases, a woman's relationship with the Trust lasted decades and is documented through years of applications for aid as well as through reports written by either the local agent or, less often, an attending physician. In many cases, there is correspondence from the clients to the Trust itself. Of particular interest are the interviews carried out by Augusta Wells in the first years of TTT's operation in Brattleboro (Interview re: vital statistics, 1901-09). While these and other documents have been filed alphabetically, one portion of the series has been filed according to the case number assigned by the Trust-a filing method that seems to have fallen out of use by the 1920s. There is significant duplication of this material scattered among other series.

SERIES VIII. PHOTOGRAPHS/SCRAPBOOKS (1902-62, n.d.) 4.5 linear feet

Although there are very few photographs within the records of TTT, and most are undated, they nonetheless give a glimpse of the activities of this charitable organization. One especially intriguing series of photographs documents the Dental Hygiene Program that the Trust sponsored for the children of Brattleboro (n.d., circa 1920s). Other images include those taken at a 1938 tribute dinner for Richards M. Bradley and for the Baby Welfare Conference (n.d., circa 1940s). The scrapbooks cover the first six decades of TTT (1902-62) and are comprised primarily of newspaper clippings from the Brattleboro Reformer.

SERIES IX. OVERSIZE MATERIALS (1901-2001) 2.5 linear ft.

This series consists of architectural drawings for Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and oversize financial reports.

SERIES I. HISTORY (1899-1961, n.d.)

SERIES II. ADMINISTRATION (1867-1952, n.d.)

SERIES III. FINANCIAL RECORDS (1901-69)

SERIES IV. LEGAL RECORDS (1844-1946)

SERIES V. AGENCIES/SERVICE PROGRAMS (1907-77)

SERIES VI. INSURANCE PROGRAMS--Thompson Benefit Associations (1926-59)

SERIES VII. CLIENT RECORDS (1901-69)

SERIES VIII. PHOTOGRAPHS/SCRAPBOOKS (1902-62, n.d.)

SERIES IX. OVERSIZE MATERIALS (1901-2001)