Woman's Relief Corps. Records, 1883-1894

This collection is comprised primarily of publications from the Woman’s Relief Corps Department of Illinois and National Headquarters along with a few documents from the Grand Army of the Republic. These documents include General Orders, Circulars, Rosters, and Rules and Regulations. Additionally, the original binding of the volume and the stubs on which the papers were mounted are included.

The Grand Army of the Republic was an organization of Union veterans, chartered in Decatur, Illinois, on April 6, 1866, by Benjamin Franklin Stephenson. This organization was focused on three main objectives: fraternity, charity, and loyalty. These objectives were carried out through regularly scheduled meetings and gatherings, relief funds for needy veterans, and funding for the creation of monuments and memorials and for the preservation of Civil War sites.

In July of 1881, the 15^th National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic approved a resolution for the creation of the Woman’s Relief Corps. The Woman’s Relief Corps was created as a women’s auxiliary to preserve the memory of the American Civil War and to provide aid to veterans and their families. The auxiliary organization was officially organized in Denver, Colorado, on July 25 and 26, 1883. The first five corps in Illinois were organized in Decatur, Rockford, Henry, Elgin, and Palestine. These five corps met together to form a state body on January 31, 1884. The Woman’s Relief Corps was incorporated in September 1922, as the “National Woman’s Relief Corps.”

This collection contains records from both the Woman’s Relief Corps and the Grand Army of the Republic. These records include General Orders, Circulars, Rosters, and Rules and Regulations. General Orders were used to spread important information about the organizations’ actions and their administration, such as the introduction of a new organization President. Circulars were used to create more general announcements. Rosters include lists of individuals who held administrative or official roles in the National Headquarters and Illinois Department of the Woman’s Relief Corps. Rules and Regulations pamphlets detail the mission statement of the Woman’s Relief Corps and how the organization should be run. This collection also includes a few examples of personal letters.

Of the 88 documents in this collection, there are about 40 documents from Illinois. Cities that are represented are Augusta, Aurora, Bloomington, Chicago, Delavan, Palestine, Rockford, and Springfield. Of these cities, the most represented are Bloomington with 11 documents and Delavan with 9 documents. Of the documents not from Illinois, the most represented cities are San Francisco, California, with 14 documents and Detroit, Michigan, with 13 documents. Other cities include St. Louis, Missouri, Boston, Massachusetts, Madison, Wisconsin, Washington D.C., Columbus, Ohio, and Syracuse, New York.

This collection was purchased by the Library in December of 1947.