Vault A75, Con.H.A./T.W.H., Unit 1
Concord's Home for the Aged
Extent: three containers, occupying about 3 linear feet.
Organization and arrangement: organized into six series:
Series I. Administrative records, 1886-2014
Series II. Financial records, 1924-1972
Series III. Quality of life (Visiting Committee and Board of Managers records)1887-1909, 1951-1956
Series IV. Resident records, 1888-2010
Series V. Employee records, 1990-1998
Series VI. History and archives, 1973-1987 (and undated)
History: A small, privately funded and managed non-profit senior residence in Concord, Massachusetts, for men and women in good health (room and board are provided, but not nursing or medical services).
Concord’s Home for the Aged was incorporated in January 1887 as a residence for “aged, worthy indigent men and women resident in Concord”—qualifications specified by Martha R. Hunt, through whose 1886 gift of $20,000 the Home was established. (With this gift, the concept for the residence evolved from an earlier initiative of the Concord Female Charitable Society to set up a home for elderly local women.) A house was purchased with Miss Hunt’s donation (the present 110 Walden Street; the Timothy Wheeler/Cyrus Stowe House) and the remainder of the funding was invested. Concord’s Home for the Aged opened in July 1887.
The signers on November 30, 1886 of the original agreement of association for Concord’s Home for the Aged included: Mary A. Brooks; Elizabeth A. Ball; Elizabeth B. Bartlett; Lucy A. Buttrick; Caroline F. Cheney; Sarah H. Clark; Anne E. Damon; Elizabeth M. Duncan; Abby M. Gourgas; Julia Hosmer; Bessie K. Hudson; Mary C. Reed; Rebecca W. Todd; Ellen S. Wood; Samuel Hoar; Edward C. Damon; Richard F. Barrett; William H. Hunt; and Henry J. Hosmer. The officers of the new association consisted of a president, two vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and a board of seven directors. A separate Board of Managers was established “to have general superintendence of the internal arrangement and management of the Home; the regulation by standing rules of its domestic concerns; the selection and appointment of the Matron, and the oversight of the comfort of the inmates.”
The first officers of the association, elected at a meeting on December 15, 1886, were: Samuel Hoar, President; Anne E. Damon, First Vice President; William H. Hunt, Second Vice President; Henry J. Hosmer, Treasurer; Bessie K. Hudson, Secretary; and, as the Board of Directors, Samuel Hoar, Anne E. Damon, William H. Hunt, Henry J. Hosmer, Caroline F. Cheney; Richard F. Barrett, and Rebecca W. Todd. On December 18, 1886, a fifteen-member Board of Managers was elected: Mary A. Brooks; Elizabeth A. Ball; Elizabeth B. Bartlett; Lucy A. Buttrick; Caroline F. Cheney; Sarah H. Clark; Anne E. Damon; Elizabeth M. Duncan; Abby M. Gourgas; Julia Hosmer; Bessie K. Hudson; Mary C. Reed; Rebecca W. Todd; Ellen S. Wood; and Edward C. Damon.
For a good part of the Home’s history, residents were provided full care for life, including payment for medical, nursing, hospital, and nursing home care. The financial arrangements have always required the payment of an entrance fee. With time, they came to include the formal transfer of personal assets to the Home. Since the 1980s, residence has entailed the payment of a monthly fee for room and board and taking personal responsibility for medical and nursing expenses.
In 1981, Concord’s Home for the Aged changed its name to The Lindens and in 1987 to Timothy Wheeler House.
Scope and content: An organic but incomplete set of the records (1886-2014) of Concord’s Home for the Aged/Timothy Wheeler House, in Concord, Massachusetts. Administrative records (1886-2014) include minutes of and other materials relating to annual meetings of the Board of Directors, printed by-laws and material regarding by-law changes, items relating to the 110 Walden Street property (1987, 1997, 2004) and to Concord’s Home for the Aged burial lots in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (1912-1995, in summary form), correspondence to the Board of Directors and the Board of Managers (1888-1908, 1978, 2004), a printed publicity brochure and typed information compiled for distribution, and a partial file of printed annual reports. Financial records (1824-1972) consist of cash journals (1924-1969), securities records (1938-1970), and a February 1972 audit for fiscal year 1971. Two record volumes relate to residents’ quality of life: Visiting Committee records (1887-1905) and Board of Manager records (1951-1956; kept in a volume that also holds visitor records, 1906-1909). Resident records include a record book containing signed legal residency agreements (1888-1921), a record book of information on life care residents (1888-1996), information sheets and supplemental materials on monthly boarders (1983-2006), and applications for and expressions of interest in residence at Timothy Wheeler House (2000-2010). Employee records consist of letters to nine employees regarding rates of pay, with supplemental material (1990, 1994-1998) and a blank, undated personnel evaluation form. Material about the history and archives of Concord’s Home for the Aged/Timothy Wheeler House consists of typed historical write-ups (1981-1987; accompanied by photocopy from several much earlier historical resources) and typescript remarks by John W. Clarkson on the records of Concord’s Home for the Aged (1973).
Source of acquisition: Presented by the Board of Directors, Timothy Wheeler House, February 5, 2019.
Notes and comments: At donor request, any Social Security numbers remaining in the records have been redacted. Collection accessioned February 5, 2019 (AMC 272).
Processed by: Leslie Perrin Wilson; finding aid completed February 27, 2019.
BOX 1:
Series I. Administrative records, 1886-2014:
Box 1, Volume I. 1: Annual meetings (minutes and related materials, kept in bound record volume), 1886-1924.
Box 1, Volume I. 2: Annual meetings (minutes and related materials, kept in bound record volume), 1925-1961, 1963, 1964, 1969-1972.
Box 1, Folder 1: Annual meetings (minutes and related materials), 1965, 1966, 1974-1988, 1991, 1993-2014.
Box 1, Folder 2: Printed by-laws, “As Amended December 3, 1887.”
Box 1, Folder 3: Proposed by-law changes, 1978-1979.
Box 1, Folder 4: Building, property, and other holdings, 1912-1995, 1987, 1997 and 2004. Includes: material (1912-1995, summarized) relating to Concord’s Home for the Aged burial lots in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery; a June 4, 1987 list of applications to Concord’s Historic Districts Commission for certificates of appropriateness including proposals for a marker and for repair or removal of a fence by Concord’s Home for the Aged; a sheet recording information (1997; updated 2004) about surveying of the Walden Street property.
Box 1, Folder 5: Correspondence, undated, 1888-1908, 1978, 2004.
Box 1, Folder 6: Publicity/information for distribution, 1978-1981 (with 1987 annotation), and undated.
Box 1, inner box: Printed annual reports, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938-1942, 1944-1961 (all published at the end of the year covered); 1963-1990, 1996-1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010 (all published early in the year, covering the previous year). Includes duplicates.
BOX 2:
Series II. Financial records, 1924-1972:
Box 2, Volume II. 1: Cash journal, 1924-1938.
Box 2, Volume II.2: Cash journal, 1938-1954.
Box 2, Volume II. 3: Cash journal, 1954-1962.
Box 2, Volume II. 4: Cash journal, 1962-1969.
Box 2, Volume II. 5: Securities records, 1938-1969.
Box 2, Volume II. 6: Securities records, 1956-1970.
Box 2, Folder 1: Audit for fiscal year 1971, February 1972.
Series III. Quality of life (Visiting Committee and Board of Managers records), 1887-1909, 1951-1956:
Box 2, Volume III.1: Record of the Visiting Committee of Concord’s Home for the Aged, 1887-1905.
Box 2, Volume III.2: Board of Managers records, 1951-1956 (first pages of the volume contain visitor records, 1906-1909; manuscript label pasted to front paste-down endpaper reads “Concord Home for the Aged. Visitors’ Book”).
BOX 3:
Series IV. Resident records, 1888-2010:
Box 3, Volume IV.1: Record book containing signed legal residency agreements, 1888-1921.
Box 3, Volume IV.2: Record book containing information on life care residents, 1888-1996 (volume damaged; front cover and pages loose, inserted in sleeves housed in a three-ring binder).
Box 3, Folder 1: Information sheets (with supplemental materials) on monthly boarders, 1983-2006 (all deceased).
Box 3, Folder 2: Applications for and expressions of interest in admission, and related materials, 2000-2010 (including some undated items).
Series V. Employee records, 1990-1998:
Box 3, Folders 3-11: Correspondence regarding rates of pay: 1990, 1994-1998:
- Box 3, Folder 3: Foreman, Gladys R., 1994-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 4: Gilroy, Marilyn, 1995-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 5: Handley, Harold T., 1994-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 6: Kyer, Marcelle R., 1994-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 7: LeBlanc, Geraldine, 1990, 1994-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 8: Mancini, Janice, 1995-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 9: McAuliffe, Nancy B., 1994-1998.
- Box 3, Folder 10: McQuiggan, Kimberley, 1997, 1998.
- Box 3, Folder 11: Silkonis, Lili Ann, 1996-1998.
Box 3, Folder 12: Personnel evaluation form (undated; blank).
Series VI. History and archives, 1973-1987 (and undated):
Box 3, Folder 14: History of Concord’s Home for the Aged/Timothy Wheeler House, 1981-1987 (and undated; including photocopy from earlier historical sources).
Box 3, Folder 15: Typescript, John W. Clarkson remarks on the records of Concord’s Home for the Aged, addressed to the October 3, 1973 Board of Managers meeting.