GENERAL FILE, 1929-1936, bulk 1934-1935

Summary: Documentation of New Jersey Emergency Relief Administration Training Section committees, institutes attended by NJERA staff, and the administration and history of the NJERA training programs. This series includes, for example, records of the Legal Service Committee and the Record Writing Committee, as well as the Northover Institute (November 15-17, 1934) and the National Conference of Social Work (June 10-15, 1935). Documents take the form of committee meeting minutes, correspondence, reports and press clippings. There are separate folders for a list of hospitals and aid institutions in New Jersey, the administrative releases of John Colt (Chairman of the NJERA Administrative Council), criteria used for evaluating personnel, form blanks used in the ERA's daily work, legislation relating to the NJERA and other relief efforts, and correspondence with the New York Emergency Relief Bureau and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

Most importantly, this series contains reports of various training programs. For instance, there is an outline written by Mary L. Gardner, highlighting her duties in her first year as director of the Training Center. There is also a 22-page report of "Staff Training in the ERA" written by Mary Bogue, Manager of the Training Section of the Family Service Division of the ERA, and a two-page "Short History of the Training Department" compiled by Helen Hyatt, an instructor. Another folder contains a statement of the "Goals of Staff Instruction."