NJDARM: Archives Collection Guides: Ladies' General Aid Association of New Jersey, Proceedings, 1861-1865

Institutional History

On 11 September 1861, four months after the start of the Civil War, a group of prominent Trenton women formed the Ladies' General Aid Association of New Jersey. The organization's purpose was to collect goods needed by the Union forces--such as clothing, food, bed linens, and bandages--and also to raise funds for their purchase. These provisions were then to be forwarded to specific regiments, army hospitals and, later in the war, a camp for returned prisoners of war in Wilmington, Delaware.

The association's officers included the president, two vice-presidents, secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, and twenty-eight managers who were given the responsibility of coordinating the collection of goods at specific churches. The following women served as officers during the association's four years of activity: Miss A. E. Bennett, Miss E. Dill, Mrs. J. S. Fish, Miss M. M. Hargous, Mrs. S. D. Ingham, Miss S. B. Johnston, Mrs. Joshua Jones, Miss Margaretta Potts, Miss Olivia Sherman, and Mrs. A. D. White. Membership was open to anyone who made an unspecified weekly contribution to the association's treasury. Women from Trenton churches and other local benevolent associations were also invited to become auxiliary members of the Ladies' General Aid Association by conforming to its rules and regulations.

Throughout the war, the association organized weekly meetings where supplies were made ready for distribution, as well as monthly and annual business meetings. The proceedings indicate that the association efficiently gathered and distributed a steady supply of goods for the war effort, and raised a total of $3,600. Four months after the close of the war, on 29 September 1865, the association held its final meeting. At that time it was resolved by the officers that all undistributed goods and money would be provided to returning veterans and their families.