Series of the Conseil des Hospices et Secours, Archives concerning general matters, Individual files of the staff

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: PCSW Brussels, Archives and Museum Department

Holding institution (official language):: CPAS de Bruxelles, Service Archives et Musée

Postal address:: Rue Haute 289a / Hoogstraat 298a, 1000 Bruxelles

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 543 60 59

Web address:: http://www.cpasbru.irisnet.be

Email:: archives@cpasbru.irisnet.be

Reference number:: PCSW-Brussels-Fonds des Affaires générales, Dossiers personnels

Title:: Series of the Conseil des Hospices et Secours, Archives concerning general matters, Individual files of the staff

Title (official language):: Série du Conseil des Hospices et Secours, Fonds des Affaires générales, Dossiers individuels du personnel

Creator/accumulator:: Openbaar Centrum voor Maatschappelijk Welzijn van Brussel; Centre Public d’Action Sociale de Bruxelles

Date(s):: 1873/1925

Date note:: ca. 1875-1925

Extent:: ca. 50 linear metres

Scope and content:: This fonds is fairly rich in relevant material. It consists of the files prepared in order to assist the Conseil to act on issues related to the management of its administration and institutions. We note the series of personnel files, composed of subject and individual files. The subject files related to the medical and paramedical staff include regulations, documents concerning the frequentation of services, treatments, mandates, appointments, meetings, personnel transfers, medical issues etc. The individual files vary in size and are divided according to the status of the individual – e.g. doctors, student-doctors, nurses, student-nurses, pharmacists, assistant pharmacists, midwives or members of the administrative and junior staff. They contain information on the career of the individual, including documents concerning nominations, changes of function, documents attesting to specific requests made in order to perform other functions etc. as well as correspondence, documents containing personal information, attestations of trainings and internships etc. Among the staff we note a significant proportion of Jewish female physicians.

Administrative/biographical history:: The public organisation of poor relief dates from the French Revolution. During the French period various laws regulated the supervision of charities by the municipalities. After Belgian independence, local (especially the Gemeentewet of 1836) and to a lesser extent national laws played a role in the organisation of local poor relief, as they had done before. Following the law of 10 March 1925 the burelen van weldadigheid and the commissions of the burgerlijke godshuizen, the forerunners of the later COOs and OCMWs, were replaced by so-called Commissies van Openbare Onderstand / Commissions d’Assistance Publique (COO). It was not only their task to provide assistance to the needy, but also to prevent poverty. Important evolutions include the gradual introduction of a minimum income – from the guaranteed income for the elderly (1969) to the formal recognition for the right to a minimum income (1974). In 1976 the Openbare Centra voor Maatschappelijk Welzijn (OCMW)/Centre Public d’Aide Sociale (CPAS) (Public Centre for Social Welfare) succeeded the COOs. Its responsibilities were expanded; since then they have also included social, medical and psychological assistance. The same law also established the right to social assistance. OCMWs are managed by a social welfare council, of which the members are selected by the municipal council. This council elects a president and bureau. Between municipality and OCMW there is a consultative committee. Following the constitutional reform of 1980, the communities were made responsible for social welfare. In 1993 the organic law regarding the OCMWs became a competence of the communities. The respective communities have since issued decrees regarding the organisation of the CPAS/OCMWs. In French-speaking Belgium, since 2002, CPAS stands for Centre Public d’Action Sociale. The series of sources in the archives of the OCMWs and their predecessors are partly similar to those of municipal archives. We notably find minutes of meetings, annual reports, budgets, accounts and various bookkeeping records, ledgers related to real estate, documents regarding renting and leasing etc. Those looking for information on individuals should consult, notably, the lists of destitute individuals and the later series of individual files and ‘social files’. Furthermore we mention subject files, e.g. regarding the organisation and management of various institutions (hospitals, maternity homes, orphanages, nursing homes). OCMW archives are of great importance for the study of social and socio-economic history in general, and in particular for the study of medicine, health care, certain vulnerable groups within society etc. (P. van den Eeckhout, “De gemeenten en de lokale openbare instellingen”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d’Histoire, 2009, pp. 31-92.)

Access points: locations:: Brussels

Subject terms:: Health and medical matters; Health and medical matters--Hospitals; Health and medical matters--Midwives; Health and medical matters--Pharmacies; Health and medical matters--Physicians and nurses; Personal records; Professions; Professions--Scholars (secular), scientists, and academics

Finding aids:: An inventory is in progress. There are (typed) lists and inventories for the subject files. For the series Service du personnel there is a list of doctors and administrative staff, arranged alphabetically, according to their status.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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