Chauncey Alexander papers
Scope and Content
Dates
- 1917 - 2004
Creator
- Alexander, Chauncey A. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Biographical note
Chauncey Alexander was born in California and received his B.A. from UCLA and his M.S.W. from the University of Southern California. He completed course work for a doctorate, but never found sufficient time to complete his Ph.D.
He began his professional career as a case worker for the Family Association of Los Angeles in the California Department of Mental Hygiene and the State Relief Administration. During World War II, he served in the United States Army as a psychiatric social worker from 1944 to 1946 during which time he developed techniques for training army social workers. After the war, he worked in the Veteran Service Center from 1946 to 1948. He was the executive director of the Southern California Society for Mental Hygiene in Los Angeles between 1950 and 1954. He also served briefly as the associate director of the Regional Medical Program School of Medicine. For the next 13 years, he served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Heart Association. Near the end of his tenure, he was accused of having Communist party connections, and although he successful refuted those charges, he ultimately resigned.
Between 1968 and 1982 he served as Executive Director for the National Association of Social Workers, creating programs such as ELAN (Education League Action Network) and PACE (Political Action for Candidate Election), and developing specialty professional publications, competence certification, and an insurance program. Concurrently, he helped to develop a number of International Social Work programs, and he served for many years as President of the International Federation of Social Workers. He was responsible for the official International Code of Ethics for Professional Social Workers and the International Policy on Human Rights.
Upon leaving the NASW, Alexander became involved in a wide variety of projects. He was an adjunct professor of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach from 1986 to 1998. He also opened his own consulting firm, working closely with Dale Masi. In the meantime, he also was active in the Bertha Capen Reynolds Society, which advocated political involvement on the part of social workers, and was the chairman of the board of directors of the First Amendment Foundation, which coordinated various radical groups and served as a funding conduit for NCARL (the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation). He also remained very active in the California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. He was the founder and an executive committee member of the Orange County Health Care Council. He participated strongly in Orange County politics and in those of Huntington Beach, where he and his wife, Sally, resided.
Extent
43 Linear Feet (43 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Organization
Acquisition
Processing note
- Alexander, Chauncey A. -- Archives
- Alexander, Sally J. -- Archives
- Bertha Capen Reynolds Society -- Archives
- California -- Politics and government -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- California State University, Long Beach -- Archives
- California State University, Long Beach -- Faculty
- Correspondence
- Ephemera
- Financial records
- First Amendment Foundation -- Archives
- George Warren Brown School of Social Work -- Archives
- George Warren Brown School of Social Work -- Faculty
- International Federation of Social Workers -- Archives
- Legal documents
- Los Amigos de Humanidad (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
- Los Angeles County Heart Association -- Archives
- Masi, Dale A. -- Archives
- National Association of Social Workers -- Archives
- National Association of Social Workers. California Chapter -- Archives
- National Network for Social Work Managers (U.S.) -- Archives
- Nonprofit organizations -- California -- Archival resources
- Nonprofit organizations -- United States -- Archival resources
- Notes
- Offprints
- Orange County (Calif.) -- Politics and government -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Orange County (Calif.) -- Social conditions -- Archival resources
- Photographs
- Political activists -- California -- Archival resources
- Political activists -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Reports
- Social advocacy -- California -- Archival resources
- Social service -- California -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Social work education -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Typescripts
- University of California, Los Angeles -- Archives
- University of California, Los Angeles -- Faculty
- University of Southern California. School of Social Work -- Archives
- University of Southern California. School of Social Work -- Faculty
Creator
- Alexander, Chauncey A. (Person)
- Title
- Finding aid for the Chauncey Alexander papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- John Howard Fowler
- Date
- 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu