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Plan International USA embosser, ca 1939

Plan International USA embosser, ca 1939

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Description
This embosser was used by staff of the child sponsorship organization Foster Parents Plan (now known as Plan International USA) to stamp children’s case files. Foster Parents Plan was established by two British men in 1937 to aid children suffering because of the Spanish Civil War. Americans soon began to support the organization, with a New York woman named Edna Blue (d. 1951) leading efforts to raise funds and awareness for the charity. Foster Parents Plan established headquarters in New York in 1939, and, with the outbreak of World War II, the group expanded its work to aid children from many European countries. In the decades after the war, Plan broadened its reach to many developing countries around the globe.
While donors to the charity could give to a general fund, Plan primarily solicited funds by providing supporters with the opportunity to sponsor individual children. Supporters received case files with details about their sponsored child, and sponsors and children were encouraged to develop relationships with one another.
Over the years, the organization’s name changed from Foster Parents’ Plan for Spanish Children to Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children to Plan International USA.
Object Name
embosser
date made
ca 1939
Associated Place
China
Physical Description
iron (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 7 1/4 in x 2 1/16 in x 5 in; 18.415 cm x 5.2451 cm x 12.7 cm
ID Number
2017.0215.01
accession number
2017.0215
catalog number
2017.0215.01
Credit Line
Gift of Plan International USA
See more items in
Work and Industry: Philanthropy
Exhibition
Giving in America
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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