Inventory
 

Charles T. Hyte Community Center Records
Dates: 1969-1981
Accession Number: 20020920
Donor: Barbara Weinbaum
Description: Six document cases

History

The "first" Charles T. Hyte Community Center was located at 1330 Deming Street and opened on September 13, 1942 as a recreation and education center for the African-American youth of Terre Haute. The Hyte Center also served as a meeting place for the NAACP, the Indiana Negro History Society and various civic, social, and church groups. The Center carried on Hyte's legacy of encouraging African-American youth to excel as students and athletes. Charles Hyte was the principal of Booker T. Washington Junior High School from 1924 until his death in 1941.

The Hyte Center's audience and activities expanded steadily from its opening in 1943. In 1945 and 1946, a new volleyball/basketball court was completed, a handicraft class was held for girls, boxing was added to the winter sports program, and a movie projector and screen were purchased for showing health and educational movies to the children.

As early as 1947, the Hyte Center's Board of Control was moving toward autonomy from the City of Terre Haute. The Board began a 25-year period of leasing the Center from the City for $1 per year. Dr. Herman Sloss, president of the board, announced that the Hyte Center's Board of Trustees would work toward the construction of a new recreation building at 13 1/2 and Deming Streets.

Throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, the Hyte Center continued to meet the recreational and educational needs of pre-teens while developing programs for the teenagers and adults of the community. For example, on Friday evenings in the early 1950s, the Center hosted cooking classes for boys, sewing classes for girls, and social gatherings for adults. And in the late 1950s, the Center offered grooming and tap dancing classes, a singing group was organized, Bible classes were organized for adults, and a Golden Age club was formed for senior citizens.

By the 1960s, after twenty years of serving the community, the Hyte Center's leaders and clientele continued to take steps to make it a more self-sufficient organization. Ozonator Hoke, director of the Center from 1953 to 1971, assisted the Center's teenage users in the formation of the Hyte Center Booster Club. The Boosters sponsored money-raising events for the purpose of financing improvements in the Center's facilities. Adult women formed a Mother's Booster Club for the same purpose. The efforts of the two organizations resulted in the redecoration of the Hyte Center and the purchase of new equipment and furnishings in 1962.

In 1965, recognizing the greater need for its services by the entire low-income community, the Hyte Center Board of Directors took two steps toward the goal of making the transition into a multi-purpose organization. First, the Hyte Board reorganized itself in April with the help of the United Fund charitable organization. Then the Hyte Center's Board of Directors broadened the Center's scope to include the entire community, amending its constitution to read, "The purpose of this association is to foster and promote the educational, cultural, and recreational well-being of the people of Terre Haute, Indiana." The Hyte Center also spent nearly $5,000 on repairs and improvements to the building.

The Hyte Center's programs continued to expand from 1965 to 1969. In the fall of 1965, the Center inaugurated a tutoring program for elementary age children, utilizing faculty and students from Indiana State University and Rose Polytechnic Institute. The Center also initiated homemaking and family living classes. The Center's financial support from the United Fund tripled.

By the late 1960s, the Center was being stretched beyond its capacity. Thus the Center's Board of Directors began to actively plan for the construction of a new and larger Hyte Center building. In February, the Hyte Center's Board and the Terre Haute Park Department agreed that the city would contribute $80,000 of an estimated cost of $230,000 for the construction of a new facility. In June the Park Department passed a resolution in support of a "Comprehensive Community Center" to be located on city-owned property, folllowing the rejection by the group "Young Adults for a Better Black Community" of an offer by the Vigo County Public Library's to provide an old railroad car to be used as a library for the Center. The "Young Adults" successful effort was widely seen as the impetus needed to build a new Hyte Center. The Coalition Board for a New Hyte Center was created to oversee the funding and construction of a new multi-purpose facility. The Coalition Board was made up of representatives from the Hyte Center, the NAACP, CATCAP (Community Advisers To Community Action Program), the Good Neighbor Housing Improvement Association, and Young Adults for a Better Black Community.

In the spring of 1970, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved a $500,000 grant toward construction of a new building for the Hyte Center. The government would provide the money contingent upon the local community raising $200,000 from private donations. In announcing the grant, HUD declared that the Hyte Center had a 92% need rating, the highest indication of need ever given. The Coalition Board launched a fund drive with a dinner at the Central Presbyterian Church on June 29, 1970 for the purpose of raising $206,000 by October 1, 1970.

The new Hyte Center, located at 1100 S. 13th Street was completed in June 1972. and The Center's staff moved into their new headquarters on June 24 under the leadership of Director Wilene Deal. A handbook published in 1974 lists 20 separate activities offered at the new Hyte Center including breakfast and lunch programs, tutoring services, legal aid services, health clinics for mothers, infants, and children, and a comprehensive health education and referral service. By the late 1970s, the Hyte Center had opened up a medical clinic.

The Charles T. Hyte Community Center is still in operation at 1100 S. 13th Street.

Content and Scope of Collection

This collection consists of materials collected by Dr. Jack Weinbaum from 1969 to 1981. Weinbaum served at various times as Treasurer of the Hyte Center, as a member of the Hyte Center Board of Directors, and as a consulting physician in charge of the various medical programs offered by the Hyte Center.

The collection consists of general, administrative, and program files, news clippings, brochures, financial records, bank statements, and materials from the Hyte Center Fund Drive.

Document Case 1
Folder 1	History of Hyte Center		n.d.
	"Charles T. Hyte Community Center" (Publication of the Vigo County Public Library congratulating the Hyte Center on its opening)		ca. 1972
Folder 2	"Tax-exempt status" materials		1953; 1979
Folder 3	Loan agreement, Hyte Center building		1970
	Lease agreement		1973
	Statement of value, Hyte Center (and other buildings in Terre Haute)		n.d.
	Receipts for full payment on new Hyte Center at 1101 S. 13th Street to Office of City Controller, Terre Haute		1973
Folder 4	Receipts for partial payment of the mortgage on the new Hyte Center to Terre Haute First National Bank		1970-1973
Folder 5	Minutes, Board of Directors		1971; 1976-1977
Folder 6	Minutes, Board of Directors		1978
Folder 7	Minutes, Board of Directors		1979-1980
Folder 8	Committees, Board of Directors		1976-1979
Folder 9	Internships (reimbursement checks)		1970-1978
Folder 10	Personnel Matters/Salary Proposals		1977-1979
Folder 11	Papers on Race		n.d.
Folder 12	Financial Statements		1973-1976
Folder 13	Financial Statements		1977-1978
Folder 14	Financial statements and requests for allocations from the United Way		1977-1978
Folder 15	Financial statements and requests for allocations from the United Way		1979
Folder 16	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Oct. 1970- Dec. 1970
Folder 17	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Jan. 1971- May 1971
Folder 18	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		June 1971- Dec. 1971
Folder 19	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Jan. 1972- June 1972
Folder 20	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		July 1972- Dec. 1972
Document Case 2
Folder 1	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		May 1973- Dec. 1973
Folder 2	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Jan. 1974- July 1974
Folder 3	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Aug. 1974- Dec. 1974
Folder 4	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Jan. 1975- Dec. 1975
Folder 5	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		Jan. 1976- July 1977
Folder 6	Checking Account Statement, Terre Haute First National Bank		June 1980- Feb. 1981
Folder 7	Deposit Slip Receipts, Terre Haute First National Bank		1970-1975
Folder 8	Savings Account Books, Terre Haute First National Bank		1970
Folder 9	Savings Account Statements,Terre Haute First National Bank		1974-1981
Folder 10	Deposit Slip Stubs, Terre Haute First National Bank		n.d.
Folder 11	Certificates of Deposit, Merchants National Bank		1973-1975
	Stock Purchase (20 shares) from Walter E. Heller International Corporation via the Edward D. Jones Brokerage		n.d.
Hyte Center Fund Drive (Document Cases 2-5)
Folder 12	Hyte Center Fund Drive Prospectus		ca. 1970
Folder 13	Cash Book of Pledges and Donations to the Hyte Center Fund Drive		1970-1977
	Debt Balance, Hyte Center Fund Drive		1970-1976
Folder 14	Pledge Cards, Hyte Center Fund Drive Surnames A-C
Folder 15	Pledge Cards, Hyte Center Fund Drive Surnames D-F
Document Case 3
Folder 1	Pledge Cards, Surnames G-H
Folder 2	Pledge Cards, Surnames I-L
Folder 3	Pledge Cards, Surnames M
Folder 4	Pledge Cards, Surnames N-R
Folder 5	Pledge Cards, Surnames S
Folder 6	Pledge Cards, Surnames T-V
Folder 7	Pledge Cards, Surnames W-Z
Folder 8	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 9	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 10	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 11	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 12	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 13	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 14	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 15	Pledge forms, individual donors
Folder 16	Pledge forms, individual donors
Document Case 4
Hyte Center Fund Drive (cont.)
Folder 1	Pledge forms, banks
Folder 2	Pledge forms, businesses
Folder 3	Pledge forms, religious organizations
Folder 4	Pledge forms, secular organizations
Folder 5	Pledge forms, physicians
Folder 6	Pledge forms, trade unions
Folder 7	Pledge forms		Aug. 1970
Folder 8	Pledge forms		Aug. 1970
Folder 9	Pledge forms		Aug. 1970
Folder 10	Pledge forms		Aug. 1970
Folder 11	Pledge forms		Sept. 1970
Folder 12	Pledge forms		Sept. 1970
Folder 13	Pledge forms		Sept. 1970
Folder 14	Pledge forms		Sept. 1970
Folder 15	Pledge forms		n.d.
Folder 16	Index cards and envelopes		n.d.
Document Case 5
Folder 1	Donation reminder draft letter		Feb. 1971
	Mailing list of individuals to receive reminder letter		Dec. 1971
Folder 2	Donation reminder letters		1971-1973
Folder 3	Donation reminder letters		1974-1978
Folder 4	Receipts for expenses
Hyte Center Medical Programs (Folders 8-13)
Folder 5	Job applications, Licensed Practical Nurse		ca. 1971
Folder 6	Job applications, Licensed Practical Nurse		ca. 1971
Folder 7	Comprehensive Community Health Education and Referral Service (HERS) - Minutes of the Hyte Center's HERS Professional Advisory Committee		1971-1972
Folder 8	Application and project narrative for a Community Health Services Grant		1971
Folder 9	Community Health Services Grant - Letter approving the grant, application form, narrative of project		ca. 1971
Folder 10	Community Health Services Grant - Pages 1 and 5 of the application form		ca. 1971
Folder 11	Hyte Center and the Lifeline Program		1976
Folder 12	Hyte Medical Clinic		1972
Folder 13	Summary of National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974		ca. 1974
	"Publications available on Comprehensive Service Programs and Multipurpose Neighborhood Programs"		n.d.
Folder 14	Non-Medical Programs
		Calendar of Events	Nov. 1978
		Summer Basketball Camp	n.d.
		Proposal for a musical program (including a marching band and choral groups)
		Volunteer Tutors Brochure	n.d.
Folder 15	Special Events programs and invitations		1974-1976
Folder 16	Women, Infants, and Children Program materials		n.d.
Document Case 6
Folder 1	Slide Set #1 (found in slide box labelled "Center Kids and Railroad Car")		Aug. 1969
Folder 2	Slide Set #2 (found in slide box labelled "Negro History Week" )		Feb. 1970
Folder 3	Slide Set #3		April 1970
Folders 4-13	News clippings