Sociedad de Beneficencia de Buenos Aires

rdf:langString Sociedad de Beneficencia de Buenos Aires

rdf:langString The Sociedad de Beneficencia de Buenos Aires, also known as Sociedad de Damas de Beneficencia or simply Sociedad de Beneficencia (English: Society of Beneficence), was an Argentine state institution. The association was created by president Bernardino Rivadavia in 1823. The purpose was to transfer social work from the Catholic church to the association after the Argentine independence. The first president was the patrician Mercedes de Lasala de Riglos.The organisation was administered by female Argentine philanthropists from the upper classes, with the founding members including Mariquita Sánchez (who presided the organization between 1830–1832 and 1866–1867), María Cabrera de Altolaguirre, Isabel Casamayor, Joaquina de Izquierdo, Josefa Ramos Mejía, Isabel Agüero de Ugalde, Cipriana Viana y Bone, Manuela Aguirre, María de los Santos Riera del Sar, Bernardina Chavarría de Viamonte, María del Rosario Azcuénaga. Among the organisations placed under the supervision of the society were schools for girls, hospitals and orphanages, such as , Hospital Rivadavia and . In 1838, the Governor of Buenos Aires Juan Manuel de Rosas suspended state funding for the Sociedad de Beneficencia. The organization was not formally reinstated until after the end of Rosas's reign in 1852. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Socieded de Beneficencia administered various schools for girls, women's hospitals, mental institutions, and penitentiaries. The organization also contributed to charitable causes and relief funds outside of Buenos Aires. The Sociedad de Beneficencia was disbanded during the first presidency of Juan Perón in 1947, after his wife Eva Perón was not invited by the patrons. Evita was furious and moved against the society, effectively bringing it to an end. She then created the Eva Perón Foundation to replace it, which she ran and which was much more comprehensive in scope.