This collection comprises the records of the Benevolent Society, 1813-1995, and the records of its predecessor the New South Wales Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Benevolence, 1813-1818. Records include minute books, indexes and registers of admissions and discharges, ledgers, journals, correspondence, and subject files. The collection includes the surviving records of the Benevolent Asylum, the Society's Thomas Street Asylum, Renwick Hospital for Infants, Scarba House for Children and the Royal Hospital for Women. As a result of flooding in the Society's records storage area a number of the early records of Scarba House for Children and Renwick Hospital for Infants were destroyed or lost.