William P. Letchworth. Extract from the Ninth Annual Report of the State Board of Charities of New York, relating to PAUPER CHILDREN, New York County.
Albany, Weeds, Parsons, and Company, 1876. 9x6”, 25pp. Original wrappers. Nice copy. Provenance: Library of Congress, with their surplus/duplicate rubber stamp on front and rear wrapper. Old vertical fold through-and-through. $85
Includes a folding plan: “Diagram of Nursery and Nursery Hospital Buildings belonging to the Children's department of the Almshouse of New York on Randall's Island.”
- Of Dickensian interest, some of the details I found in this report:
- There were 91 girls, aged 8-14, housed in the “Large Girls' Department” ; they were tended by one paid assistant and up to eight women from the alms-house and work house.
- Large Boys' Department: no mention of number, but drill master lives with them, plus 3 boys designated as monitors, and six females from the work house.
- Small Boys' Department: 136 children, tended by 5-6 women, one of whom received wages with five others being paupers or criminals sent from Blackwell's Island.
- Infants' Department—72 aged 2.5-5, tended by 6 females, 5 from Blackwells.
- The children on reception were dressed in blue gingham, white linen aprons and slept on straw beds and pillows, with food cooked by steam in six large cauldrons, mostly by inmates from Blackwells.
- Nursery Hospital held 769 between 2 and 16, most between 5-10
- There were 1115 children on Randall's, the near-majority placed there by their parents who promised to pay for care (half did), mostly Irish or “unascertained” ancestry;
- Occupations of fathers “Unascertained”, mechanics, laborers, and 1 professional
- Most had other family members in the same institution or Blackwells
- Female (employed) helpers were mostly 30—40, widowed, and Irish
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