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" Closer Connections: A Regional Study of Secular and Sectarian Orphanages and Their Response to Progressive Era Child-Saving Reforms, 1880-1930 "
Burgess, Debra K.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1054627
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| Doc. No
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TL53744
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| Main Entry
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Burgess, Debra K.
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| Title & Author
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Closer Connections: A Regional Study of Secular and Sectarian Orphanages and Their Response to Progressive Era Child-Saving Reforms, 1880-1930\ Burgess, Debra K.
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| College
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University of Cincinnati
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| Date
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2020
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2020
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| Note
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408 p.
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| Abstract
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Child welfare programs in the United States have their foundation in the religious traditions brought to the country up through the late nineteenth century by immigrants from many European nations. These programs were sometimes managed within the auspices of organized religious institutions but were also found among the ad hoc efforts of religiously-motivated individuals. This study analyzes how the religious traditions of Catholicism, Judaism, and Protestantism established and maintained institutions of all sizes along the lines of faith-based dogma and their relationship to American cultural influences in the Midwest cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh during the period of 1880-1930. These influences included: the close ties between (or constructive indifference exhibited by) the secular and sectarian stakeholders involved in child-welfare efforts, the daily needs of children of immigrants orphaned by parental disease, death, or desertion, and the rising influence of social welfare professionals and proponents of the foster care system. This study incorporates material from the archives of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the Cincinnati Historical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, and the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society in Pittsburgh. The records of Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant orphanages in Cincinnati (the German Protestant Orphan Home, St. Aloysius, St. Joseph’s, and the Orthodox Jewish Orphan Home), Cleveland (the Jones Home and School for Friendless Children and the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum, St. Joseph’s Orphanage, St. Vincent’s Orphanage, Home of the Holy Family, and the Jewish Orphan Asylum) and in Pittsburgh (the J. M. Gusky Home for Hebrew Children, the Protestant Orphan Asylum, St. Paul’s Orphanage, and the Home of the Holy Family). In addition, diocesan records of Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh offered material in connection with Catholic Church directives on the guardianship and education of orphaned and abandoned children. Parochial and religious education records for Catholic and Jewish children who lived in these institutions shed additional light on several aspects of their daily lives. Newspaper reports on fundraising efforts undertaken on behalf of these institutions and their charges were also useful, along with reports issued by various auxiliary institutional support groups. These original archival research efforts have been analyzed in the context of previous work by gifted scholars in the fields of Immigration, Social History, Child Welfare, and American Religious History that examine pieces of the puzzle this study seeks to solve. The efforts of religious individuals directed at the care of vulnerable children within their communities were originally mounted as an alternative to secular child welfare programs. Over time, these efforts would have to adapt to changes within the American social landscape that diminished the role of faith.
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| Descriptor
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American history
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Religious history
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University of Cincinnati
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