Magdalen Society of Philadelphia records of admissions and discharges, 1908-1917

Item

Title

Magdalen Society of Philadelphia records of admissions and discharges, 1908-1917

Description

The admission and discharge records trace the flow of inmates of the Magdalen Society. They also disclose detailed information about the lives of inmates and serve as a window to nineteenth century attitudes towards women and family life. The manuscripts were fastidiously kept from 1836 until the Society’s transition to the White-Williams Foundation in 1917, and provide residents' names and dates of occupancy. Brief descriptions of discharge are often given. Many women were sent back to their families or simply left at their own volition, while others are noted to have “escaped” or were ejected for “improper conduct.” Women who died in the house are regularly indicated to have been interred in the yard of the property. Some accounts offer more substantive background information. The first entry of the Society’s register, for instance, recounts the admission of a young girl who was spurned by her family for being “seduced…by her father’s coachman.” Indeed, family member death or neglect are some of the most common remarks provided. The admission and discharge records are a boon to researchers interested in post-revolutionary philanthropic organizations and the history of women and society in general in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Pages 104 to 301 of this volume are blank.

Identifier

16197

Type

text

Creator

Magdalen Society of Philadelphia

Date Created

1908-12-05 - 1917-04-13

Format

Manuscript

Is Part Of

Magdalen Society of Philadelphia Records (2016)

Spatial Coverage

N 21st and Race St Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Subject

House of the Good Shepherd (Philadelphia, Pa.) | House of Refuge (Philadelphia, Pa.) | Magdalen Society (Philadelphia, Pa.) | White, William, 1748-1836 | Charities--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia | Children--Institutional care | Evangelicalism | Institutional care | Juvenile delinquency | Poor women | Prostitution | Women--Institutional care

Extent

301 pages

Language

eng

Rights

Rights assessment is your responsibility. This material is made available for noncommercial educational scholarly and/or charitable purposes. For other uses or for more information please contact The Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Rights and Reproductions department at rnr@hsp.org.

Item sets

Magdalen Society of Philadelphia records