USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
PRIVATE AGENCIES
Exactly as governmental agencies have enlarged their scope and assumed new powers since 1880, so has private philanthropy grown. Several of the older agencies have gone out of existence but their places have been taken by societies which are adapted to present-day demands.
In 1880 there were 225 organizations, including the public departments and established funds. Today there are approximately 350 agencies, all of which either serve individuals or aim to bring about civic betterment.
Family Welfare .- The Family Welfare Society, founded under the name of the Associated Charities in 1879, must be given a large share of the credit for the change in methods of dispensing relief which has come about and for the growth in case work technique, which means helping families and individ-
-
548
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
uals to plan and to work their way out of their difficulties by bringing to them not only material aid but all the resources of the community - occupational, medical, recreational, spiritual.
Robert Treat Paine was the first president of the Family Welfare Society, which had as its original sponsors such leaders in their day as Phillips Brooks, Edward Everett Hale, Roger Wolcott, Mrs. Henry Whitman, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mrs. James T. Fields, Frances Rollins Morse. Zilpha D. Smith, one of the foremost social workers of the country, was the first general secretary.
The development of the Social Service Exchange or Central Index must also be credited to the Family Welfare Society, although on January 1, 1930, its management was transferred to the Boston Council of Social Agencies and it is now supported by all the agencies that use it. This index is a device not for giving information about a family or individual but for enabling agencies to know what other agencies are treating a family or personal situation. Dupli- cation is thereby avoided and definite responsibility placed. The index is recognized as the foremost example of its kind in the United States.
No account of the charities of Boston would be complete without mention- ing the growth of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and of the Federated Jewish Charities, as well as of the Boston Provident Association, which has been true to the purpose for which it was founded in 1851. The Family Welfare Society, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Federated Jewish Charities, the Boston Provident Association, with eight or ten other societies, which minister to the needs of special groups, racial or religious, give the bulk of the relief administered by private agencies. In 1929 they together supplied fifteen per cent of the relief disbursements of the city.
Children's Agencies .- As in the family welfare field, so in the field of children's work, many changes have taken place. The first directory of charities, published in 1880, has no division of child welfare agencies as such, and in the index one does not find the word "child" as a major heading. There is, however, a heading, "Homes for Children," under which are listed twenty- two institutions organized to care for dependent children. Today the institu- tions for dependent children do not take first place. In faet, it can be main- tained that the outstanding development in child welfare work has been the change from the use of the congregate institution to the foster home method of caring for children who cannot be provided for in their own homes.
While it is difficult to say when or where or under whose influence the placing of children at board in foster homes had its origin, it is universally agreed that this method was given a tremendous impetus by the Boston Chil- dren's Aid Society from 1885 on. The influence of this society extended not only to the institutions of Boston, many of which changed their work to that of child placing, but to child welfare work throughout the country.
It must be said, in regard to placing out, that the wisest and most experi- enced in child welfare work agree that even though the boarding foster home is the best substitute for a child's own home, there are still some delinquent and dependent children who can be cared for better in an institution. The advice of the psychiatrist, an agent unknown fifty years ago, is of inestimable value in deciding whether a delinquent or problem child should or should not be placed in an institution.
549
SOCIAL WELFARE
Certain transitions and changes among the children's agencies of the city are as follows:
The Bethesda Society, organized in 1816, established the Orchard Home School in 1916 and developed a placing out department for the girls who are trained at the School. The Children's Mission to Children, organized in 1849, began its modern program for foster home care in 1897. For the last fifteen years it has specialized in the placement of children from hospitals who still need a large degree of bed care or expert nursing. The Boston Children's Friend Society, in existence since 1832, adopted the system of foster home care in 1899. The Church Home Society, organized in 1855 for the care of Protestant Episcopal Children, gave up its home in 1913 and adopted foster home care. This society is affiliated with the National Council of the Church Mission for Help, which includes in its work the problem of the older girl.
The Catholic Charitable Bureau was organized by the late Archbishop Williams in 1903 as a central agency for the Catholic charities of the city, which are many and various. Boston was the first city in the United States to establish a diocesan charitable agency for the purpose of systematizing its charitable activities. Through its department of infant care and child welfare it has been placing children out in foster homes and in institutions since it was started.
The placement of Jewish children in boarding homes was undertaken by the Jewish Children's Bureau in 1907.
The New England Home for Little Wanderers, situated on South Hunt- ington avenue, organized a special department for the study of personality problems in 1915. A staff of psychological experts diagnose and treat children sent to the Home. A small hospital is maintained for children with paralysis, heart trouble and other difficulties. Foster homes are found when necessary.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which does a large share of its work in Boston, was incorporated in 1878. Twenty-nine years later, in 1907, it liberalized its policies and became a modern case-work agency co-operating with all other agencies for the common good. As the result of its influence, parental brutality has become comparatively rare, child begging is now outlawed, participation of children in street trades or in public entertainment is regulated or prohibited, baby farms have been abolished. This society is unique in its specialized service of child protection and has come to be a model for this work in all parts of the country.
Medical Social Welfare .- Not only have many advances been made in family work and in the care of children but the sick are given many advantages unthought of fifty years ago. Among the great contributions to the care of patients is hospital social service. Twenty-five years ago, on October 1, 1905, through the initiative of Dr. Richard C. Cabot, a member of the medical staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital, a desk in the corridor of the Out-patient Department was given to Garnet I. Pelton, who became the first medical social service worker. Doctor Cabot had become dissatisfied with the crowded dis- pensary service and maintained that the treatment of disease necessitated the understanding of the patient, of his "mind, body and estate."
The medical social service worker endeavors to find out (a) the patient's state of mind, (b) his economic, domestic and industrial situation, (c) the same
1
551
SOCIAL WELFARE
ing throughout the Commonwealth, this society has served Boston by virtue of its lecture and consultation services. Perhaps no society more definitely exemplifies the determination of modern effort to root out ancient evils.
Legal Aid .- Much of social service is involved in legal procedure and many a poor person often stands in need of the advice and assistance of trustworthy lawyers. In 1900 the Boston Legal Aid Society was founded to give legal advice gratuitously to all persons who because of poverty are unable to procure it. The record of this society has been one of inarked service.
At this point it is well to pass to a consideration of those organizations that are endeavoring to build the individual forward into those group relationships which lay the foundation of organized society. In many an instance it is the community which grips the fate of the individual and which passes on to future generations either assets or liabilities.
The Community .- In perspective, the last fifty years form a span between those views of society in relation to poverty and the all-round needs of man which were held in 1880 and the social challenge that faces all nations at the present time. A sharp break has taken place in the acceptance of poverty as inevitable.
Whereas the labor union movement was looked upon in the 80's and 90's much as communism is viewed at present, and the demands for shorter hours of labor and better working conditions were considered monstrous, 1930 finds that capital and labor have developed a basis of understanding. So marked has been the change that many capitalists now accept the economic theory which maintains the soundness of the high wage and the shorter working day, as well as certain forms of social insurance. Aristocratic ideas that have tended to disdain the average man have given way to a recognition of his potential power and the necessity of widening his opportunities for educational and cultural advantages.
The Settlements .- Settlement houses were pioneers in this field of enlarged vision. Misunderstood, often condemned by the conservative as too radical, criticized by the radical because they consistently pointed out the futility of social upheaval, they have kept steadily on their course and have seen their influence permeate thinking and action in philanthropic and civic effort.
In 1880 all neighborhood and club work as we know it today was unknown. It was not until 1892 that Robert A. Woods became the head of South End House, then called "Andover House," following his residence in Toynbee Hall in London, the first settlement, which was founded in 1884. Hull House in Chicago had opened its doors in 1889. The spirit and leadership of Robert A. Woods at South End House, from 1892 to the time of his death in 1925, was the most potent influence in the development of the twenty-eight settlements that now exist in Boston.
Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw (Pauline Agassiz Shaw), as a result of her interest in the problem of the working mothers of young children, established in 1878-79 a chain of day nurseries in Roxbury, Cambridge and the North End. These day nurseries began to be developed about 1894 into neighborhood houses. Several have gone out of existence but Roxbury Neighborhood House and North Bennet Street Industrial School still stand as monuments to the memory of Mrs. Shaw.
552
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
Denison House, founded by young college women as a "college settlement" in 1890-91, has very greatly influenced the undergraduates of our nearby colleges for women by bringing them face to face with actual conditions of living, while Lincoln House and Ellis Memorial in the South End and Norfolk House Centre near Roxbury Crossing are important units in the neighborhood scheme.
To this movement must be given much of the credit for pointing out the necessity of understanding the foreign-born and of interpreting . syinpathetically the demands of labor. In not a few cases it has led to the sharing of working-class interests by some who had had greater advantages. Moreover, the settlements have played a large part in arousing the public to the dangers of bad housing and insanitary conditions, and to the desirability of socialized educational programs, increased leisure-time opportunities and vocational education. North Bennet Street Industrial School, by virtue of its emphasis on these subjects, demonstrated to educators the advisability of hand-training and instruction in mechanics. At Civic Service House, now closed, Dr. Frank Parsons experimented with and worked out the principles of vocational guidance. The Elizabeth Peabody House stood staunchly by the kindergarten as a part of public school procedure. The House was founded by kindergartners in 1896 in memory of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, who died in 1894 and who had opened the first kindergarten in the United States in 1870.
Moreover, the settlements have been instrumental in bringing the club and class method, now so universally adopted, to the fore. They have made available to large groups of people the best in art, literature and music. The settlement houses have also served as centers of free assemblage.
Christian Associations .- Although the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, the Young Men's Christian Union and the Young Women's Christian Association were founded before 1880, mention must be made of them because of their growth and their important contributions to the well-being of the city.
The most notable development of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion was the opening in 1898, of Northeastern University, which sponsors Schools of Engineering, Business Administration, Law, Commerce and Finance as well as cultural and vocational noncollegiate courses. Its present plant on Huntington avenue, which was dedicated in 1913, is now greatly outgrown.
The Pioneer Club, which opened its doors in 1928, provides residential and hotel accommodations at reasonable rates, and, combined as it is with the headquarters of the Young Women's Christian Association - both housed in a modern, artistic structure - adds a definite asset to the city. For the first time women of the community have the best of swimming and gymnasium equipment at their command. The Boston Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation was the first to be established in America.
Agencies for Boys and Girls .- In 1911 the Boy Scouts were organized in Boston. The Campfire Girls came into existence in 1912 and the Girl Scouts began to factor in the city in 1917. In 1922 the Bunker Hill Boys' Club became the Boys' Club of Boston and later merged with the Rox- bury Boys' Club.
Community Service .- Community Service, an organization primarily concerned with recreation, was incorporated in 1920. Its purpose is unique.
i
553
SOCIAL WELFARE
It acts as a bureau for advice and information in Metropolitan Boston for those engaged in recreation work. A skilled staff gives demonstrations and runs training institutes in games, dramatics and community music. This organization is responsible for the annual International Music Festival given on Washington's Birthday in Symphony Hall. In co-operation with the settle- ments, it has presented for eight years the Fourth of July pageant on Boston Common for the City of Boston. The Nativity play staged each year at the Boston Public Library also demonstrates its value. During the Tercentenary celebration it gave of its best in the way of costume designing, pageant coach- ing and the posing of historical tableaux, as well as in arranging the musical programs.
The Institutional Church .- Further, in the late 80's and 90's, churches of all denominations developed programs for meeting the leisure-time needs of their parishioners.
Ford Hall Forum .- The Open Forum idea as developed at Ford Hall came out of the heart of the church, since the Ford Hall Forum, founded in 1908 by George W. Coleman and described elsewhere in this volume, was supported in its early years by the Boston Baptist Social Union.
Those Away From Home .- As time went on, there came into being a number of organizations that were established to house working girls and women who are away from home. Among the largest are Franklin Square House, Brooke House, Hemenway House, the Home of the Gray Nuns, Harriet Tubman House for Colored Working Girls, the Boston Students' Union and the Stuart Club. The Rufus Dawes Hotel for Men was opened in 1915, while the People's Palace Hotel - also for men - is a part of the many branches of the Salvation Army, which began its work in Boston in 1880.
Morgan Memorial .- One of the most unique institutions in Boston is Morgan Memorial, founded in 1885. Morgan Memorial has many depart- ments - the best known of which is the department of Co-operative Industries and Stores. Clothing, furniture, books and bric-a-brac are collected, repaired and sold. The rug industry is extensive. Hundreds of men and women who are out of work find employment in the shops.
Care of Animals .- Further, through the efforts of the Animal Rescue League, incorporated in 1899, and the enlarged scope of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, kindness to animals is constantly held before the people of the city.
Civic Effort .- Boston has been called "The Paradise of Charities" but she is noted for her civic consciousness as well. Two organizations - the Women's Educational and Industrial Union and the Women's Municipal League - together with a co-operative movement which was started in 1909 and was called "Boston 1915," combined with the efforts of the United Improve- ment Association, have had much to do with giving the citizens of Boston certain of the advantages they enjoy today.
Women's Educational and Industrial Union .- Under the superior leadership of Mary Morton Kehew, the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, which was founded in 1877 and incorporated in 1880, made important contributions to civic thinking and action. Several outstanding contributions of
.
554
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
loeal and even, in some eases, national interest have been made by the Union in past years. Among these was work which resulted in the Massachusetts State Commission for the Adult Blind and the Sehool of Salesmanship and the Household Eeonomies Department at Simmons College. A free elinie for women was maintained in the years before free care in hospitals was easily accessible. Legal aid was given women before the Legal Aid Society was organized, and a woman lawyer put on the staff. Studies have been made of health conditions in factories; employment of women and children; dangerous industrial trades; smoke nuisance, ventilation in shops, street cars and sehools; the enforcement of labor laws; thrift edueation through sehool savings; unem- ployment as a cause of family dependeney; gainful employment for handi- eapped women; children in need of special eare; breakdowns in family ineome, and old age support of women teachers. These studies originally started under the Hygiene Committee, which later merged into the Research Department. Committees, now dissolved, helped to get legislation to raise the age of consent for girls and to put matrons in poliee stations, joined with other organizations in establishing a students' eo-operative room registry, organized a foreign students' eonferenee, worked for sehool gardens, started a elub for girl workers and initiated the baby hygiene movement. Also the Union serves daily luncheons to 20,000 sehool children at cost.
Women's Municipal League .- In 1908 Katherine Bowlker founded the Women's Municipal League. Its aeeomplishments have more than fulfilled her belief in the part women ean play in giving to a city better advantages. Among the most notable results of the efforts of the League have been the Household Nursing Association and the inereased opportunities for prenatal and obstetrieal care. The elinics that were organized by Mrs. William Lowell Putnam in 1909 demonstrated so positively the value of treatment throughout pregnaney that European countries, as well as other areas of the United States, eame to follow the methods and scientifie treatment which had been made available to the mothers of Boston. Further, housing, street and alley, and market conditions were bettered, vaeant lot gardening was encouraged in summer, the North Brighton Community Center was opened, while the Character Education Department maintains a Publie Sehool Loan Collection which is in constant use in the public sehools in connection with ethical instruetion. In 1929 the League was instrumental in stiffening the laws relating to the smoke nuisanee.
United Improvement Association .- The United Improvement Assoeia- tion was ineorporated in 1909 as a central organization for twenty loeal improve- ment societies situated in various sections of the eity. Although only a frag- ment of the original grouping is left, there is no question but that its efforts of approximately fifteen years did mueh to edueate the citizens to the values of public developments and eity planning.
Boston 1915 .-- "Boston 1915" eame into being as a result of the hopes of Edward A. Filene. It was an effort to unite all the interests of the eity over a five-year period in order that a plan for the future growth and development of Boston might emerge and that eertain dates might be set for the aeeomplish- ment of different parts of the program. The eity received a great stimulus from the studies niade and the conferenees held. And then eame the World War.
1
FRENCH GROUP
UKRAINIAN GROUP
ARMENIAN GROUP
SINGERS IN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL (Courtesy of Community Service of Boston and Women's Municipal League)
556
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
The World War .- During the period of the World War, as in the colonial period, the efforts of the citizens of Boston in furthering the cause of the Allies proved once more their burning patriotism. From 1914 to the day of the Armistice in 1918 no sacrifice was too great. When the United States entered the war in 1917, Boston gave freely of her youth and all civilians worked as one in support of our armies. The local Red Cross centered the war effort, while War Camp Community Service held itself responsible for meeting the needs of the soldiers in the cantonment arcas and of the troops who passed in and out of the city.
The Red Cross .- It was a Massachusetts woman, Clara Barton, who must be credited with influencing Congress to establish the American National Red Cross. The Massachusetts branch was organized in Boston in Tremont Temple, in May, 1905.
With the entrance of the United States into the World War, April 6, 1917, the Home Service program of the Red Cross was established. In September of that year the Junior Red Cross was started throughout the country in response to a demand from the school children that they should be allowed to give help in the war. In November the Boston branch began.
Disaster Relief .- On December 6, 1917, the Red Cross in Boston had its first disaster experience. Following the explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a group of picked workers equipped with supplies from Boston were the first to reach the scene of disaster. Another crisis came with the sweeping influenza epidemic in September, 1918.
Generous at home, the citizens of Boston have been generous abroad. They have always given thousands of dollars to foreign countries that have suffered from war, epidemic, floods, fires and carthquakes, as well as to other sections of the United States. Large contributions were sent to Japan in 1923-24; to meet the suffering caused by the Mid-West floods of 1924-25 and the Florida hurricane in 1926-27; to the Mississippi flood area in 1927-28; to Vermont to help to better the flood situation in 1927-28; to the West Indies hurricane district in 1928-29; to Nashua, New Hampshire, after the fire of 1930. To these contributions should be added the large sums given to the war drives, the investments made in Liberty Bonds, the sums sent to aid Near East Relief and constant contributions to such enterprises as the Grenfell Mission and home and foreign missionary enterprises.
Co=ordination of Effort .- Even this brief outline of some of the more important developments since 1880 reveals a city well served by its multi- plicity of social organizations. In 1929 nearly fifteen millions of money were spent for the support of charitable, educational and civic effort in the field of social work. This does not include any moneys given to nearby colleges. Originally the work of the many agencies of the city was characterized by extreme individualization. At present a marked co-ordination of effort is taking place.
In 1880 the Family Welfare Society showed by the name by which it was then called, namely, "Associated Charities," that it was started with the idea of unifying the work of the agencies. In 1900 the South End Social Union
-
557
SOCIAL WELFARE
federated the neighborhood houses of the South End. Later this federation was enlarged to include the neighborhood houses of Greater Boston under the name "Boston Social Union," which became in 1928 "The Federation of Neighborhood Houses of Greater Boston." For several years, also, there had been group meetings of children's agencies; of day nursery workers; of the health workers. In 1915 a League for Preventive Work, which no longer exists, had a membership of some twenty organizations. Further, in 1919 a "Federation of Placement Work" began its efforts. Also, in 1919 the Boston Health League brought about a conference of the leading health agencies together with representatives from the State and City Health Departments. These efforts resulted in unity of action among agencies of the same kind.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.