New York's Newsboys : Charles Loring Brace and the founding of the Children's Aid Society / Karen M. Staller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Staller, Karen M., author.

Contributor:

Charles D. Dickey, Jr., Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Child welfare.

History.

Homeless children.

Social conditions.

Street children.

New York (State)--New York.

Brace, Charles Loring, 1826-1890.

Brace, Charles Loring.

Children's Aid Society (New York, N.Y.).

Newsboys' Lodging House.

Street children--New York (State)--New York--Social conditions--19th century.

Homeless children--New York (State)--New York--Social conditions--19th century.

Child welfare--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Homeless children--Social conditions.

Street children--Social conditions.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xlvi, 354 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

""New York Newsboys: Charles Loring Brace and the Founding of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) investigates Brace's visionary anti-poverty work among New York's vagrant children in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Taking as its central focus the CAS's flagship program-the Newsboys' Lodging House, which opened in 1854-this book examines its experiment in incentive-based youth engagement, its connection with other CAS branches, and its overall place in a continuum of child care. Brace forged new methods based on voluntary participation, a alternative to child asylums which policed the poor. Straddling periods dubbed antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age, CAS took root amid racial, ethnic, religious, nativist, and class-based tensions in a city absorbing a flood of poor immigrants and housing them in squalid conditions. Youth homelessness emerged as a new social problem. Brace's plan included a central office for intra- and extra-agency referrals; outreach; schools, reading rooms, evening entertainment, Sunday meetings, lodging houses, and emigration options for fostering or employing children in the West. The plan was stunning in its size, scope, and vision. It provided for children's basic needs while offering pathways out of poverty. Brace's goals were nothing short of eradicating child poverty, reducing homelessness, reducing illiteracy, preventing juvenile delinquency, improving child and maternal health, providing employment and job training, and promoting sympathy for poor children among the wealthy. Brace's internationally recognized work had a profound impact on child well-being and offered a radical alternative to the jural, carceral, and policing tactics common in the day ""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Mr. Brace's Arrival: Early Influences and New-York, 1848-1853 p. 35

Childhood Shapes a "Dangerous" Man of Reason p. 37

Mr. Brace's New-York, 1848-1850 p. 43

"Want of Fear": Riots and Cholera, 1849 p. 45

Charitable Discord and Discovering Inspiration p. 50

Tragedy and Trips p. 53

Unexpected Returns: Belfast, Slavery, and a Hungarian Prison p. 54

Mr. Brace's New-York Return p. 58

2 Family Life Among the Poor in Mid-Nineteenth-Century New York p. 71

Laying Down, Building Up, Crowding In p. 74

Tenant-House Living p. 78

Vermin, Sanitation, and Fever Nests p. 82

Special Nuisances: Livestock and Industry p. 83

Housing, Health, and Vagrant Children p. 84

Family Employment p. 85

Child Labor and Income p. 86

Newsboys and the Penny Press p. 88

Youthful Independence and Vagrancy p. 89

Matsell's Report Revisited p. 90

Mr. Brace's Invitation p. 92

3 Creating the Children's Aid Society: Exploration and Experimentation p. 101

Implementing an Idea: Daily Routine p. 102

The Press-Foreman and the Newsboys p. 103

Early Office Work: First Circular, an 1853 Blueprint p. 105

Bumpy Beginnings: Workshops for Boys p. 107

Gathering Speed: Industrial Schools for Girls p. 109

Visiting Agents p. 110

Board of Trustees p. 111

Exploration and Experimentation p. 112

Bold New Plan: A Lodging House for Homeless Newsboys p. 113

Belfast Revisited p. 114

4 Opening the Newsboys' Lodging House: Proposal to Practice, 1854 p. 119

NBLH Facility p. 125

Basic Service Structure p. 127

The Bathing Requirement p. 130

Intake Dilemmas: Shaping Agency Policy p. 131

The Parent Problem p. 131

Coming Up Short p. 135

The Drama of the Theater p. 137

Intoxicated Youth p. 141

Lodging House as Experimental Model p. 143

5 Eddying Point: Mr. Macy's Central Office p. 151

A Place for Rich and Poor p. 153

Referrals to the Central Office and the NBLH p. 154

Difficult Cases p. 156

Central Office as Employment Agency p. 158

To the Country: Transfer Point and Temporary Lodging p. 159

One Hundred Miles, Due North p. 160

A Man of Good Humor p. 161

Endless Errands and Odds and Ends p. 163

Cash: In and Out p. 163

In-Kind, Comings and Goings p. 164

A Veritable Ringmaster p. 167

6 The Earliest Lodgers: The Good and the Bad, 1855-1856 p. 173

The Nassau Coffee Saloon p. 179

The Professor Mentors Sunday (and Mr. Colopy) p. 183

An Incorrigible Rogue p. 186

Curbing the Drift to Delinquency p. 189

Pickpocketing p. 191

A Pocket Picked! p. 192

Pugilists and Politics p. 193

Mr. Tracy's Complicated Peace Work p. 197

7 Advancing the Lines: Building an Anti-Poverty Agenda, Newsboys' Lodging House, 1855-1861 p. 205

An Educational Plan: Night School p. 207

One-Room Schoolhouse p. 208

Library and Reading Room p. 209

Common Education p. 211

Writing Class p. 213

Singing and Voice p. 214

Physical Activities p. 214

A Moral Educational Plan: Sunday Meetings p. 215

A Fiscal Educational Plan: Banking and Saving p. 216

An Employment Plan: Situations and Emigration Parties p. 220

Into the Country p. 222

Newsboys' Lodging House's Instability p. 225

Return Visit to NBLH p. 226

Metropolitan Police, Sabbath Selling, and Free NBLH Suppers p. 227

Untimely Deaths p. 230

8 Mr. Macy's Record Books: Newsboy Lodgers and the Emigration Branch, 1861-1866 and Beyond p. 235

Critics: Asylum Advocates, 1859-1860 p. 237

Mr. Macy's Update p. 241

Gone to War p. 243

Challenges and Changes, 1861: War, Leadership, and NBLH Growing Pains p. 245

NBLH Growing Pains p. 247

Complications of 1863: Draft Riots, Catholic Critics, and a Board Resolution p. 248

Catholic Critics, 1863 p. 251

A Board Resolution p. 253

From NBLH to Emigration Outcomes p. 255

Returning Home p. 255

Not Getting There p. 256

Spectacular Successes p. 257

Employment Opportunities p. 258

What to Make of Vagrancy? p. 259

Petty Theft and Worse p. 261

The Michigan Problem p. 263

Critics Again, The Prison Attack: Spreading the Seeds of Vice p. 264

Mr. Braces Muscular Orphan Problem p. 265

9 A Permanent Place: Building, Bridging, and Policy Advocacy in the Gilded Age p. 275

Real Estate Investment p. 276

A Permanent Lodging House for Newsboys p. 279

The Charles and Mary O'Connor Years p. 280

New Directions: Inspirations from a Charity Fair p. 282

Policy Advocacy: Child Labor, Education, and Housing p. 283

Mr. Whiteheads CAS Factory Bill p. 284

Enforced Education, Truancy, and School Funding p. 286

Street Trades: An Education and Labor Problem p. 289

Housing Reform p. 289

Bridging the Class Divide in a Gilded Age p. 290

CAS Extended Family and Their Dependents p. 294

10 The Society Mr. Brace Built: A Life's Work p. 305

Neighborhood-Based Programing p. 306

Quantification and Amplification of CAS's Work p. 308

Outside New-York: The Emigration Branch p. 309

Financial Health, Real Estate Ownership, and Contributions p. 311

Prevention Claims: Juvenile Crime and Public Health p. 313

A Bittersweet Report: A Changing of the Guard p. 314

Devoted Workers and a Sound Foundation p. 315

Call to the Future p. 316

Mr. Braces Death p. 317

Tributes: Words and Actions p. 318.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charles D. Dickey, Jr., Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Staller, Karen M. New York's newsboys

ISBN:

9780190886608

0190886609

OCLC:

1126348849

Publisher Number:

99984216769