Children's Aid Donates Extraordinary Archives to New-York Historical Society

May 30, 2006

Contacts:
Ellen Lubell, The Children’s Aid Society (w) 212-949-4938, (c) 917-854-686
Emily Crossan, The Children’s Aid Society (w) 917-286-1548, (c) 201-344-5742

Laura Washington, New-York Historical Society (w) 212-485-9263, (c) 646-643-7795
Donald Kaplan, Rubenstein Communications, (w) 212-843-8065, (c) 917-435-8730

$300,000 from Children’s Aid Will Support Preservation, Cataloging and Display

NEW YORK, May 2006 - Archives that document the stories of tens of thousands of New York children whose lives were saved by The Children's Aid Society starting in the mid-nineteenth century will be given to the New-York Historical Society on June 5. The gift will be supported by $300,000 from the Trustees of Children's Aid to preserve, catalog and protect the archives and make the resulting catalog of the holdings available to historians and others around the world.

"Children's Aid is thrilled to put our archives in the expert hands of the New-York Historical Society," said C. Warren Moses, Chief Executive Officer of The Children's Aid Society. "These archives tell the story of how Charles Loring Brace, founder of Children's Aid, created the concept of family-based foster care to protect the tens of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children who lived on the streets of 19th century New York City. We will continue to transfer our archives to the Historical Society."

The Children's Aid Society archives include handwritten ledgers that kept track of children and families, "surrender books," which noted what families individual children were placed with in the U.S., flyers that were posted at railway stations to alert townspeople that the Orphan Trains were coming and photos. The archives date from the founding of Children's Aid, in 1853, to about 1930. Future archive transfers will include Children's Aid's records from 1930 to the present.

“The archives of the Children's Aid Society will extend and expand our already substantial collection of primary resources documenting the lives of New Yorkers, past and present,” said Jean W. Ashton, Vice President and Library Director at the New-York Historical Society. “We know that historians and other researchers will be excited by the possibilities for new scholarship presented by these papers and are deeply grateful for the generosity and foresight displayed by the Society in making this gift.”

“The addition of these rich archives to our collection is consistent with the New-York Historical Society’s strategic plan, which calls for the Library to build upon its unique role as the primary repository of historical materials related to the history of New York and the early nation by actively seeking and acquiring appropriate materials that address gaps in its collection,” said Louise Mirrer, N-YHS President and CEO.

In mid-nineteenth century New York City, anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 orphaned and abandoned children lived on the streets of New York City. Charles Loring Brace, a social reform-oriented Protestant minister, developed an innovative view of child abandonment that eschewed the asylums and orphanages that were the usual last stop for homeless children, in favor of placement of each child with a loving family. He founded The Children's Aid Society, which sponsored the original "Orphan Trains" to carry the abandoned children to new families in the American West and Midwest. Children's Aid's archives detail the efforts made to reunite families separated when parents had to travel to find work, and to place homeless children in receptive and loving families.

The New-York Historical Society was founded in 1804. Its mission is to explore the richly layered history of New York City and State and the country, and serve as a national forum for the debate and examination of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history. The New-York Historical Society holds one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, American art, and other materials documenting the history of the United States and New York, and is home to both one of the nation’s most distinguished independent research libraries and New York City’s oldest museum. For additional information please call 212-873-3400 or visit www.nyhistory.org.

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation's largest and most innovative non-sectarian agencies, serving over 150,000 of New York's neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes programming for early childhood, school-age children, teens and for their parents, adoption and foster care services, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation. Services are provided in community schools, neighborhood center and camps. For additional information please call 212-949-4938 or visit www.childrensaidsociety.org.