Guide to the Records of the Jewish Home for Babies and Children, 1927-1987
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Records of the Jewish Home for Babies and Children
- Creator
- International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders, Blacksmiths, Forgers, and Helpers--Local 318 (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Collection Number
- MSS#116
- Extent
- 4.0 cubic feet (4 boxes)
- Date
- 1927-1987
- Abstract
- The Jewish Home for Babies and Children (the Home) was founded in 1914 by the Pittsburgh Orthodox Jewish community under the leadership of Rabbi A. M. Ashinsky. The mission of the Home was to provide for the maintenance, education, health, welfare, and support of homeless and friendless Jewish babies and children up to sixteen years of age. These records include correspondence, financial material, meeting minutes, donation and bequest records, case files, records relating to adoptions and admissions, and other sundry items.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History of the Jewish Home for Babies and Children (1913-c1970)
The Jewish Home for Babies and Children (the Home) was founded in 1914 by the Pittsburgh Orthodox Jewish community under the leadership of Rabbi A. M. Ashinsky. The mission of the Home was to provide for the maintenance, education, health, welfare, and support of homeless and friendless Jewish babies and children up to sixteen years of age. The Home was self-supporting through membership dues, fund-raising, bequests, and donations of money and goods. The Junior Organization of the Home, whose members were young Jewish women, raised money through dances, bridge nights, and fashion shows. The Home received no money from the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Pittsburgh or from any other organized charities.
Parents who were unable to take care of their children could leave them at the Home until they were once again able to take them home. Children were often entrusted to the Home while the mother was hospitalized for illness or the birth of a baby or when a single working parent had no one to care for the child at home. In some families, boarding the children was necessary on several occasions. The parents were charged a weekly boarding fee set on a sliding scale. The Home also placed infants and children for adoption.
In 1939, a merger was proposed by the Gusky Hebrew Orphanage and Home of Western Pennsylvania between that organization and the Jewish Home for Babies and Children. However, some fundamental differences intervened. Unlike the Home, the Gusky Orphanage was supported by organized charities. The Home provided for children within the facility. The Gusky Orphanage placed children for foster care in Orthodox homes. The campaign was heated. The Gusky Orphanage argument, supported by "The Committee of 100," said that child care should be approached by way of child study and not as a hobby or an act of charity. The Home stated that if the merger took place, of the 34 children currently at the Home, only 7 would stay within the institution. The rest would be placed in foster homes as was the practice at the Gusky Orphanage. The initiative failed.
The Jewish Home for Babies and Children was originally located on Breckenridge Avenue. In 1943 it moved into a remodeled house on Stanton Avenue. Approximately thirty children from the ages of three months to seventeen years lived in the new facility. The staff consisted of four residential staff, including a nurse, and five non-residential staff. A doctor was always on call.
By the 1960's, the population of the Home was declining to a point that measures were taken to increase the number of children admitted. The regulations were changed in 1968 so that a child could be admitted so long as one parent was Jewish--either the mother or the father. Presumably, in the past, only children with two Jewish parents or a Jewish mother would have been admitted, according to the Jewish law of matrilineal descent.
During that year, a representative from the State Child Welfare and Health Department was invited to speak to the board about improving the Home. Board members began to visit other similar institutions to learn how those homes were run. The opening of a day nursery was considered and then rejected after it was learned that the Irene Kaufmann Center and several synagogues were running day nurseries.
The Home was closed soon thereafter. In 1972, the Jewish Home for Babies and Children Fund, Inc., was incorporated with the mission of giving scholarships to Jewish children to help them to obtain an education. The activities of the fund include receiving contributions, gifts, and bequests, investing the money and property, making grants or loans, and authorizing the distribution of money.
Scope and Content Notes
and These records include correspondence, financial material, meeting minutes, donation and bequest records, case files, records relating to adoptions and admissions, and other sundry items. The general material is limited to administrative and fund-raising aspects of the Home. These general records can provide researchers with insight into staffing, fund-raising, operational costs, the services and basic facilities of the Home. The restricted material contains information regarding the individual children who stayed at the home and their families. Requests for adoptions are also included. Few records can be found dating from before 1940 in either the general or the restricted material.
Arrangement
The Jewish Home for Babies and Children records are arranged in two series. Series have been designated for general material and restricted material.
The Jewish Home for Babies and Children records are housed in four archival boxes and two bound scrapbooks.
Conditions Governing Access
Selected records from this collection are closed until the year 2040. Access prior to this date is limited to those who have obtained special permission from the Jewish Home for Babies and Children Fund. Please ask at the reference desk for further information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in one accession in 1991.
Acc# 1991.0015 Gift of Jewish Home for Babies and Children. Given by Herman Engleberg (Mr. Engelberg has been president of the Jewish Home for Babies and Children Fund).
Preferred Citation
Records of the Jewish Home for Babies and Children, 1927-1987, MSS #116, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Rachel Balliet 0n May 2, 1994. Papers rearranged and inventory rewritten by Susan Melnick in April 1998.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on August 17, 2001.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Jewish Home for Babies and Children (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Jewish Home for Babies and Children Fund, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Ashinsky, A.M.,Rabbi
- Jewish youth -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Jews -- Charities -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Jews -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Social life and customs
- Child welfare -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Children -- Institutional care -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh