The Westchester County Historical Society has received several New York
State Conservation/Preservaiton grants to microfilm the records of social
services institutions that served children.  Their grant this year
includes the records for Hawthorne-Cedar Knolls, Hawthorne 1906-present;
Leake & Watts Services, Yonkers, 1831- prsent; New Rochelle Day Nursery,
1895- prsent, New York School for the Deaf, Greenburgh, 1817- present;
Ossining Children's Center, 1895- present' Pleasantville Cottage School,
1912- prsent; and Woman's  Institute, Yonkers 1880- present.

They have already micofilmed the recores of Graham-Windham in New
York/hastings, Lincoln Hall in Somers, Wartburg Home in Mount Vernon and
the Westchester County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
and Children's Village and the Westchester County Alms House.

The WCHS is located in Elmsford NY and can be reached at 914-592-4323.

Barbara Lilley
New York State Library
Conservation/Preservation Program


On Wed, 20 Aug 1997, epsmith wrote:

> I am looking for orphanage records in NY State and elsewhere,
> particularly for institutions that closed.  I have already read those
> of the Thomas Indian School, the Colored Orphan Asylum, the Howard
> Colored Orphan Asylum, the Home for Destitute Children of Seamen,
> the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum, and the Children's Aid Society Shelter,
> Windsor Ontario.
>
> Can anyone tell me the location of other records, and how I can get
> to read them?  I would also like to know more about the Ladies'
> Deborah aslylum, which, I believe, was closed in about 1914, and St.
> Peter's School, which was closed in the late 1970s or early 1980s..
>
> I am an about-to-be retired professor, and would like to do a book on
> why children's institutions closed.  I am not particular about dates,
> but would like material up to and including the 1980s.  I did a
> previous article on the history of orphanages, which appeared in a
> special issue of Child Welfare.
>
> I would also welcome discussion from any other child and social welfare history
> buffs.  Are there any out there?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Eve P. Smith, DSW
>