New York Juvenile Asylum records (Children's Village), 1853-1954

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Series I: Administrative Records, 1853-1954

This series contains ledgers pertaining to the overall operation of the New York Juvenile Asylum and Children's Village. The ledgers comprise minutes, correspondence, and financial records. The minutes do not provide a complete record of institutional operation. The correspondence is recorded in copybooks on onionskin and primarily dates to the early twentieth century. The ledger of Admissions, Indentures, and Discharge correspondence contains many original letters interleaved with copies. The financial records also largely consist of copies on onionskin. The Reports of Costs to City and State list the numbers of children housed at the institution each month and were used to collect public funds from the city and state.

Series II: General Operation Records, 1853- 1950

The General Operation Records form the heart of this collection and pertain to the movement of children though the asylum system. Many of these records contain unique case numbers that were assigned to each child.

The Registers of Children list the age and important characteristics of new arrivals at the House of Reception, such as race, religion, language spoken, and name and address of parents. These records reveal that NYJA housed Catholic and Jewish, as well as Protestant children, and admitted African-American and immigrant youth. Most of these registers contain case numbers and information about the eventual fate of the child: if she was sent to the Asylum, home to family, or out West as an apprentice. Some unusual cases are marked with additional notes.

Social workers created Home Visit Records when they visited the families of children living in the Asylum to determine whether those families could provide a fit home for children. These visits were conducted for children living in the Asylum who had families with a known address. These ledgers do not all follow the same format. Some contain an Admission form and Discharge form on facing pages. A social worker filled out the first of these forms when a child was removed from his home. The facing, Discharge, form was filled out when a child returned home, sometimes years later. Where noted, some ledgers contain only Admission or only Discharge forms. In these cases, each individual page was dedicated to a single child and only contains information about the condition of that child's home, either when she was admitted to NJYA, or when she was released to her family. The ledgers provide a wealth of detail about home life and living arrangements among poor and immigrant New Yorkers in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Parent Surrender Forms were used when parents or family members relinquished control of their children to the institution. These are brief forms and contain little more than children's names and the names and signatures (or marks) of the parents.

Apprentice Records kept track of older children indentured to homes in the West. The records contain information about the lives and experiences of these children and the families who took them in. Indentured children and the families who housed them reported their progress and satisfaction with placement regularly. The NYJA maintained contact with these children until they reached adulthood, and sometimes afterward, if formerly indentured children remained in contact. The Apprentice Records therefore give an excellent overview of the experience of "orphan train" children.

Transfer Slips record where children were sent (usually to the NYJA) after arriving at the House of Reception.

Applications for Discharge were required of all parents and guardians wishing to retrieve their children from the asylum. The forms record how fit the applicants are to care for a child and whether discharge was granted or denied. Most of the children applied for were discharged to their guardians.

Series III: Daily Logs, 1858-1953

This series contains records of daily activity in the NYJA and Children's Village, including visitor's registers, daily events, runaways, and medical and school records. They offer a fragmented but illuminating glimpse into daily operations at the institution.

Physicians' Certificates certified that children who entered the asylum system were in good physical and mental health and free of infectious diseases. Inspecting doctors could record any health problems that were present. Almost all the children were found to be healthy and given a clean bill of health.

The Doctor's Orders Books and Medical Logs were kept at the Children's Village infirmary. The former records medical treatments prescribed by physicians and the latter lists the complaints of children who visited the nurse each day.

Series IV: Children's Village, 1921-1936

The bulk of this series consists of a 1931 New York University study of Children's Village, along with papers and plans for new buildings on the campus. These documents were produced as part of an initiative to modernize the curriculum to reflect current educational and therapeutic developments. The series also contains published pamphlets and programs reporting on the progress of Children's Village in the early twentieth century

Box 96 Folder 2 to 3 "Brief Survey of Children's Village,", 1929, (2 Folders)

Box 96 Folder 5 Minard, G. C. to Edmund Dwight, 1934 December 6

Request Box 97

Box 97 New York University Studies and Reports

Box 97 Folder 1 "First Semi-Annual Statement Concerning Educational Re-Organization at Children's Village,", 1931

Box 97 Folder 2 "A Little Theatre for Children's Village," Mary Allen Tippett, 1931

Box 97 Folder 3 "Report on the Francis McMillan School of Carpentry," Hugo J. P. Vitz,, 1931

Box 97 Folder 4 "Report on the Michael Friedsam School of Masonry," Hugo J. P. Vitz, 1931

Box 97 Folder 5 "Report on the Willets-Schulte Plumbing School," Hugo J. P. Vitz, 1931

Box 97 Folder 6 "Report on the Lytelton Deane Electrical School," Hugo J. P. Vitz, 1931

Box 97 Folder 7 "Prevocational Building Study,", 1931

Box 97 Folder 8 "From Juvenile Asylum to Treatment Center," Peter Carr Sexias, M.A. Thesis,, 1981

Box 97 Folder 9 "Open Letter from the President to the Members of the Board of Directors,", 1926 September 15

Box 97 Folder 10 "Proceedings of the National Conference of Juvenile Agencies,", 1936 September

Collection Overview

Collection Contents

New York Juvenile Asylum records (Children's Village), 1853-1954

Series I: Administrative Records, 1853-1954

Series II: General Operation Records, 1853- 1950

Series III: Daily Logs, 1858-1953

Series IV: Children's Village, 1921-1936