Orphans

Newspaper article reporting on the concert at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Masonic Home of Utica which consisted of professional performers as well as children from the home dancing and performing music. The concert raised over $5,000 for the Masonic Home and the children enjoyed their trip to New York City. Letters received by William J. Wiley, superintendent of the home, are also printed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-29

C. Williamson thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his kind letter and sends a clipping of the results of the entertainment at Carnegie Hall by the orphans. Williamson also asks for a photograph of Roosevelt and shares that he lost his masonic pin while traveling.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-29

Spencer P. Hawkins asks Theodore Roosevelt for a donation to Louisburg Normal and Industrial School for orphans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-19

Eugene A. Philbin praises President Roosevelt on his handling of a meeting with Monsignor Ambrose Agius. Agius will soon be serving in the Philippines. Philbin writes that Roosevelt can mask a cross-examination as a friendly interview. Philbin has met with Arizona’s Governor Alexander O. Brodie and discussed the custody case involving the wards of the New York Foundling Hospital.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-03

Attorney General Moody forwards a letter from Arizona’s United States Attorney regarding wards from the New York Foundling Hospital that were recently sent to Arizona. The case is a difficult one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-25

United States Attorney Frederick S. Nave reports to Attorney General Moody regarding a court case involving a custody dispute. Nave writes that residents of Clifton, Arizona, seized recently adopted orphans from the homes of the “Mexican laborers” who had adopted them. The case eventually reached the Arizona State Court in 1906 in the case New York Foundling Hospital vs. Gatti.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-18

Governor Brodie of Arizona reports to William Loeb the actions he has taken related to foundling children at Morenci and Clifton. He decided that given the impending election it would be best to delay any action for a couple days and set out a plan for the Catholic society to follow if they want to take possession of the children. Brodie feels that “it was a very nasty case from the beginning,” and suspects that the press was trying to mislead President Roosevelt and the public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

Theodore Roosevelt informs Fairfax Henry Wheelan that his schedule does not allow him to make the speech that Wheelan requested. He adds that he does not know enough about the topic of putting homeless children in childless homes to speak on it without studying further.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-07

List contains names of individuals who were sent invitations to the Orphan Conference on February 19, 1909, after attending without any invitations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02-19

List of recipients to whom the Orphan Conference invitations were sent to on January 25, 1909. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-25

If President Roosevelt had received Thomas M. Mulry’s letter before writing his own, he would have qualified his statement about child-placing. In general, Roosevelt prefers children to be placed in homes over being placed in institutions. Roosevelt has invited the people Mulry mentioned to attend his conference, but wonders if by inviting one religious person, it becomes necessary to invite people of every sect.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-28

President Roosevelt invites Hannah Kent Schoff to a conference about the care of orphans in America. Roosevelt believes that it is better for children to be raised in family homes than in orphanages, and comments on developments in Massachusetts where they have been very successful in placing children in welcoming homes with foster parents. He hopes that Schoff will be able to attend.

Copies of this letter are also being sent to a number of other authorities from different states connected with child care, education, charities, social settlements, and various religious institutions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

President Roosevelt thanks Charles C. Bull for writing to him about the orphans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-03

A letter sent by Juliet Lamont requests that the remainder of the funds sent by Mrs. Cassatt be transferred to the Army Relief Society. President Roosevelt would like to know if this is possible.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-05-20

Since returning home, Jean G. McCracken, assistant probation officer for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, has frequently thought about C. Wilfred Bourne and the Golden Gate Orphanage. While McCracken typically opposes orphanages and institutions, he approves of the work Bourne does and of the environment he has created for the orphaned children.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-09

Owen M. Waller thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his letter commending the work on the Howard Asylum, and hopes Roosevelt will allow him to use the letter as positive publicity to appeal to the public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-08

The article discusses how Minnesota’s public school in Owatonna houses and provides for children from poverty-stricken families or those lacking sufficient support. While it is a necessary institution, it is frequently overcrowded and has a waiting list. Cyrus Townsend Brady recently commented on the benefits of the state providing pensions for widows with dependents instead of removing their children to an institution. Such a program would not cost more than the school’s current expenditures. Additionally, forming a state commission to investigate poverty would aid the initiative.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-09

A list of eight persons and their addresses invited to the orphan conference.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-15

A list of eighteen names and addresses for individuals invited to the orphan conference.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-13

A list of fifty-seven names and addresses to which invitations to the Orphan Conference were sent.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-04