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{{Short description|Closed Jewish orphanage in New York CIty}}
The '''Hebrew Orphan Asylum''' was a [[Jewish]] [[orphanage]] in [[New York City]]. It was founded in [[1860]] by the Hebrew Benevolent Society. It was closed in [[1941]], after it was decided that children thrive better in foster care or small group homes, rather than in large institutions.
{{Infobox organization
| name = Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York
| image = Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Amsterdam Avenue, New York (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| alt = <!-- see [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption =
| map = <!-- map image -->
| map_size = <!-- defaults to 250px -->
| map_alt =
| map_caption =
| successor = Jewish Child Care Association (JCCA)
| established = {{start date and age|1860}} <!-- use {{start date and age|YYY|MM|DD}} -->
| dissolved = {{end date and age|1941}} <!-- or |defunct = --><!-- use {{end date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| type = <!-- e.g., [[Nonprofit organization|Nonprofit]], [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]], etc. -->
| status = [[Orphanage]]
| purpose = <!-- or |focus = --><!-- humanitarian, activism, peacekeeping, etc. -->
| headquarters = {{Plainlist|1860: Lamartine Place (West 29th Street)
* 1863: East 77th Street near Third Avenue
* 1884: Amsterdam Avenue, between 136th and 138th Streets
}}
| location_city = [[Manhattan]]
| location_country = United States
| coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LON|display=inline,title}} -->
| origins = [[Mortara case]]
| region_served = [[New York City]]
| services =
| fields = <!-- or |field = -->
| key_people =
| parent_organization = Hebrew Benevolent Society
| secessions = [[Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum]]
| funding = <!-- source of funding e.g. for "think tanks" -->
| staff =
| staff_year =
| students =
| students_year =
| remarks =
| formerly = <!-- or |former_name = -->
| footnotes =
| bodystyle =
}}


The '''Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York''' ('''HOA''') was a [[Jewish]] [[orphanage]] in [[New York City]]. It was founded in 1860 by the Hebrew Benevolent Society. It closed in 1941, after [[pedagogy|pedagogical research]] concluded that children thrive better in foster care or small group homes, rather than in large institutions. The successor organization is the [[JCCA]], formerly called the Jewish Child Care Association.
Its successor organization is the [[Jewish Child Care Association]].

[[Henry Fernbach]] designed the asylum building on 77th Street near Third Avenue. The [[Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum]] was constructed in [[Brooklyn]], New York. In 1884 the Hebrew Benevolent Society constructed a large orphanage building at [[Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)|Amsterdam Avenue]] between 136th and 138th Streets. It was designed by [[William H. Hume]] in the [[Modern Renaissance architecture]] style.


==History==
==History==
{{Multiple image
|direction=vertical
|width=220px
|image1=Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, Valentine's Manual (cropped).jpg
|image2=Bromley Manhattan and Bronx Plate 21 publ. 1879 (cropped).jpg
|footer=The 77th Street building in the 1870s
}}
{{Multiple image
|direction=vertical
|width=220px
|image1=Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Amsterdam Avenue, New York (cropped).jpg
|image2=Sanborn Manhattan V.11 Plate 243 publ. 1893.jpg
|footer=Amsterdam Avenue building in 1893
}}
[[File:Archives of American Art - William Karp - 2970 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Federal Art Project|WPA]] mural for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum by William Karp (1938)]]


In 1822, the Hebrew Benevolent Society was established by [[Sephardic]] and [[Ashkenazic]] Jews to take care of Jewish orphans .<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>. Conflicts between the two groups, however, delayed the creation of an orphanage for nearly forty years. In 1858, the [[kidnapping]] of [[Edgardo Mortara]] in the [[Papal States]] galvanized the group to establish an orphanage. A dinner was held in December 1858 and had raised $10,000 for this purpose, until a conflict between [[Reformed]] and [[Orthodox]] Jews over the wearing of [[yarmulkes]] caused a "Tammany-style brawl." Fortunately, gentiles who were attending the dinner, including Mayor [[Daniel Tiemann]], intervened and broke up the fight.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>
In 1822, the [[Hebrew Benevolent Society]] was established by [[Sephardic]] and [[Ashkenazic]] Jews to take care of Jewish orphans.<ref>[Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. ]p.17</ref> Conflicts between the two groups, however, delayed the creation of an orphanage for nearly forty years. In 1858, the [[kidnapping]] of [[Edgardo Mortara]] in the [[Papal States]] galvanized the group to establish an orphanage. A dinner was held in December 1858 raised $10,000. At the dinner, conflict broke out between [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] attendees over the wearing of [[yarmulkes]] and caused a "[[Tammany Hall|Tammany]]-style brawl." [[Gentiles]] who were attending the dinner, including Mayor [[Daniel Tiemann]], intervened and broke up the fight.<ref>[Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City.]p.22</ref>


The practice of holding annual dinners then ceased, but the Hebrew Benevolent Society did establish an orphanage, which opened in a rented townhouse on Lamartine Place in [[Chelsea, Manhattan|Chelsea]] in 1860 with several dozen boys and girls.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref> On each holiday the children were taken to a different synagogue, to placate the different brands of Judaism of the sponsoring organizations.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref> During the [[Draft Riots]], the mobs came to the very street where the orphanage was, but did not attack it,<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref> unlike the Colored Children's Orphan Asylum. In 1863 the orphanage moved to a purpose-built home on east 77th Street near Third Avenue.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref> In the orphanage, girls taught were domestic skills, while the boys were taught shoemaking and printing; the orphanage's printshop produced a magazine, ''Young Israel,'' to which [[Horatio Alger]] supplied a serial novel.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>
The practice of holding annual dinners ceased, but the Hebrew Benevolent Society did establish an orphanage, which opened in a rented three story brickhouse on Lamartine Place (now West 29th Street) in [[Chelsea, Manhattan|Chelsea]] in 1860 with several dozen boys and girls.<ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=rmmEngEACAAJ&q=luckiest+orphans Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "] p. 22.</ref> On each holiday the children were taken to a different synagogue, to placate the different brands of Judaism of the sponsoring organizations.<ref name="books.google.com"/> During the [[Draft Riots]], the mobs came to the very street where the orphanage was, but did not attack it,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rmmEngEACAAJ&q=luckiest+orphans Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "] p. 30.</ref> unlike the Colored Children's Orphan Asylum. In November 1863 the orphanage moved to a purpose-built home on East 77th Street near Third Avenue.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rmmEngEACAAJ&q=luckiest+orphans Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "] pp. 30.</ref> In the orphanage, girls were taught domestic skills, while the boys were taught shoemaking and printing; the orphanage's printshop produced a magazine, ''Young Israel,'' to which [[Horatio Alger]] supplied a [[serial novel]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rmmEngEACAAJ&q=luckiest+orphans Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "] p. 50.</ref> In 1874 the organization renamed itself the "Hebrew Benefit Society and Orphan Asylum," and agreed to accept $110 a year in public funds to care for each orphan.<ref name="The History of JCCA: 1822-1915.">[http://www.jccany.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_history1 "The History of JCCA: 1822-1915."].</ref>


In 1878, the organization, overwhelmed, agreed to accept only Manhattan children. This led to the formation of the [[Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of Brooklyn]].<ref name="The History of JCCA: 1822-1915."/>
Between 1860 and 1919 13,500 children were admitted to the home. Few children, however, were adopted, since most were actually half-orphans, members of a family which one parent (usually the father) had deserted and which the surviving parent could not support.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>


Between 1860 and 1919, some 13,500 children were admitted to the home. Few children, however, were adopted, since most were actually half-orphans, members of a family which one parent (usually the father) had deserted and which the surviving parent could not support. The asylum was used, in effect, as a boarding school.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rmmEngEACAAJ&q=luckiest+orphans Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "]</ref>
In 1882 the Hebrew Benevolent Society constructed a large building at Amsterdam Avenue, between 136th and 138th Streets, in the Modern Renaissance style. The building cost $750,000 (including the land), and $60,000 a year to operate. The building housed one thousand children. It had its own water filtration system, installed after a dysentery outbreak in 1898 that left seven children dead was caused by impurities in the city's water supply. It was self-sufficient enough that it was able to survive for a week on its own after it was cut off during the [[Blizzard of 1888]]. During the [[influenza epidemic of 1918]], not a single child in the orphanage died.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>


By 1920 the orphanage was losing its position to the Pleasantville Cottage School, which, unlike the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, was not a large institutional building but a series of cottages in a rural area. The Hebrew Orphan Asylum decided to rebuild on the cottage system on land that it owned in the Bronx; it would raise money to do this by selling the orphanage to the [[Yankees]], who wanted land to build a rival stadium to the [[Polo Grounds]]. This deal fell through, the Yankees instead built a stadium in the Bronx, and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum was finally closed in 1941.<ref>[http://www.cofc.edu/~jwst/pages/vanAlkemade%20Orphans%20Together%20+.pdf Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum,"]p. 1.</ref>
In 1884 the Hebrew Benevolent Society constructed a large building at Amsterdam Avenue, between 136th and 138th Streets, in the Modern Renaissance style, designed by [[William H. Hume]]. The building cost $750,000 (including the land), and $60,000 a year to operate. The building eventually had a capacity of 1,755 children.<ref name="The History of JCCA: 1822-1915."/> It was self-sufficient enough that it was able to survive for a week on its own after it was cut off during the [[Great Blizzard of 1888|Blizzard of 1888]]. After a dysentery outbreak in 1898, caused by impurities in the city's water supply, left seven children dead, the building installed its own water filtration system. During the [[influenza epidemic of 1918]] not a single child in the orphanage died.<ref>[http://kimvanalkemade.com/orphans_together.pdf van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum "] pp. 3-4.</ref>


In 1915 the Child Welfare Act was passed, which granted allowances to widows. Within two years the orphanage population in the city shrank by 3,000 children as women became able to care for their children.<ref name="The History of JCCA: 1822-1915."/> By 1920 the orphanage was losing its position to the Pleasantville Cottage School (established 1912), which, unlike the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, was not a large institutional building but a group of cottages in a rural area.<ref name="The History of JCCA: 1822-1915."/> The Hebrew Orphan Asylum decided to rebuild on the cottage system on land that it owned in the Bronx; it would raise money to do this by selling the orphanage to the [[New York Yankees|Yankees]], who wanted land to build a rival stadium to the [[Polo Grounds]]. This deal fell through, the Yankees instead built a [[Yankee Stadium|stadium in the Bronx]], and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum closed in 1941.<ref>[http://kimvanalkemade.com/orphans_together.pdf van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum "] pp. 7-8.</ref>
==Notable Alumni==


After the Asylum closed in 1941, the building was used by [[City College of New York|City College]] to house members of the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to the [[Army Specialized Training Program]] (ASTP). From 1946 to 1955, it was used as a dormitory, library, and classroom space for the college. It was called "Army Hall" until it was demolished in 1955 and 1956 by the [[New York City Department of Parks]], who replaced it with the Jacob H. Schiff Playground.<ref>[http://kimvanalkemade.com/orphans_together.pdf van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum"] p. 7-8.</ref>
* [[Art Buchwald]]

==Cultural influences==

The California and New York artist [[Henry Alexander (painter)|Henry Alexander's]] painting of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum was his favorite work and was found in his studio after his suicide.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1894/05/16/archives/artist-alexander-commits-suicide-ends-his-life-with-poison.html "Artist Alexander Commits Suicide,"] ''New York Times'', May 16, 1894.</ref>

The Hebrew Orphan Asylum appears in [[Gail Carson Levine]]'s book, ''[[Dave at Night]]'', under the name the "Hebrew Home for Boys." The protagonist hates the poor food, strict rules, and the bullying, and nicknames the place the "Hopeless House of Beggars" and the "Hell Hole for Brats." The author's father attended the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.

==Superintendents==

* Samuel Hart (1860-1865)
* [[Max Grünbaum]] (1865-1867)
* Louis Schnabel (1868-1875)
* [[Herman Baar]] (1876–1899)
* David Adler (1900-1908)
* Dr. [[Ludwig B. Bernstein]] (1909)
* [[Solomon Lowenstein]] (1909-1919)
* Lionel Simmonds (1920-1941)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=250011|title=Guide to the Records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York, undated, 1855-2013|accessdate=May 5, 2020}}</ref>

==Notable alumni==

* [[Art Buchwald]] (admitted in the 1930s, so not available in the web-based records)
* [[Irwin Corey]] (1914-2017)
* [[Becky Edelsohn]] (1892–1973), after she was discharged she lived in the home of [[Emma Goldman]]
* [[Edwin Franko Goldman]] (admitted 1887, discharged 1894)
* [[Hank Kaplan]]
* [[Nathan Mantel]] (1919–2002)<ref>{{Citation|title=Encyclopedia of Biostatistics | chapter=Mantel, Nathan | first1=Lauren| last1=Hale |first2=Benjamin | last2=Hale| doi=10.1002/0470011815.b2a17093 | year=2005 | publisher=Wiley Interscience| isbn=9780470849071 }}</ref>
* [[Harold Tovish]] (1921–2008)<ref name="globe-obit">{{cite news|url= http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/03/16/harold_tovish_86_sculptor_was_ambitious_for_excellence/?page=full%7C |title=Harold Tovish, 86; sculptor was ambitious for excellence |first=Bryan |last=Marquard |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=16 March 2008 }}</ref>

==Archival collections==

The [http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=250011 archives] of the institution are on deposit with the American Jewish Historical Society, at New York's [[Center for Jewish History]]. The admission and discharge registers for 1860 through 1928 can be [http://www.cjh.org/collections/genealogy/HOA.php searched via the web].

Nearly fifty oral history interviews about the institution are on deposit at the [[New York Public Library]] as part of the American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection.

==See also==
[[Hebrew National Orphan Home]] (another Jewish orphanage in New York City)


==References==
==References==
Line 24: Line 117:
==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==


Hyman Bogen, ''The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992).
Kim van Alkmade, [http://kimvanalkemade.com/orphans_together.pdf "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum."] (includes illustrations).

Hyman Bogen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OporUkzucQkC&q=jewish+orphan+asylum+new+york The Luckiest Orphans]: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992).

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Education of Orphan Children}}
{{stack|{{Commons category|Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York}}}}
*[http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=250011 Records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York] at the American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY
*[http://www.jccany.org JCCA] (formerly called the Jewish Child Care Association), successor organization to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York; also includes pages on the history of Jewish child welfare organizations in New York City


{{DEFAULTSORT:Hebrew Orphan Asylum Of New York}}
[[Category:Orphanages]]
[[Category:Jewish communal organizations]]
[[Category:Orphanages in New York City]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in New York City]]
[[Category:Jewish community organizations]]
[[Category:Jewish American history]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Jewish-American history]]
[[Category:Jewish orphanages]]
[[Category:1860 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1941 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Hamilton Heights, Manhattan]]
[[Category:Hebrew Benevolent Society]]

Latest revision as of 20:54, 21 February 2024

Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York
SuccessorJewish Child Care Association (JCCA)
Established1860; 164 years ago (1860)
Dissolved1941; 83 years ago (1941)
Legal statusOrphanage
Headquarters
1860: Lamartine Place (West 29th Street)
  • 1863: East 77th Street near Third Avenue
  • 1884: Amsterdam Avenue, between 136th and 138th Streets
Location
OriginsMortara case
Region served
New York City
Parent organization
Hebrew Benevolent Society
SecessionsBrooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum

The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York (HOA) was a Jewish orphanage in New York City. It was founded in 1860 by the Hebrew Benevolent Society. It closed in 1941, after pedagogical research concluded that children thrive better in foster care or small group homes, rather than in large institutions. The successor organization is the JCCA, formerly called the Jewish Child Care Association.

Henry Fernbach designed the asylum building on 77th Street near Third Avenue. The Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum was constructed in Brooklyn, New York. In 1884 the Hebrew Benevolent Society constructed a large orphanage building at Amsterdam Avenue between 136th and 138th Streets. It was designed by William H. Hume in the Modern Renaissance architecture style.

History[edit]

The 77th Street building in the 1870s
Amsterdam Avenue building in 1893
WPA mural for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum by William Karp (1938)

In 1822, the Hebrew Benevolent Society was established by Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews to take care of Jewish orphans.[1] Conflicts between the two groups, however, delayed the creation of an orphanage for nearly forty years. In 1858, the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara in the Papal States galvanized the group to establish an orphanage. A dinner was held in December 1858 raised $10,000. At the dinner, conflict broke out between Reform and Orthodox attendees over the wearing of yarmulkes and caused a "Tammany-style brawl." Gentiles who were attending the dinner, including Mayor Daniel Tiemann, intervened and broke up the fight.[2]

The practice of holding annual dinners ceased, but the Hebrew Benevolent Society did establish an orphanage, which opened in a rented three story brickhouse on Lamartine Place (now West 29th Street) in Chelsea in 1860 with several dozen boys and girls.[3] On each holiday the children were taken to a different synagogue, to placate the different brands of Judaism of the sponsoring organizations.[3] During the Draft Riots, the mobs came to the very street where the orphanage was, but did not attack it,[4] unlike the Colored Children's Orphan Asylum. In November 1863 the orphanage moved to a purpose-built home on East 77th Street near Third Avenue.[5] In the orphanage, girls were taught domestic skills, while the boys were taught shoemaking and printing; the orphanage's printshop produced a magazine, Young Israel, to which Horatio Alger supplied a serial novel.[6] In 1874 the organization renamed itself the "Hebrew Benefit Society and Orphan Asylum," and agreed to accept $110 a year in public funds to care for each orphan.[7]

In 1878, the organization, overwhelmed, agreed to accept only Manhattan children. This led to the formation of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of Brooklyn.[7]

Between 1860 and 1919, some 13,500 children were admitted to the home. Few children, however, were adopted, since most were actually half-orphans, members of a family which one parent (usually the father) had deserted and which the surviving parent could not support. The asylum was used, in effect, as a boarding school.[8]

In 1884 the Hebrew Benevolent Society constructed a large building at Amsterdam Avenue, between 136th and 138th Streets, in the Modern Renaissance style, designed by William H. Hume. The building cost $750,000 (including the land), and $60,000 a year to operate. The building eventually had a capacity of 1,755 children.[7] It was self-sufficient enough that it was able to survive for a week on its own after it was cut off during the Blizzard of 1888. After a dysentery outbreak in 1898, caused by impurities in the city's water supply, left seven children dead, the building installed its own water filtration system. During the influenza epidemic of 1918 not a single child in the orphanage died.[9]

In 1915 the Child Welfare Act was passed, which granted allowances to widows. Within two years the orphanage population in the city shrank by 3,000 children as women became able to care for their children.[7] By 1920 the orphanage was losing its position to the Pleasantville Cottage School (established 1912), which, unlike the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, was not a large institutional building but a group of cottages in a rural area.[7] The Hebrew Orphan Asylum decided to rebuild on the cottage system on land that it owned in the Bronx; it would raise money to do this by selling the orphanage to the Yankees, who wanted land to build a rival stadium to the Polo Grounds. This deal fell through, the Yankees instead built a stadium in the Bronx, and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum closed in 1941.[10]

After the Asylum closed in 1941, the building was used by City College to house members of the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). From 1946 to 1955, it was used as a dormitory, library, and classroom space for the college. It was called "Army Hall" until it was demolished in 1955 and 1956 by the New York City Department of Parks, who replaced it with the Jacob H. Schiff Playground.[11]

Cultural influences[edit]

The California and New York artist Henry Alexander's painting of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum was his favorite work and was found in his studio after his suicide.[12]

The Hebrew Orphan Asylum appears in Gail Carson Levine's book, Dave at Night, under the name the "Hebrew Home for Boys." The protagonist hates the poor food, strict rules, and the bullying, and nicknames the place the "Hopeless House of Beggars" and the "Hell Hole for Brats." The author's father attended the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.

Superintendents[edit]

Notable alumni[edit]

Archival collections[edit]

The archives of the institution are on deposit with the American Jewish Historical Society, at New York's Center for Jewish History. The admission and discharge registers for 1860 through 1928 can be searched via the web.

Nearly fifty oral history interviews about the institution are on deposit at the New York Public Library as part of the American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection.

See also[edit]

Hebrew National Orphan Home (another Jewish orphanage in New York City)

References[edit]

  1. ^ [Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. ]p.17
  2. ^ [Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City.]p.22
  3. ^ a b Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), " p. 22.
  4. ^ Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), " p. 30.
  5. ^ Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), " pp. 30.
  6. ^ Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), " p. 50.
  7. ^ a b c d e "The History of JCCA: 1822-1915.".
  8. ^ Bogen, Hyman. The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.), "
  9. ^ van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum " pp. 3-4.
  10. ^ van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum " pp. 7-8.
  11. ^ van Alkemade, Kim. Orphans Together: A History of New York’s Hebrew Orphan Asylum" p. 7-8.
  12. ^ "Artist Alexander Commits Suicide," New York Times, May 16, 1894.
  13. ^ "Guide to the Records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York, undated, 1855-2013". Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  14. ^ Hale, Lauren; Hale, Benjamin (2005), "Mantel, Nathan", Encyclopedia of Biostatistics, Wiley Interscience, doi:10.1002/0470011815.b2a17093, ISBN 9780470849071
  15. ^ Marquard, Bryan (16 March 2008). "Harold Tovish, 86; sculptor was ambitious for excellence". Boston Globe.

Bibliography[edit]

Kim van Alkmade, "Orphans Together: A History of New York's Hebrew Orphan Asylum." (includes illustrations).

Hyman Bogen, The Luckiest Orphans: A History of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992).

External links[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York.
  • Records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York at the American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY
  • JCCA (formerly called the Jewish Child Care Association), successor organization to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York; also includes pages on the history of Jewish child welfare organizations in New York City
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