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NYC Department of Records - Municipal Archives' Collections - Almshouse, 1758-1953 (227 words) |
 | The city maintained an almshouse, various hospitals, and a "workhouse" on Blackwell's Island (now called Roosevelt Island) for the poor. |
| Abandonment of children was not uncommon in the 19th century and many of these unwanted children were sent to the almshouse. |
| According to the ledger books, most children in the almshouse died from diarrhea, or malnutrition (infant formula had not been invented). |
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Exhibit: Hospital (311 words) |
| Since the primary requirement for admission to an almshouse was dependence, those who could afford to be treated at home obviously preferred to avoid the stigmatization of becoming an "inmate" at an almshouse. |
| It was not until the acceptance of the antiseptic process and the routine administration of anesthesia, the increasing importance placed on surgery, and the rise of the private hospital at the end of the nineteenth century that hospital treatment for illness became commonplace for the middle class. |
| Almshouses and hospitals for the poor in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston all benefitted from association with medical schools in the nineteenth century. |
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