The Boston Female Asylum (1803–1910) was an orphanage in Boston, Massachusetts, US "for the care of indigent girls."U.S. Bureau of the Census. Benevolent institutions, 1904; p.78 Its mission was to "receive ... protect ... and instruct ... female orphans until the age of 10 years, when they are placed in respectable families."Boston Directory. 1807
History The Asylum incorporated in 1803. Hannah Stillman served as its first director.Boston Female Asylum. Act of incorporation. 1803 At the time, "the only public charities then existing in our good town of Boston, except the Almshouse, were the Boston Marine Society, ... the Boston Humane Society, ... and the Boston Dispensary.Reminiscences of the Boston Female Asylum. 1844; p.8 As late as 1886, some found notable that "the asylum is under the direction of a board of lady managers."Bacon's dictionary of Boston. 1886
Early supporters included Robert Treat Paine Jr. Annual fundraising events raised substantial sums. For instance, the 1803 fundraiser at Trinity Church included a sermon by Samuel Parker, "an ode written for the occasion, ... [and] the Franklin Musical Society [which] performed the musical part, to great satisfaction." After the event, local newspaper publishers Gilbert & Dean wrote: "we have not learnt what collections the society made, but it must have been above five hundred dollars."Boston Weekly Magazine, Sept. 24, 1803.
In 1807 the orphanage was located on South Street; in 1823 on Essex Street;Boston Directory. 1823 and from the ca.1840s on Washington Street. By 1873, "between 70 and 80 children are provided for in the Asylum. ... Annual expenses, which are between $11,000 and $12,000, are defrayed mostly by income from permanent funds, and to small extent by annual subscriptions."Annual report of the Board of State Charities of Massachusetts. 1874
"Beginning in 1902, the managers of the asylum came to feel strongly ... in favor of the use of the family home for the care of children, in preference to the institution. Gradually their work took on new form, until, in 1907, the asylum was finally closed, and family home care was entirely substituted."Hastings Hart. Preventive treatment of neglected children. NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 1910; p.163.
In 1910 the organization changed its name to the Boston Society for the Care of Girls.Hart. 1910 Some years later, it "merged with the Boston Children's Aid Society in 1923 to form the Children's Aid Association."University of Massachusetts Boston. Boston Female Asylum: Records, 1800-1946. http://openarchives.umb.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15774coll8/id/144/rec/3 Retrieved 2016-07-05 Then in 1980, the Children's Aid Association "merged with the Boston Children’s Friend Society, an adoption agency formed in 1883, and Boston Children’s Services (BCS) was born.""CAA’s other founding forces included the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, the first foundling hospital in the U.S., and the North End Mission, a child care agency and Sunday school established in 1867. In 1980, CAA merged with the Boston Children’s Friend Society, an adoption agency formed in 1883, and Boston Children’s Services (BCS) was born." https://www.thehome.org/our-history Retrieved 2022-08-02 In the 2000s Boston Children’s Services, New England Home for Little Wanderers, Parents’ and Children’s Services, and Charles River Health Management merged into The Home for Little Wanderers, which provides a variety of services in Massachusetts.
Locations in Boston South Street (ca.1807) 62 Essex St. (ca.1823) Washington St., corner Asylum St. (ca.1844-1857);Boston Directory. 1848, 1856 750 Washington St. (ca.1873);Annual report of the Board of State Charities of Massachusetts. 1874 1008 Washington St. (ca.1904)
Variant names Asylum for Female Orphans Boston Female Asylum for OrphansAmerican Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 6376 Boston Female Society for Destitute OrphansWainwright. A sermon preached on the anniversary of the Boston Female Society for Destitute Orphans: September 25, 1835. Female Orphan Asylum
References
Further reading Robert Treat Paine Jr. Communication on the Boston Female Asylum. Boston Gazette, April 1, 1802. Reprinted in: The works in verse and prose. 1812; p. 344+ Samuel Parker. Sermon for the Benefit of the Boston Female Asylum. 1803. An account of the rise, progress, and present state of the Boston Female Asylum. Together with the act of incorporation. Also, the bye-laws, and rules and regulations, adopted by the Board of Managers. 1810. F.W.P. Greenwood. A Sermon delivered on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Boston Female Asylum, Sept. 23, 1825. Boston: 1825 An account of the Boston Female Asylum. 1833 Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright. A sermon preached on the anniversary of the Boston Female Society for Destitute Orphans: September 25, 1835. Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, 1835 Reminiscences of the Boston Female Asylum. 1844. Saved from the street. Our Boys and Girls, v.11, no.224, March 1872. Records of the Boston Female Asylum: Transcribed, cross-referenced and annotated by Ann S. Lainhart, 2013.