Protecting Delinquent Children

Dublin Core

Title

Protecting Delinquent Children

Description

When clubwomen encountered children in poorhouses and jails, they saw future paupers and criminals. The 1891 children’s illustration below depicts the doomed trajectory of troublesome children. The CWC tried to intervene in the process and place juvenile children in safe, comfortable homes with the hope of steering youth toward productive and respectable lives. In the 1902 Report of the Reform Department of the Chicago Woman’s Club, Mary Plummer asserted that “it is the earnest desire and a large part of the work of this Committee to relieve the Poor House of every child, which can be placed preferably in homes, or, failing, in suitable institutions.”

Source

Image: “Quarrelsome Children in Contrast with Those of Sweet Disposition.,” March 25, 2011. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?strucID=1869923&imageID=1699625.
Literary Program: Annual Announcements of the Chicago Woman’s Club, 1876-1920. Loyola University Chicago. Women & Leadership Archives. Chicago Woman’s Club. Boxes 1-5.
Minutes: Chicago Woman’s Club Records, Chicago History Museum.

Files

delinquent illustration.jpg
Literary Programs Related to Juvenile Delinquency
"They are growing up to be paupers and criminals"
"The Juvenile Court, our pet philanthropy"
"Assist in stemming this tide of <br /> corruption"
"Little ones started on the road <br /> to a healthful happy useful life"

Citation

“Protecting Delinquent Children,” Loyola University Chicago Digital Special Collections, accessed December 22, 2024, http://specialcollections.luc.edu/items/show/920.