The Travelers Aid Society of New York (TAS-NY) was founded by
Grace Hoadley Dodge
Grace Hoadley Dodge (May 21, 1856December 27, 1914) was an American philanthropist who was the first woman appointed a member of the New York Board of Education.
Early life
Grace was born in Manhattan on May 21, 1856. She was the oldest of six ...
in New York City in 1907. Thirteen other prominent Christian and Jewish women, including the social worker
Belle Moskowitz, made up the Society's first Board of Directors. The Travelers Aid Society's purpose was to provide social work to women traveling alone in order to protect them from moral danger. The TAS-NY believed that the greatest threat to female travelers in the early twentieth century was
white slave trafficking, defined as the coercion of "white" women into prostitution and their subsequent sale to procurers or male clients. Agents of the Travelers Aid Society patrolled
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
and
Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
, as well as the city's piers where transatlantic ocean liners docked, looking for women who they identified as vulnerable. Services usually entailed safely escorting women, immigrant and native-born alike, to city addresses, other transportation lines, or to a temporary lodging home, such as the
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
.
The TAS-NY's first headquarters was a four-story row house located a short walk from Grand Central Terminal at 238 East 48th St in the Turtle Bay neighborhood.
When Grace Dodge died in 1914, General Secretary
Orin Clarkson Baker
Orin Clarkson Baker (1864, Ohio - 1957, Miami, Florida) was General Secretary of the Travelers Aid Society of New York (TAS-NY) from 1911-1917. The TAS-NY was formed by Grace Hoadley Dodge in 1907 to protect native-born and immigrant women from t ...
became the driving force behind the Travelers Aid Society. Baker oversaw the expansion of its work in the city. By 1917, the TAS-NY had agents on duty at all the major rail terminals in New York and New Jersey and met all of the incoming transatlantic ocean liners, as well as some domestic ships. Baker abruptly resigned from the TAS-NY in 1919.
[ pp. 31-33. Cimino, "Travelers' Aid Society," p. 50]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travelers Aid Society Of New York
Non-profit organizations based in New York City