New York Nursery and Child's Hospital was an obstetrics and pediatrics hospital founded on May 2, 1854 by
Mary Ann Delafield DuBois
Mary Ann Delafield DuBois (November 6, 1813 – October 27, 1888) was an American sculptor and philanthropist. In 1854 she was co-founder of New York Nursery and Child's Hospital, and was the hospital's director.
Early life
Mary Ann Delafield w ...
and Ana R. Emmit in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Initially the Hospital served as a foundling home and provided care for New York's working women and their children. It was a pioneer in treating infants under the age of two.
[Virginia A. Metaxas Quiroga]
"Female Lay Managers and Scientific Pediatrics at Nursery and Child's Hospital, 1854–1910"
''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' 60(2)(Summer 1986): 194–208.
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History
Forerunners to the Hospital included the Marion Street Maternity Hospital, which was organized in 1823 and then incorporated in 1827 as “The New York Female Asylum for Lying-In Women."
Its stated mission was:
:To furnish comfortable conditions and skillful attendance to respectable married women who require an asylum during the period of their confinement, and also to supply competent medical care to deserving married women at their homes under similar circumstances.
In 1854, a hospital was founded under the name, "The Nursery for the Children of Poor Women," by DuBois and Emmit. It provided care for the children of
wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...
s while they were at work.
Later, its scope was broadened and it became known as the Nursery and Child's Hospital. DuBois served as its director for more than 30 years.
In 1899, the
New York Infant Asylum
The New York Infant Asylum was a New York City institution that provided care for abandoned children and obstetrical services for unwed or indigent mothers from 1865 to 1910.
History
Establishment and mission
The New York Infant Asylum was es ...
consolidated with the Marion Street Maternity Hospital. Those combined institutions were then joined with the Nursery and Child's Hospital to become the New York Nursery and Child's Hospital in 1910.
According to an Annual Report, its work consisted of:
#A Lying-in Hospital;
#A Hospital for sick children;
#A Boarding-out Department, supplanting the nursery in the Building. The foundling children are placed in suitable homes and their general welfare supervised by visitors from the hospital;
#An Outside Obstetrical Department, continuing the work begun by the Old Marion Street Maternity Hospital. Physicians connected with the staff are sent to the homes of those who apply for aid;
#The training of nursery maids, who, after a systematic course in the care of young children, are open to employment in private families.
File:New York Nursery and Child's Hospital Annual Report (1910) (14765564304).jpg, alt=New York Nursery and Child's Hospital Annual Report (1910), Table from the hospital's Annual Report (1910) showing cost per day to feed its staff.
During the 1930s the hospital was in financial trouble and on November 21, 1934 it was absorbed by the
New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospit ...
.
[{{Cite web , url=https://library.weill.cornell.edu/new-york-nursery-and-childs-hospital , title=New York Nursery and Child's Hospital , website=Weill Cornell Medicine Samuel J. Wood Library , access-date=2020-03-04] Its specialty departments were discontinued and their services were taken on by other New York City institutions. The hospital's foster home became the New York Child's Foster Home Service.
References
Maternity hospitals in the United States
Defunct hospitals in New York (state)
1854 establishments in New York (state)
Women in New York City
History of women in New York (state)
History of New York City