Day nursery and shelter case files, 1905-1950
The 1,500 case files produced by the Neighborhood Centre between 1905 and 1950 are a good resource for genealogical information about children placed at the Centre’s Day Nursery or Shelter. The Day Nursery was similar to a daycare, but provided subsequent services such as meals, health and psychological care, hygiene, and clothing. The Shelter acted as a temporary home for children whose parents were unable to care for them. Often, these children were placed or referred to other organizations such as the Jewish Foster Home or the Juvenile Aid Society for more permanent placement or adoption. The case files include the following information: family surname, parents’ and children’s first names, parents’ occupations, education, address, and ages. Supplementary information varies in breadth and depth by each case file, but may include caseworker’s reports, medical and psychological evaluations, correspondence, and school reports. A companion alphabetical index provides access to the individual case files. Due to the sensitive information contained within, the case files are restricted for 75 years from date of creation. The day nursery and shelter case files are series 1.2 in the Jewish Ys and Centers of Greater Philadelphia, Neighborhood Centre Branch Records collection.
A selection of pre-1920 case files have been digitized for the In Her Own Right project and are accessible online here
Admission and discharge registers, 1855-1950, and court reports, 1920-1939
The admission registers, created by a series of foster homes that eventually merged to become the Association for Jewish Children, record the names and ages of children entering the foster home, the date of entry, and in some cases nativity, an abbreviated statement of reason for placement, and date of discharge from the home. Some of the earliest records of admission also include indenture agreements or contracts signed by a parent or guardian binding the institution to provide food, clothing, medicine, and education for children placed there. In return, the parent or guardian committed the child to a stated number of years of labor. The admission registers cover the years 1855 through 1950. The bulk of the admission registers contain an index of names at the front of each register facilitating easy discovery of placed children. Note: these are birth names. If a child was adopted and the known name is an adoptive name there is no way to search the registers for an entry as the AJC did not record that information in these records.
The court reports on dependent and delinquency cases in the collection can act as a companion to the admission registers providing further information. The court reports, created by the Juvenile Aid Society, contain summary judgments for commitments and discharges of children placed at or under the care of various institutions including the foster homes as well as state hospitals. The court reports cover the years 1920 through 1939. You must know the date of placement or discharge to locate information on a child in the court reports.
Please note, that save for a few sporadic case summaries, this collection does not include adoption records or detailed case files on wards of the foster homes. The admission registers are located in series 1, 2 and 3 depending on the name of the agency (Jewish Foster Home, Hebrew Orphans Home, Foster Home for Hebrew Orphans) who created the ledger; court reports are in series 4 in the Association for Jewish Children Records collection.
Philadelphia Refugee Resettlement Committee Volunteer Service Cards, 1938-1941
The Philadelphia Refugee Resettlement Committee established in February 1937 by the Jewish Welfare Society, predecessor to the Jewish Family Service, and later known as the Philadelphia Committee for New Americans (PCNA), assisted with the economic and social adjustment of approximately 4,000 refugees displaced by Nazi Germany and its occupied territories. Profile cards on individuals and refugee families, created by the committee are available for the years 1938 to 1941. The committee would interview refugees after their arrival, creating a profile card summarizing the individual or family’s background and social preferences. Volunteers were then matched with refugees based on shared interests in the hopes of fostering a friendship.
Jewish Hospital registers, 1866-1951
Admissions and patient registers produced by the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia, predecessor of Einstein Healthcare Network, record information about patients and their care as well individuals admitted to the retirement home on the hospital’s campus. None of the registers contain information on maternity patients or births at the hospital.
Jewish Hospital
Main hospital register, 1866-1895, contains information on patients including name, admission date, age, birthplace, disease, discharge date, and date of death (when applicable).
Accident cases register, 1926-1933, contains information on patients including name, address, age, birthplace, gender, race, marital status, diagnosis, and name of employer.
Mathilde Adler Loeb Dispensary
Dispensary register, 1882-1887, contains information about consultations and medications provided to patients including name, admission date, age, address, diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment.
Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites
The three admissions registers for the Home for the Aged, 1866-1951, contain information on residents of the retirement home including name (English and Hebrew for the earliest entries), admission date, marital status, date of birth, birthplace, former occupation, emergency contact, date and cause of death, and place of burial. Two of the registers covering patient data from 1923 to 1951 contain an alphabetical name index.
