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On distant shores: the transatlantic foundations of child reform in the mid-nineteenth century

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Journal of Transatlantic Studies Aims and scope

Abstract

This essay sketches the development of a transatlantic network of reformers devoted to solving the problem of juvenile delinquency. It argues that during the middle of the nineteenth century juvenile reform practices spread through a web of newly created reform and social science associations in Europe and the USA. Through these organisations, experts and reformatory administrators developed personal and professional relationships. Child reformers shared papers and publications, and many of them travelled across the Atlantic to attend organisational meetings and tour each other’s institutions. Focusing on the interactions of several key members, this article illuminates the extensive and understudied exchange of ideas that shaped approaches to combating juvenile delinquency on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Notes

  1. Carpenter sunk deep roots in the social reform circles of the northeastern USA stemming from her outspoken support of antislavery––a position that brought her into close association with William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel May, and other renowned abolitionists.

  2. Boston Daily Advertiser, 13 May 1873.

  3. Carpenter [24, pp. 408–422].

  4. Local Matters [73], Personal Items [106], About Women [2], Local Matters [74], Miss Mary Carpenter [95].

  5. For example, see, Miss Mary Carpenter [92], Social Science [127], About Town [1], ‘Our Convicts [92, 100], Prison Reform: Lecture by Miss Mary Carpenter [111], Prison Reform: Lecture by Miss Mary Carpenter, New York Tribune, 6 June [92], Miss Carpenter’s Lecture [93]; Education in India: Lecture in Brooklyn by Miss Mary Carpenter [40], Carpenter, The Life and Work of Mary Carpenter, pp. 408–422.

  6. Carpenter, The Life and Work of Mary Carpenter, 409.

  7. McDaniel [81], Mulligan and Bric [97], Solar and Stewart [126], McFadden [82].

  8. Carpenter in particular was well-connected to several leading figures within the US antislavery movement, including William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel Gridley Howe, Samuel May, and Maria Weston Chapman. Extensive correspondence between Carpenter and these figures spans more than three decades. See, various correspondence (which is too voluminous to cite here in total) within the Anti-Slavery Collection [7], Rare Books Department, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA.

  9. The literature connecting nineteenth-century domestic, or ‘separate spheres’, ideology to social reform is vast. Some of the more influential works are: Boylan [15], Stansell [130], Ryan [118], Cott [35]. For more on the emergence of this ‘sheltered’ perspective on childhood see, Mintz [89], Grant [51, chapter 1]. For the role of literature in popularising and reflecting this view of childhood see, Sanchez-Eppler [120], Avery [8], McGavran [83], Plotz [110], Coveney [36].

  10. Mahood and Littlewood [76, p. 554].

  11. Meranze [87], Mennel [84, 86], Hawes [57], Rothman [117]. Recent examinations of juvenile delinquency activism, particularly focused on the Progressive Era, highlight the influence of racial politics and discourse of civilising in shaping approaches to juvenile delinquency. See, Bullard [23], Ward [138], Chavez-Garcia [33], Sallee [119].

  12. Holloran [64, p. 27]. Alexander W. Pisciotta reached a similar conclusion regarding the New York House of Refuge. See, Pisciotta [108, pp. 151–181].

  13. See, Magarey [75, pp. 11–27], Mennel [84, pp. 275–281], May [80, pp. 7–29]. For the social construction of juvenile delinquency in the later nineteenth-century see, Schneider [122], Platt [109, p. 9], Schlossman [121].

  14. For example, Barbara Brenzel notes that the founders of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, Massachusetts took a keen interest in a number of prominent European reform models and institutions, but the limited scope of her study only hints at the extent of transatlantic interaction and the influence of social science and reform organisations in popularising particular ideas. See, Brenzel [22, pp. 48–63]. Also see, Cunningham [38], Hawes, Children in Urban Society.

  15. Hanbury [53, p. 398]. Also see, Robert Culling Hanbury: A Sketch of His Life and Work (London: George Hunt, [n.d]), [114, pp. 32–36], Goldman [50, pp. 42–45].

  16. Proceedings of the First Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Reform in the United States of America Held in the City of New York (New York: Wynkoop, Hallenbeck, and Thomas, [112].

  17. Henry Barnard, Reformatory Education: Papers on Preventative, Correctional and Reformatory Institutions and Agencies in Different Countries. Part I. European States. Part II. United States (Hartford, CT: F.C. Brownell, [10]).

  18. Proceedings of the First Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Reform in the United States, 105–115. The Convention also published letters from John Cropper (Akbar Reformatory, Liverpool) and Ed. Ducpetiaux (Inspector-General of Prisons and Benevolent Institutions, Brussels).

  19. Villard [137, pp. 5–11].

  20. Hastings [56, pp. v–xiii]; American Social Science Association: Constitution, Address, and List of Members, July 1866 (Boston: Wright & Potter, Printers, [5, p. 3].

  21. Sklar [125, p. 65]. Also see, Goldman, Science, Reform, and Politics in Victorian Britain, pp. 115–117.

  22. Goldman [50], Foner [42], Leach [71], Haskell [55], Furner [46].

  23. Ross [116].

  24. Goldman [49, pp. 1–36].

  25. American Social Science Association: Constitution, Address, and List of Members, July 1866 (Boston: Wright & Potter, Printers, [5, pp. 11–12].

  26. It is clear that the ASSA retained ties to its British counterpart and even sought to strengthen them. ASSA president Samuel Eliot, for example, traveled to London to meet with the British Association for thee Promotion of Social Science on May 24, 1870 for the express purpose of ‘establishing mutual relations between the two associations.’ See, Special Meeting of Council of the British Association for the Promotion of Social Science [129, p. 230].

  27. Brace [20, p. 93].

  28. Brace [18, p. 94], Barnard [10, p. 108], The Rough House of Hamburg [115, p. 208].

  29. Mann [77, p. 79].

  30. Brace, Home-Life in Germany, 93.

  31. Holls [65, p. 116]. Holls was the Head Master of the Orphans’ Farm School in Zelienople, PA. He indicated he was ‘connected as a teacher with… the ‘Rauhe Haus,’ in Hamburgh [sic], under the management of the well-known Dr. T.H. Wichern.’

  32. Hill [59, p. 397].

  33. The Colony of Mettray, and the Reformation of Juvenile Criminals [34, pp. 375–378]. In 1831, Gustave de Beaumont and Alexis de Tocqueville, sent by the French government to study American prisons, toured the New York House of Refuge and its successor institutions in Boston and Philadelphia. Beaumont and Tocqueville suggested the refuge system, with modifications, might correct some shortcomings of the French penal system. See, De Beaumont and Tocqueville [39, pp. 108–124].

  34. Peirce [104, pp. 157–158]. Also see, See Hawes [57, p. 78].

  35. Hill [60, p. 275].

  36. Hill [58, 61].

  37. Hill [62, p. 291].

  38. Metcalfe [88, pp. 28–29].

  39. Hastings [56, p. xx], Pears [103. p. xviii].

  40. Pickett [107], Rothman [117].

  41. Proceedings of the First Convention of Managers and Superintendents of Houses of Refuge and Reform in the United States of America, 16. At the inaugural meeting of the ASSA listed among its topics for discussion: ‘The Comparative Value of the Family and Congregate Systems in Reformatory Institutions.’ See, American Social Science Association: Constitution, Address, and List of Members, July [5, p. 19].

  42. Report of the International Penitentiary Congress of London, 165.

  43. Address Delivered at the Dedication of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster [4].

  44. Thomas, Jr. [134, p. 118].

  45. Thomas, Jr. [134, pp. 121–22].

  46. Third Annual Report of the Board of State Charities of Massachusetts (Boston: Wright & Potter, State Printers, [132, 166].

  47. Wines [140, p. 109]. Howe was an earlier adopter of the family system and widely advocated for its use. See Spalding [128, p. 158].

  48. State Industrial School for Girls, at Lancaster, Massachusetts [131], p. 359. Also see, Address Delivered at the Dedication of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster (1866).

  49. State Industrial School for Girls, at Lancaster, Massachusetts, 359.

  50. The family system was particularly well-received in Massachusetts. For example, the New England Home for Little Wanders, Boston Children’s Aid Society incorporated the family system during the mid-1860s. See, Boston Children’s Aid Society Collection, University Archives and Special Collections, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Boston, MA [13]; Account of the Proceedings at the Dedication of the Children’s Mission Home, on Tremont Street, Opposite Common Street, Boston, March 27, 1867 (Boston: Press of John Wilson and Son, [3, p. 16]. Even the Massachusetts State Reform School––which for over a decade had housed hundreds of boys using the congregant system––began experimenting with European-inspired models, remodelling two houses for smaller groupings of boys [79]. See, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Reform School [44, pp. 4–5]. Reports located Massachusetts State Reform School Records, Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, MA. Within several years, directors of the school were referring to these groups as families. See, Nineteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Reform School [98, pp. 6–7].

  51. History of the Origin, Plan, and Success of the Work, of the Baldwin Place Home for Little Wanderers, for 7 years, (n.l.: s.n., n.d.), 2 [63]. Pamphlet produced by the New England Home for Little Wanderers, publication date unknown. Located in Box 6, Charities Collection [31], Simmons Library Archive, Boston, MA. The organisation constructed a similar home for girls several years later. See, Third Report of the Executive Committee of the Boston Children’s Aid Society, [133, p. 9].

  52. H.A. Page, A Pleasant Home in Kent (London: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.), [101, pp. 4–5].

  53. ‘Address Delivered at the Dedication of the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster’.

  54. See, Wines, ed., Transactions of the Third National Prison Reform Congress held at Saint Louis, 110–116, 424–26, 433, and 591. For more on the adoption of the family system in public reformatories see, Mennel [85, pp. 279–322], Hawes, Children in Urban Society.

  55. For example, in 1866, the ASSA held a Reform School Conference that included the representatives of a number of institutions which had already adopted or would go on to adopt the family system. These institutions included the Massachusetts State Reform School for Boys, Massachusetts State Reform School for Girls, Boston Children’s Aid Society, New England Home for Little Wanderers, and Boston Asylum and Farm School. American Social Science Association: Constitution, Address, and List of Members, July [5, p. 54].

  56. Twelfth Annual Report of the Officers of the House of Refuge, St. Louis, MO [136], pp. 39–50, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Officers of the House of Refuge, St. Louis, MO [43, pp. 5–6] (quote).

  57. ‘The Reform School Conference’, American Social Science Association, [113, pp. 60–61].

  58. Wines, ed., Transactions of the Third National Prison Reform Congress held at Saint Louis, 110–116, 424–26, 433, and 591.

  59. Wines, ed., Transactions of the Third National Prison Reform Congress held at Saint Louis, 111.

  60. Fourteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Reform School, at Westborough [44, p. 34]. Emphasis in original.

  61. Sixteenth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Reform School, at Westborough [124, p. 9]. Emphasis in original.

  62. Carpenter [27, 29], Koven [70, pp. 100–101]. Also see, Manton [78].

  63. Carpenter [26, p. 414], Carpenter [24, pp. 250–251], Hart [54, p. 30].

  64. Poetical Extracts Book, Records of Mary Carpenter and the Red Lodge Reformatory (MCRL) [105], Bristol Archives, Bristol.

  65. Sir Walter Crofton to Mary Carpenter [37].

  66. Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (1858), [135, pp. 226–232 and 338–346], Goldman, Science, Reform, and Politics in Victorian Britain, 145.

  67. Like many child reformers, Carpenter frequently referenced Wichern, Demetz, and the family system in her discussions of juvenile delinquency institutions. For example, see Mary Carpenter, Reformatory Schools for the Children of the Perishing and Dangerous Classes and for Juvenile Offenders, 324–335, Carpenter, Juvenile Delinquents, Their Condition and Treatment, 84, 235, 258–66, Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 413, Carpenter ‘On the Supplementary Measures needed for Reformatories for the Diminution of Juvenile Crime,’ in Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1860, ed., Hastings [30, pp. 489–497].

  68. Carpenter [25, p. 441].

  69. Monahan [96, p. 464].

  70. Miss Carpenter’s Visit to America [94, p. 160].

  71. Carpenter, ‘On the Supplementary Measures needed for Reformatories for the Diminution of Juvenile Crime,’ 495.

  72. Brace [12, 16, pp. 272–273]. Brace and Carpenter’s relationship extended back at least until the 1850s. See, Brace, ed., The Life of Charles Loring Brace: Chiefly Told in His Own Letters, 211.

  73. Ames et al. [6], Poetical Extracts Book [105].

  74. Wines [139], Poetical Extracts Book [105].

  75. ‘Miss Carpenter’s Visit to America,’ 161. See Carpenter [28].

  76. Charles [32, p. 431].

  77. Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 417. For another example of Carpenter’s commentary on American juvenile reform institutions see, Carpenter [30]. The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy was later renamed the Children’s Friend Society (CFS). For more on the CFS’s juvenile emigration efforts see, Brenton [21].

  78. Alexander Falconer [41], ‘On the Rise and Progress of Reformatory Schools in England,’ in Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion Social Science, 1861, 450.

  79. Falconer [41], ‘On the Rise and Progress of Reformatory Schools in England,’ 450.

  80. Brace, ‘What is the Best Method for the Care of Poor and Vicious Children?,’ 96. He also claimed ‘Great Britain to a lesser extent’ adopted placing out. Scholars of emigration in Europe have tended to support his assessment. For example, both Elaine Hadley and Thomas Jordan documented the large number of children sent from Britain throughout the Empire without acknowledging the existence of similar efforts in the USA nor the vigorous exchange of ideas between Brace and British reformers. See, Hadley [52], pp. 411–439, Jordan [67, pp. 145–166].

  81. Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 416.

  82. Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 416.

  83. Hanbury, ‘The Reformatory and Refuge Union,’ 399.

  84. Hanbury, ‘The Reformatory and Refuge Union,’ 399. Numerous scholars have noted that the successful efforts of the CAS to place children and youth in rural households reflected a demonstrated need for labor in rural communities. Many of those placed by the CAS within rural households were neither orphans nor juvenile delinquents. Rather, many children and youth accepted CAS placements as a means to obtaining stable employment. See Gish [48, pp. 121–141], Holt [66].

  85. Hanbury, ‘The Reformatory and Refuge Union,’ 399.

  86. Brace, Home-Life in Germany, 90–96.

  87. Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York and Twenty Years’ Work Among the Them (New York: Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, [19, pp. 401–403].

  88. Brace [17, pp. 289–293].

  89. Despite the public declarations that the CAS emigrated mainly orphaned children, the majority were young adults and non-orphans, most likely seeking employment opportunities in the West. Most of the placed children and youth did not remain in the West. Brace and other placing-out advocates emigration program hoped emigration would solve ‘hereditary poverty’ and juvenile delinquency. Schuller [123], O’Connor [99], pp. 103–104, Gish [48, pp. 121–141], Holt [66], Bellingham [11].

  90. Gish, ‘Rescuing the “Waifs and Strays” of the City.’ 121.

  91. Gilman [47, p. 17].

  92. Fourth Report of the Executive Committee of the Boston Children’s Aid Society, from June, [45], to June, 1868 (1868), p. 3.

  93. Account of the Proceedings at the Dedication of the Children’s Mission Home, 12. The constitution of the New England Home for Little Wanderers summed up the logic behind placing out, noting, ‘Any homeless or vagrant child… shall be placed in a Christian home, not as a servant, but as a member of the family, to be cared for and trained for usefulness.’ Little Wanderer’s Advocate, (Boston: s.n., [72, p. 3].

  94. Minutes [90].

  95. Minutes [91].

  96. Brace, The Dangerous Classes of New York, 223.

  97. Wines, ed., Report of the International Penitentiary Congress of London, [139, p. 163].

  98. Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 417.

  99. Carpenter, ‘On the Disposal of Girls from Reformatory Schools,’ 417. Carpenter was associated with the Kingswood Reformatory. See, Goldman, Science, Reform, and Politics in Victorian Britain, 42–43.

  100. Boucher [14, p. 39], Parker, [102, p. 20]. For more on late-nineteenth and twentieth-century European child emigration schemes, see, Kershaw and Sacks [68], Kohli [69], Bagnell [9].

  101. Boucher, Empire's Children, 37.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a research travel grant from the University of California, San Diego History Department and a Kakenhi incentive grant from Akita International University. The author wishes to thank the generous assistance of Dale Freeman of the Archives and Special Collections at University of Massachusetts, Boston, Jason Wood of the Simmons College Archives, Simmons College, Boston, and David Emeney of the Bristol Museums, Galleries, and Archives, Bristol, UK.

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McGovern, W. On distant shores: the transatlantic foundations of child reform in the mid-nineteenth century. J Transatl Stud 17, 506–531 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42738-019-00031-z

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