The Ladies' Auxiliary to the Society of the Lying-In Hospital Records

The Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Society of the Lying-In Hospital was formally established in 1897 to undertake work in connection with the outpatient department of the Society of the Lying-In Hospital of the City of New York. The Lying-In Hospital was “established to afford an asylum to pregnant women destitute of the means of support, and unable to procure proper medical assistance and nursing during the period of their confinement in childbed.” Under the direction of the Board of Governors of the Lying-In Hospital, the Ladies’ Auxiliary’s work focused on raising money to provide care for low-income or destitute women discharged from the Hospital. They helped to supply “scrub-women” to clean the rooms of outpatients in tenements, to supply trained nurses to visit special need outpatients, they provided linens and baby clothes for the Lying-In Hospital, they helped to ensure that outpatients had visitors to check in on them, and they provided the means to train nurses to gain on-the-job experience assisting in the care of tenement outpatients.

The first meeting of the Ladies’ Auxiliary was held on October 28th, 1897 at the home of Mrs. Frederick Bronson at 174 Madison Avenue and nine members were in attendance. Soon after, the organization appointed its first executive officers consisting of a president and a treasurer/secretary. It would also soon appoint nine chairpersons, each heading a committee. In 1898, the Ladies’ Auxiliary printed its first constitution and in May of that same year it held its first gala fund raising event at the Waldorf Astoria. Ladies’ Auxiliary financial reports for 1898 show that the organization raised $25,288 during that year. In 1899, the Ladies’ Auxiliary hired its first “paid investigator” (who today would be something like a social worker) to visit families being assisted by the organization. By 1904, in addition to the paid investigator, the Ladies’ Auxiliary had also employed seven scrub women to clean the homes of outpatients. The next year, in 1905, two more investigators had been hired. To put the social service work of the Ladies’ Auxiliary into context, in 1905, Massachusetts General Hospital began establishing what would become the first Social Service department in the country, ushering in the era of modern social work. Mass General’s Social Service Department was formally established 1914.

In its annual report to the Lying-In Hospital in 1916, the Ladies’ Auxiliary detailed that it had 150 members and its agents made 21,555 visits, distributed 20,123 garments, and aided 3,475 families with food or assistance in household duties. Also in 1916, the organization filed its first Babies’ Class report. The Babies’ Class was part of the outpatient work supported by the Ladies’ Auxiliary. At these classes mothers were taught how to wash, feed, and clothe their babies by a trained “agent” (another early term for a social worker). Model layettes were sold cheaply or given to the mothers free of charge. Many of the mothers who participated in the Babies’ Class were new immigrants to New York City, many of whom resided in tenements in Manhattan and the Bronx.

The efforts of the Ladies’ Auxiliary led to the establishment of the Lying-In Hospital’s Social Service Department in 1932. In the 1932 annual report of the Lying-In Hospital, Henricus J. Stander, MD, Obstetrician and Gynecologist-In-Chief wrote, “Through the splendid assistance of the Ladies’ Auxiliary Board a very complete department of Social Service has been developed, consisting of four workers and two secretaries. This department is now an intimate part of the Lying-In Hospital and the social workers come in close touch with all the patients in the out-patient clinics, in the hospital wards, and with a certain number in their homes. For the excellent help from the Ladies’ Auxiliary Board, which has made this possible, I wish to express my appreciation.”

Also in 1932, the Lying-In Hospital merged with New York Hospital (now NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center), becoming its Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. After the merger, the Ladies’ Auxiliary continued its fund raising work to support the Hospital, especially in the care of mothers and babies. To further its support of medical social service relief, the Babies’ Alumni Fund was established in 1934. Babies born at the Hospital could join the Alumni for an annual subscription fee of one dollar. By 1943, 1,021 new members had enrolled in the Babies’ Alumni. Each baby born at the Hospital who joined the Alumni received an etching of the hospital with the baby’s name and date of birth. Beyond its fund raising efforts and operating the Social Service Department associated with the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department (New York Hospital also had a separate Social Service Department that served the main hospital), the organization also provided sewing classes for mothers, supplied volunteers for the Hospital, and created a circulating library for inpatients and outpatients, among other projects. In 1977, the Ladies’ Auxiliary merged with the Auxiliary of the Society of the New York Hospital, becoming the organization’s Lying-In Committee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Society of the Lying-In Hospital of the City of New York Annual Reports, 1890-1898, “Report with Historical Sketch, 1893” The Society of the Lying-In Hospital of the City of New York Annual Reports, 1914-1920 The Society of the Lying-In Hospital of the City of New York Annual Reports, 1932-1948