By-laws and Regulations of the Girls' Industrial Home.
[Labor]. [Anonymous]. By-Laws and Regulations of the Girls’ Industrial Home, at White Sulphur Springs, Delaware County, Ohio. Delaware, Ohio: Gazette Steam Book and Job Office, 1875.
8vo.; yellow printed wrappers; small faint stains on title page and upper panel; faintly soiled; vertically creased; two small tears on top edge of upper cover; fragile.
First edition of this scarce pamphlet; OCLC and RLG list no copies. It prints, on the verso of the title page, a list of the Board of Trustees, Officers of the Board, and the Officers of the Institution. The only woman included among these groups is Mrs. Mary E. Nichols, the Matron of the institution.
In Chapter 1, titled “The Design of the Institution,” the anonymous author writes that “this institution has been established as ‘a school for the instruction, employment and reformation of exposed, helpless, evil-disposed and vicious girls.’ Its pupils are girls, between the ages of seven and sixteen years…” It also explains the goal of creating such an institution:
The end to be attained is expressed in the act establishing the school, to reform its pupils, in such manner as shall, while preserving their health, and promoting the proper development of their physical system, secure the formation as far as possible, of moral, religious and industrious habits, and regular thorough progress and improvement in their studies, trades and employments. (p. 3)
The first five chapters outline the responsibilities of the groups affiliated with the school: the board of trustees, the superintendent, the matron and her assistants, and the girls themselves. Chapter nine explains rules and regulations for “Indentured Girls,” a privilege granted to girls who have been at the Institution for a “sufficient length of time.” These girls would be monitored during the period of their indenture, and allowed to maintain regular communications with matrons at the school, and have a savings account set up for them for any money they earned. It is also stated that “No inmate shall be permitted to perform a service in a public-house, or in a family where spirituous liquors are used as a beverage; or be indentured to an unmarried man” (p. 8). Clearly, the Institution had the girls’ best interests at heart.
According to the last section of the pamphlet, “An Act Establishing the Institution,” the State Reform and Industrial School for Girls was established in 1869. In 1872 the name was changed to the “Girls Industrial Home.” It was situated on the site of a former health resort – the White Sulphur Springs – on 189 acres; comprised of 11 buildings; including an administration building, a hospital, a school building and eight cottages. The cottages held between forty and fifty girls each; the Home had a total capacity of housing about 400 girls. They were taught domestic chores, vocational trades, and also attended school.
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