Missionary Labors.
[Philanthropy]. New York Magdalen Benevolent Society. Missionary Labors Through a Series of Years Among Fallen Women. The Society for the Reclamation of the Fallen: New York: 1870.
8vo.; slight foxing; green pebbled cloth stamped in blind; spine stamped in gilt; extremities frayed.
First edition. With an introduction by Sen. Thomas Hastings, who describes the facts detailed in the book as “plain, truthful, unvarnished statements,” and also explains the necessity of fundraising to keep the Society functioning. This copy has two contemporary inscriptions by different women; on first endpaper, “Presented by Miss Jennie B. Pierse to Geo. J. Squier Dec 11th 1885,” and on second endpaper, “Mrs. M.D. Woodward. Dunkirk N.Y.” Chapters include “Memorial;” “Historical Record of the Society;” and “Conclusion,” where the author suggests that in order to rid the city of prostitution, there “must be the aid of parental instruction and discipline…the enactment of laws to prevent the oppression of the ‘hireling her wages’ – and to inflict just penalties, summary, severe, and impartial, upon the heartless seducer.”
The New York Magdalen Benevolent Society was incorporated in 1851 with the objective to “provide an asylum for female wanderers who were penitent, and were desirous to regain a virtuous position in society.” It was started originally as The New York Magdalen Society in 1830. It was run by a group of women who offered their services of reform and men who provided funds for the upkeep of the enterprise. Their mission, less delicately, was to teach street-hardened prostitutes how to read the Bible, sew, cook and launder, among other traditionally acceptable feminine pursuits. “As one object of this society is to promote industrious habits and to qualify for reputable and remunerative employment, when an individual becomes an inmate, work, adapted to her ability assigned to her. … As idleness is the prolific cause of vice, it is the Society’s aim to have all of the inmates of the Asylum usefully employed.”
In mid-19th century New York, there was a veritable plague of prostitution, from middle-class streetwalkers to high-society “parlor house prostitutes.” The rise in prostitution was simultaneous to the growth of the city; it can also be seen as a desperate last-ditch effort for many working women to supplement their meager incomes. This increase not only spurred the passing of the Anti-Seduction Act of 1848, which was meant to prevent pre-marital sex and prostitution, but also the formation of many similar Societies. The Society was housed in a sizable building on Fifth Avenue and 88th Street, in which there was an area for religious services, classrooms for instruction, and dormitories for the “inmates.” The Society was meant as a temporary institution for women; after having been taught the error of their ways, they were expected to return to society as enlightened individuals. This, however, was easier said then done; those who did not have supportive friends or family had no place to go save from where they came. The women came to the Society through missionary efforts, applications from family members or their own volition.
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