The capitals children: the Washington City Orphan Asylum, 1815-1890

Abstract

The Capitals Children: The Washington City Orphan Asylum, 1815-1890, tells the story of the Washington City Orphan Asylum, the first orphanage in the District of Columbia, using it as a lens to view nineteenth-century society. The asylum constituted a complex network of children, families, managers, trustees, workers, Washington citizens, and the local and federal governments. Within its story are the complicated interactions of different groups of people working according to varying and occasionally conflicting worldviews, motivations, and goals. This is the first work dedicated solely to the history of a childcare institution in the District of Columbia. As such, it is the first to engage the federal context of an early social institution. As a private orphanage in the nations capital, the managers and trustees worked to acquire support from the federal government rather than a state government like other institutions of the time, an action that inspired debates within the government as to the suitability of helping a private social institution. Additionally, the institution developed a federal network as well as a local one, as national politicians provided support and even removed children from the asylum in indenture contracts. The asylums story includes views on dependency and citizenship. It illuminates the positions of families bringing children to the institution and the complex process of placing children in adoptions and indentures. It shows the complicated nature of religious interactions as the Protestant orphanage collaborated with Catholic institutions and families as well as clashed with them. The asylums history highlights the close relationship between the institution and the city, as well as the shaping force of big events such as the Civil War. It also reveals the areas in which the orphanages children exerted agency and the outcomes of some of the children who lived in the institution.