Scene in the Magdalen Asylum
Item
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Title
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Scene in the Magdalen Asylum
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Description
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An illustration of women undergoing "moral reform" in the Magdalen Asylum, one of New York's nineteenth-century correctional facilities used to penalize the working poor. Magdalen asylums were designed to house women who had "lost" their virtue—through sexual encounters, prostitution, intemperance, or indigence—and to reform them through the process of hard work. Accounts differ on the experiences of women at Magdalen; some point to women's ability to leave at their own discretion, while others frame the experience as a mandatory commitment to a prison-like workhouse. Regardless, the Magdalen system—started in England, then exported to the United States' East Coast cities—fit neatly into the nineteenth century's religious revival and desire to control poor women's autonomy.
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Creator
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McCabe, James Dabney (1842-1883)
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Date
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1872
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Source
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James Dabney McCabe, "Scene in the Magdalen Asylum" from "Lights and shadows of New York life, or, The sights and sensations of the great city," National Publishing Company, 1872. Originally available from the New York Public Library, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection. URL: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-d34e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
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Rights
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Public domain, via New York Public Library.
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Type
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Wood engraving [Extent: Sheet 21 x 13 cm (8 x 5 in.)]
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Format
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JPG
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Language
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English
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Coverage
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The Development of Modern America (1865–1920)
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How to Cite
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James Dabney McCabe, "Scene in the Magdalen Asylum" from "Lights and shadows of New York life, or, The sights and sensations of the great city," National Publishing Company, 1872. Originally available from the New York Public Library, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection. Accessed [today's date] from https://aphnyu.org/creatingdigitalhistory/fall2019/s/uncoveringnyc/item/26.
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Publisher
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National Publishing Co.
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Contributor
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Josie Naron
