New York Foundling Hospital

United States New York  New York (Manhattan)  Archives and Libraries  

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The New York Foundling Hospital was one of the two main sending institutions involved in the orphan train movement from 1853-1930 which "placed out" by railroad 200,000 orphans, abandoned, or homeless children to 48 states and Canada. In some cases they have records of birth parents. The New York Foundling Hospital is administered by the.

Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:info@nyfoundling.org?subject=Adoption_search_request info@nyfoundling.org]


 * No adoption-search requests may be answered by email.

Address:


 * New York Foundling
 * Record Information Department
 * Attn: Yvonne Wintz
 * 590 Avenue of the Americas
 * New York, NY 10011

Telephone: 212-206-4171

Map: Google Map

Internet site: Records Information at The New York Foundling contact information, affiliate of NY State Adoption and Medical Information Registry, inquiries, and rebuilding adoptees' personal stories.

Collection Description
The New York Foundling's Record Information maintains records on orphan train riders and on people who have been in foster care or adopted. They provide non-identifying and medical information to adults who have been adopted. Adopted parents may also receive medical information. When authorized by New York State, they may be able to provide identifying information to birth parents, siblings, and adoptees.

They respond to inquiries from those who have a history with them personally or, after their deaths, to their children and grandchildren. Due to the volume of requests they are unable to respond to inquiries regarding aunts, uncles and cousins. They strive to locate information from all possible sources.

They help clients rebuild their personal stories. For the first time, many people begin to understand why they were placed into care and the circumstances of their family’s life. This knowledge gives clients a greater understanding of their past and helps diminish the painful sense of secrecy and loss that many have carried. Most of our clients take away a stronger sense of self and connection to the Foundling.

The Foundling has individual case files of orphan train riders and other adopted children including some notes from mothers.

The New-York Historical Society has The Foundling's minutes and annual reports; correspondence and memos; bound registers and other administrative volumes; pamphlets, brochures and fliers; legal documents; reports; grant proposals; manuals; birth certificates; clippings and periodicals; published books; audiovisual materials, including some restricted volumes about orphan train riders.

Tips
Please note: For privacy reasons, no adoption search requests may be answered via email.

Guides

 * Guide to the Records of the New York Foundling Hospital 1869-2009 MS 347 at New-York Historical Society. The collection documents the programs of the New York Foundling Hospital, 1869-2009, and the St. Agatha Home for Children, which operated separately from the Foundling beginning in 1884, before merging into the Foundling in 1977. The collection at the NYHS includes much orphan train information, but no case files from the placing-out and boarding-out program. Those records remain at the New York Foundling Hospital.
 * Inskeep, Carolee R. The New York Foundling Hospital: An Index to Its Federal, State and Local Census Records (1870–1925). Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield, 1995. ; . Includes 1870, 1880, 1890 (police census), 1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, and 1925 censuses. Alphabetical list of children, sisters, and workers.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * New-York Historical Society, NYC, houses the Children's Aid Society archives, and some New York Foundling Hospital records, both orphan train sending institutions, as well as has the largest manuscript collection in New York State, many town records, colonial records, newspapers, periodicals, biographies, histories, directories, maps, photos.
 * National Orphan Train Complex, Concordia, Kansas, preserves the records of the children and agents who rode the trains, history of the orphan train movement, stories of the children, photos, artifacts, a rider registry, a speakers' bureau, and the organization's online news.

Similar Collections


 * Children's Aid Society, NYC, an institution which from 1853-1930 sent children on orphan trains to homes in other parts of America and Canada. The New-York Historical Society has most of the CAS archival records.
 * New York City Orphan Asylum records at the Westchester County Historical Society.
 * New York Juvenile Asylum records at Univ. of Columbia, Rare Book and Manuscripts Library.
 * Brooklyn Home for Children.
 * Brooklyn Nursery and Infants Hospital.
 * New England Home for Little Wanderers.

Neighboring Collections


 * New York City Department of Records has New York County Manhattan births July 1847-1848, July 1853-1909, marriages July 1847-1848, July 1853-1937, deaths 1795, 1802-1804, 1808, 1812-1948, the 1890 police census; city directories; voter registrations; almshouse records; and municipal government records.
 * NYC Health Department has New York County (Manhattan) births 1910-present, and deaths 1949-present.
 * The City of New York: Office of the City Clerk has New York County (Manhattan) marriages 1930-present.
 * Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County Clerk has New York County (Manhattan) divorces and other civil case records.
 * New York County Surrogate's Court has New York County (Manhattan) probate records.
 * NYC Office of the City Register has New York County (Manhattan) land records.
 * New York City Municipal Reference and Research Center can provide street name origins, city council minutes, serials, books, and 400,000 documents focused on the history of New York City.
 * U.S. District Court Southern District of New York has recent civil, criminal, and bankruptcy cases for New York County (Manhattan).
 * New York City New York Family History Center has premium online services for free, offers research guidance.
 * Holland Society of New York, NYC, has 7,000 New Netherland family and local history books, Dutch Reformed Church records. Good collection for other ethnic groups along the Atlantic coast.
 * Huguenot Society of America, NYC, open by appointment: history, settlement, genealogy, biography, theology. They have the largest Huguenot collection outside London, including 1600s records of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and colonial America.
 * Leo Baeck Institute, NYC, preserves family and community histories about Jews in German speaking countries.
 * National Archives at New York City, has Holland Land Company deeds, federal censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty land, photos, passenger indexes, New York port records, naturalizations, inventions.
 * New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, NYC, has donated their collection to the New York Public Library. NYGBS now offers educational programs, publications, and digital communication.
 * New York Public Library, NYC, has one of the best genealogy collections in the USA, including Revolutionary War soldiers and Irish research. The Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; photos; New York censuses, directories, vital records, and the Holland Land Company deeds.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties: in New York State: Bronx, Kings, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), and in New Jersey: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union.
 * Albany Institute of History and Art with the best indexes and colonial Albany records of the 1600s.
 * Archives of the Archdiocese of New York, Yonkers, includes parish register births, confirmations, marriages, and deaths, school records, and leadership papers.
 * Bronx County Historical Society has a large manuscript collection, biographical files, family folders, obituaries, cemetery transcripts, city directories, and marriages.
 * Brooklyn Historical Society includes finding aids and collections guides to archives, manuscripts, oral histories, photographs, paintings, oral history database, and maps. They have sources for New England immigrants to Long Island, NY.
 * Buffalo and Erie County Public Library has a good collection with good indexes including biographies, family folders, county and local histories for all of New York.
 * Cornell University Library, Ithaca, has a large collection of Protestant church records for western New York as well as an excellent collection of histories, maps, newspapers, and New York censuses. Rare books and manuscripts are outstanding, and they publish the best research guides to New York counties.
 * Historic Hudson Valley Library, Tarrytown, has unique early Hudson River migration sources such as steamboats, industries, and culture.
 * Montgomery County Department of History and Archives, early Montgomery (formerly Tryon) County had jurisdiction over much of upstate New York. These archives have an extensive genealogy section.
 * New York State Archives, Albany, has manuscripts, vital record indexes, land grants, maps, military, court, alien depositions, prisoners, Erie Canal passenger lists, wills, estates, and state censuses.
 * New York State Library, Albany, has local histories, genealogies, atlases, church, cemetery (including DAR), city directories, microfilmed newspapers, censuses, passenger lists, periodicals, and copies of the Holland Land Company deeds.
 * Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, has the best collection of family folders (10,000) on the East Coast
 * Queens Historical Society, Flushing, This large facility has many indexes to biographical and historical sources in their collection.
 * SUNY Fredonia Reed Library preserves most of the original deeds of the Holland Land Company in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.
 * Staten Island Historical Society is the best place for Staten Island research. Because many immigrants settled there, they have a strong immigration collection.
 * Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, has a good collection of indexes to biographies, genealogies, family folders, books, periodicals, and manuscripts.
 * Vital Records Section of the New York State Department of Health, Menands, NY, for outside New York City births and deaths (1881-present), and marriage licenses (1880-present). Also, all divorces since 1963.
 * Repositories in surrounding states (or provinces): Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, and Vermont.
 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North America and New York (such as the Holland Land Company deeds), the British Isles, and German sources.
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Boston, Massachusetts, is national in scope. Over 100 million name database, of vital records, genealogies, journals, over 200,000 books, 100,000 microfilms, and over 20 million manuscripts with emphasis on New England and a good New York collection since the 1600s.
 * Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam Municipal Archives in the Netherlands) Some of the earliest New York (New Netherland) records are also stored here. Also, the earliest European New York settlers often lived in Amsterdam before their move to the New World. Includes the Holland Land Company 1801-1840 deeds from western New York state, and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Related Websites

 * United States Adoption Research Research Wiki article.
 * National Orphan Train Complex Research Wiki article.
 * Orphan Trains Cyndi's List.