Research Catalog

Title

New Orleans women and the Poydras Home : more durable than marble / Pamela Tyler.

Author

Tyler, Pamela,

Publication

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2016]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xi, 225 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates; 24 cm

Summary

"A two-hundred-year-old institution, the Poydras Home--originally the Poydras Asylum--stands as an exemplar of woman-led charitable organizations. In a thorough and engaging narrative, Pamela Tyler offers the first complete history of this remarkable New Orleans establishment from its founding as an orphanage for young girls to its present-day operation as a retirement community and assisted-living facility. Throughout, Tyler paints a vivid picture of the many women who faced down the challenges of war, disease, natural disaster, social unrest, and restrictive gender ideals to realize the mission of the Poydras Home. Drawing on previously unreleased archival material, Tyler documents how the institution's benefactor, Julien Poydras, used his immense wealth to support a haven for impoverished girls, and how the dedicated women of the Poydras board pursued that ambition through more than just residential services. Tyler reveals that the majority of the Poydras 'orphans' had one living parent, and it was dire poverty and a dearth of social services in New Orleans that drove single parents, usually mothers, to place their daughters in the asylum. Further research demonstrates that the Poydras went beyond simply providing a shelter for the children of distressed parents: volunteer managers worked to shape their charges' character through an emphasis on morals, education, and the fundamentals of housewifery"--Publisher's website.

Subject

• Assisted Living Facilities > history
• Charities > New Orleans > History
• Charities > history
• Congregate housing > New Orleans > History
• History, 19th Century
• History, 20th Century
• History, 21st Century
• Housing for the Elderly > history
• Louisiana
• New Orleans (La.) > Social conditions
• Orphanages > New Orleans > History
• Orphanages > history
• Poor girls > History. > New Orleans
• Poydras Home (New Orleans, La.)
• Poydras Home (New Orleans, La.) > History
• Retirement communities > New Orleans > History
• Social Conditions > history
• Women > history
• Women philanthropists > New Orleans > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-214) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Orphans and orphanages : a historical overview -- The genesis of an idea -- Humble beginnings and a generous benefactor -- Years of growth -- Crosses to bear : the impact of religious strife on the Poydras Asylum -- Challenges to Poydras : the Union Army and Reconstruction -- In sickness and in health : the operation of the Poydras Asylum in its first hundred years -- Farewell to the old Poydras -- And welcome to the new! -- Afterword.

ISBN

• 9780807163221
• 0807163228
• 9780807163238 (canceled/invalid)
• 9780807163245 (canceled/invalid)
• 9780807163252 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^2015042800

OCLC

925498096

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library