House of the Good Shepherd Boston MA

Author: Emily Lyons

Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108344

This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries.

2018

1940 US Census:

What was it? Timeline of One “Magdalene” from 1940 Census Laundry Receipts/Annual Reports Tension Between Cushing & Sources Founded in 1867, the House of the Good Shepherd in Boston Lillian first appeared in the Boston House of the Good Shepherd Reverend Richard Cushing’s 1940 pamphlet on the House of was a refuge for women and younger girls who society Information regarding the finances of the House of the Census Records in 1910 as an “Inmate” and subsequently the Good Shepherd exhibits his support for the nuns of the considered to be penitent or delinquent at the time. It also Good Shepherd is accessible from sources such as the appeared in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 records as a “Religious institution while sources such as the 1940 US Census and the served as a Magdalene home for those women who dedicated Sister,” “Subject,” and “Magdalene” respectively. She was Annual Reports of the MA Department of Welfare. These Annual Report of the Department of Welfare signal a more themselves to a religious life in the institution. This project will buried in 1979 at the House of the Good Shepherd’s plot at St. reports detail the House of the Good Shepherd’s finances objective narrative. It is telling to contrast Cushing’s narrative focus on the complicated narrative of the “Magdalenes” listed Joseph’s Cemetery in West Roxbury which suggests that her for the years of 1933, 1934, 1935, and 1937. Accordingly, and the archival information from the same time, and in in the 1940 US Census. duration of stay at the institution was at least 69 years. the House of the Good Shepherd made an earning of particular to note the following differences:

$74,183 in the year 1937. Most of the institution's 1910 earnings came from the work of the women who lived 1. Ages of each “class” of women: Reverend Cushing notes the St. Mary’s class as the oldest 1920 there. The “Inmates” daily routine centered on manual group of women in the institution, members aging out at labor, mainly laundry. The full Annual Report from 1937 thirty-one or two. However, the 1940 Census records show 1930 is pictured below. that there are 75 “Inmates” ages forty and above with 25 of

1940 those being sixty or older.

2. Presence of the Good Shepherd House laundry in Boston: As Cushing details the average day of a woman in the House of the Good Shepherd, he mentions the work done in the laundry there. The Good Shepherd laundry, he says, “needs no word of introduction to the people of Boston.” However, there is no available evidence to support this claim as there are no House of First advertisements found in newspapers from the time unlike for Good appeared Year of 1867 Shepherd 1910 in Census 1979 death the Irish Magdalene Laundries. Boston Records Who lived there? opens at HGS 3. The language regarding the House of the Good Shepherd: According to Reverend Richard Cushing’s 1940 pamphlet The House of Reverend Richard Cushing consistently refers to the Good the Good Shepherd, there were four “classes” of women in addition to the Shepherd House as a “reformatory” institution. Information Good Shepherd nuns who lived at the institution: All “Magdalenes” from 1940 Census For each year that the Department of Welfare reported on from the 1940 US Census challenges this language as it shows “St. Joseph’s Class” Magdalene Age in 1940 In HGS Since Year of Death Approx Length of Stay women staying at the institution for long periods of time; in • Ages 12-16 Frances 73 1900 Unknown 40+ years the House of the Good Shepherd, there were only 10 paid Elizabeth 83 1900 Unknown 40+ years some cases life-long residence until their death. “St. Mary’s Class” Mary 67 1900 Unknown 40+ years employees. This suggests that the women “Inmates” were • Ages 16-31 or 32 Margaret 70 1900 1968 68 years not given monetary compensation for their manual labor. Annie 60 1910 Unknown 30+ years “Consecrates” Mary 60 1910 Unknown 30+ years Did the institution profit off the work the women did, Winifred 76 1910 Unknown 30+ years Critical & Ethical Questions • From St. Joseph’s or St. Mary’s class Mary 50 1910 1971 61 years such as the sewing and laundry work? • Dedicate one year of their life to Virgin Mary Mary 52 1910 1980 70 years Despite the information available, many questions remain “Magdalenes” Lillian 52 1910 1979 69 years Genevieve 57 1910 1969 59 years unanswered. Here are a few critical questions that we must • Community of penitent women living religious life Ella 52 1920 Unknown 20+ years continue to ask: • Some of whom were Consecrates before Annie 44 1920 Unknown 20+ years Marie 41 1920 Unknown 20+ years Matilda 40 1920 Unknown 20+ years Rose 40 1920 Unknown 20+ years 1. How can we continue to expand on our understanding of a Information from the 1940 US Census, however, blurs the lines of Ella 40 1920 1980 40 years “Magdalene” woman within the context of the United States? Cushing’s distinct groups as the ages do not match up. The women of the Alma 30 1930 Unknown 10+ years Elizabeth 34 1930 Unknown 10+ years The term “Magdalene” at many Irish Magdalene Laundry House of the Good Shepherd, including the nuns, fall under one of three Louise 39 1930 Unknown 10+ years institutions signified a life-long former penitent woman categories in the 1940 Census: “Sister”, “Magdalene”, or “Inmate” Mary 36 1930 Unknown 10+ years Gertrude 33 1930 Unknown 10+ years whereas in the United States it signified the possibility of a “Sister”: Catherine 29 1930 Unknown 10+ years • 44 women total Mary 48 1930 1980 50 years group of women evolving into a separate religious Ruth 36 1930 1978 48 years congregation of contemplative nuns, some of who came from • Ages 26-86 Bertha 34 1930 1974 44 years • 16 from Ireland/N. Ireland Pauline 26 1940 Unknown >1 year Despite their long hours of work, the women in the House the penitent class. Mary 28 1940 Unknown >1 year “Magdalene”: Helen 46 1940 Unknown >1 year of the Good Shepherd received no salary. The institution 2. How did the institutionalization that these women experienced Susan 26 1940 Unknown >1 year contribute to their length of stay? Secondly, if the Good • 40 women total Rose 24 1940 Unknown >1 year may have aimed to reform these women by teaching them • Ages 21-83 Olive 28 1940 Unknown >1 year useful work skills but it did not necessarily facilitate their Shepherd House did not offer the women “Inmates” monetary • 5 from Ireland/N. Ireland Elinor 29 1940 Unknown >1 year compensation for their work, were they given a fair chance at Evangeline 26 1940 Unknown >1 year re-entrance into society as, without earnings, they had no “Inmate”: Roma 23 1940 Unknown >1 year re-entering society? Corrine 30 1940 Unknown >1 year foundation to successfully live independently. If the • St. Joseph’s Class, Alice 21 1940 Unknown >1 year 3. Did the House of the Good Shepherd act ethically at the end St. Mary’s Class, Consecrates Catherine 28 1940 Unknown >1 year earnings from the Good Shepherd House were not given of each of woman’s life? If so, where are the graves for the Elinor 36 1940 1988 48 years • 284 women total Dorothy 29 1940 1971 31 years to these women, where did the money go? other twenty nine Magdalene women that were at the • Ages 8-87 Year of death is recorded from each Magdalene’s grave if known. institution in 1940 not buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in West • 18 from Ireland Approximate length of stay based on each Magdalene’s presence in Roxbury? or N. Ireland previous Census records as well as year of death if applicable.

Template ID: assessingslate Size: 48x36 Emily Lyons House of the Good Shepherd Boston MA

Bibliography “1940 Census” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 1940census.archives.gov/search/?search.result_type=image&search.state=MA&search.county=S uffolk+County&search.city=Boston&search.street=Convent- House+of+the+Good+Shepherd#searchby=location&searchmode=browse&year=1940

Cushing, Richard. The House of the Good Shepherd: an Invitation to Become Acquainted with the Heroic and Christ-like Work of the Good Shepherd Nuns of Boston. Convent of the Good Shepherd. Boston: n.p., 1940.

Department of Public Welfare. “Annual Report of the Department of Public Welfare for the Year Ending November 30, 1937, Parts I, II, and III.” DSpace Home, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dept. of Environmental Quality Engineering, Office of Planning and Program Management, 1 Jan. 1970, archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/757210.