Lillian Wald
Lillian D. Wald (1867–1940) was an American nurse and social worker, most active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A lifelong idealist, Wald believed in working to create a more just society by ensuing that women, children, immigrants and the poor all receive equal access to public healthcare. Wald helped to provide standardized health care to New York’s Lower East Side tenements, and founded New York’s Henry Street Settlement House and the Visiting Nurse Service. She remained active in public health nursing and housing reform, and advocated on behalf of women’s suffrage, world peace, and the rights of women, children and immigrants until her retirement from public service in 1933.
Life
Wald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to a comfortable, German-Jewish middle-class family. She was the third of four children born to parents Max and Minnie Wald, both European immigrants. In 1878 the family would relocate to Rochester, New York where Lillian enjoyed a happy and privileged childhood. She attended Miss Cruttenden's English-French Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies where she excelled in science, math and the arts. Upon graduation, at the age of 16, Wald attempted to enroll in Vassar College but was denied due to her youth.
In 1889, after assisting in the birth of her sister’s child, Lillian was inspired to embark on a career in nursing, eventually enrolling in the New York Hospital's School of Nursing. After graduating in 1891, Lillian worked as a professional nurse at the New York Juvenile Asylum, an orphanage for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Shortly after she would enroll at the Women’s Medical College of New York City for further training, and coined the term “public health nurse” in 1893 to describe a nurse who worked outside hospitals in poor and middle class communities.
Work
In 1899 Lillian initiated a series of lectures to be held at Columbia University’s Teachers College to educate prospective public health nurses. This would lead to the formation of Columbia’s Department of Nursing and Public Health in 1910, and later the National Organization of Public Health Nurses (NOPHN) which set professional standards and techniques for visiting nurses. Wald would serve as the organization’s first president.
After teaching a class in home nursing and hygiene to immigrant women of the Lower East Side, Wald decided to dedicate her life’s work to the tenement community. With funding from philanthropists and friends, Wald and colleague Mary Brewster would found the Visiting Nurses Service in 1893, and in 1895 they would establish New York’s Henry Street Settlement House. Her deep concern for the needs of her Lower East Side neighbors inspired her to work on behalf of improving the living conditions of those around her. She also worked to transform the backyard of the Henry Street Settlement House into a playground, and would later help to found New York’s Outdoor Recreation League which focused attention on the need for public parks and playgrounds throughout the city.
Wald would never marry, preferring to devote herself fully to her career. She authored two books relating to this work, the first being The House on Henry Street, published in 1911, followed by Windows on Henry Street in 1934.
In 1933 Wald suffered a stroke which put her into retirement from public service. She retreated to a home in Westport, Connecticut where she was repeatedly visited by the likes of Jane Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. On September 1, 1940 Lillian Wald would die at the age of 73. Later that year more than 2,500 mourners would fill Carnegie Hall to hear words from President Roosevelt, the New York Governor and Mayor all testifying to Wald’s ability to bring people together and effect change.
Legacy
Lillian Wald is widely regarded as the founder of visiting nursing in the United States and Canada. While working in New York City schools, Wald helped to provide adequate health and nutrition to all students, organized special education classes, installed the first public school nurses and established the first public school lunch system in 1908.
Wald was also active in the National Child Labor Committee which sought to abolish child labor, promote children’s health and reclaim children who dropped out of school. In 1919 she represented the Federal Children’s Bureau at a Red Cross conference in Cannes, France, later attending the second international conference on Women for Peace in Zurich which founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Today, Wald’s Henry Street Settlement continues to provide services to residents of the Lower East Side, and offers programs in 11 facilities including the Abrons Arts Center. Programs include arts classes for children and adults, shelter services, health services, senior services, a workforce development center, day care centers, and after school and summer youth programs.
Publications
- Wald, Lillian. The Relation of Personal Frames of Reference to Social Judgments. Archives of Psychology. 1943.
- Wald, Lillian. The House on Henry Street. Henry Holt & Company. 1924.
- Wald, Lillian. Windows on Henry Street. Little Brown and Co. 1939.
- Wald, Lillian. Children and Play. Areprint Service. 1923.
- Wald, Lillian. The Ground on Which We Stand: Basic Documents of American History. Franklin Watts. 1969. ISBN 0531004201.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Howe, Irving. World of Our Fathers. Shrocken Books, Reprint Edition. 1989. ISBN 0-8052-0928-X
- Jewish Women's Archive. JWA Lillian Wald Introduction. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
- Lillian Wald. Biographies. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 14 May. 2007.
External Links
- Lillian D. Wald Collection New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts Division.
- Nursing Leaders Santa Fe Community College.
- Women in the Progressive Era National Park Service.
- Women’s Employment and Health The National Women's Health Information Center.
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