Magdalen Societies: Rehabilitation of Fallen Women
One response to the problem of women overstepping moral bounds was the Magdalen societies. Magdalen societies, which arose both in New York and Philadelphia, were organizations dedicated to raising public consciousness about the problem of prostitution, rehabilitating fallen women, and operating houses of refuge where prostitutes were reformed through Bible study and moral education. Magdalen societies emerged along with other conservative social movements, such as the temperance movement, that sought to protect morality and counter the negative effects of industrializing society. Magdalen societies offered the moral rehabilitation that prisons and penitentiaries lacked, but they were far from irreproachable. The New York Magdalen Society, in particular, attracted widespread criticism and ridicule, and struggled to become a functional organization. The Library Company’s collections include material issued by both the New York and the Philadelphia Magdalen societies.
Popular literature often stressed how easily young women could be corrupted. Shown here is an artist’s depiction of such a transformation, from a sensational pamphlet on the much-publicized case of a murdered prostitute.
