How we looked in 1911
"Crowd Leaving the Floating Hospital." July 5, 1911
When looking for our historical images, the first stop is the search engines and AI tools available on the web, but they do not dig very deep and much has yet to be digitized. So, it was a real thrill to see 28 scans made for us by the helpful staff at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Just over half were already known to us, but that still left quite a few that are new.
The earliest of the batch are from 1911 and shared here for the first time. These are working scans, so apologies for the odd reflections. We’ll be requesting high-resolution scans in the coming weeks.
This was still the New York of gilded-age mansions and crowded tenements, of horse-driven deliveries sharing the road with cable cars and new automobiles, while the elevated trains rattled over all.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which killed 146 and led to massive changes in fire-safety rules, had taken place that March. The following month, President Taft was in town to dedicate the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Grand Central Terminal was still being built, and the ground had just been broken for the Woolworth building, the world’s tallest until 1929. This was a city still inventing itself for a new century.
By July, much of the country was suffering through a brutal heatwave, and without air conditioning, there was little escape. It was the hottest July Fourth on record, according to the Times. The following day, the Tribune’s thermometer measured 106° at street level. There were 43 heat-related deaths that day, with the Times offering “No promise of relief.” Some 400,000 descended on the beaches at Coney Island (including 20,000 sleepers!) while a crowd of 50,000 could be found at the Battery at all hours, waiting for any boat or ferry to get them out on the water. (1)
"A little mother and her charges," July 5th, 1911 (photo is marked up for press use)
Providing heat-related advice, the Department of Health recommended avoiding both ice water and alcohol and advised “take baths often, at least once a day.” (2) Our passengers were more likely to wash with a basin and pitcher of water and would have found a bathtub a luxury unavailable in most tenements. Interviewed outside the salt-water bathrooms onboard, “one mother candidly admitted that it was her first bath in a lifetime of 35 years.” (3)
So the start of our season was a welcome respite for those who could acquire a ticket. July 5th was a ‘Brooklyn’ day, so the Helen C. Juilliard made three landings there and “took aboard quotas of heat-ridden mothers and ailing babies” before the boat swung over to the recreation pier at the foot of East 24th street for more. (4) “The day was an extremely hot one, right in the midst of the great heat wave… and the starting of the season, just when life seemed most unendurable in the tenements, could not possibly [have] been more timely or life-giving and saving.” (5)
A total of 750 passengers made the trip through the Narrows and down the bay, and 40 were left to receive further care at Seaside Hospital.
"St. John's Guild Floating Hospital at foot of East 24th street," July 5, 1911
By the end of the season, the Guild reported 47,658 carried onboard, with almost 3,000 treated at Seaside Hospital.
In recounting its history to that point, the Guild reported providing aid to almost 1.5 million mothers and children, with the Helen C. Juilliard alone responsible for just over half a million. (6)
If you’d like to see New York City on film from that summer, click the button below.
Photos are from the New York World-Telegram & Sun collection at the Library of Congress
Sources:
“Crush to Get Out of Town.” The New York Times, July 5, 1911
“Tells Public How to Aid Heat Victims. Cold treatment for sunstroke, warm for prostration, says Dr. Lederle. Advice on keeping cool. Drink freely of cool water, not iced, to induce perspiration, and bathe often.” The New York Times, July 6, 1911
“Many Lives Saved by Floating Hospital of St. John’s Guild.” Brooklyn Eagle, July 30, 1911
“Trip for Sick Babies on Floating Hospital. Helen C. Juilliard makes first cruise of season. Medical attention given.” The Brooklyn Citizen, July 6, 1911
“Charity in a Floating Hospital.” Oakland Tribune, September 10, 1911
Report of St. John’s Guild, 1911