ChARLESTON ORPHAN 3
Charleston Orphan House
Website Design
Edward L. Hilton
Southern University of Illinois, Edwardsville
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
IT 496
April 21, 2013
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Aim 4
Learner Characteristics 4
General Characteristics: 4
Specific Characteristics: 4
Hardware Considerations 5
Instructional Goals, Objectives and Generative Strategies 5
Goal(1) 5
Goal (2) 9
Goal(3) 14
Goal(4) 29
Goal(5) 38
Goal(6) 40
Resources 50
Story Boards 51
Project Evaluation 55
Conclusion 56
Introduction
The Charleston Orphan House was the first municipal orphanage in the United States. It was established by an ordinance of Charleston City in 1790 “for the purpose of supporting and educating poor orphan children, and those of poor, distressed and disabled parents who are unable to support and maintain them.” In 1952, the Charleston Orphan House residents and staff were relocated to the Charleston Youth Development Agency and the structure demolished for the erection of a Sears Department store.
Few artifacts of the Charleston Orphan House remain. Former residents still live and so do their memories. The heritage of the Charleston Orphan House is being lost with the passing of the former residents. To preserve and present the heritage of the Charleston Orphan House for the public, a forum is required for former residents of the Charleston Orphan House, the staff of the Carolina Youth Developmental Center, and present residents of the Carolina Youth Developmental Center. It will also be of use to historians and genealogists interested in the Charleston Orphan House as well as the general public.
This forum will be an educational website designed to impart information pertaining to the history of the Charleston Orphan House. Various instructional strategies will be utilized to enable the learner to understand the significance and operation of the Charleston Orphan House as the first municipal orphanage in the United States.
Keywords: Orphan house, instructional design, apprenticeship,
Aim
Provide information to the public to preserve the history of the former Charleston Orphan House in Charleston, South Carolina.
Learner Characteristics
The primary users are identified as:
· faculty of the Carolina Youth Developmental Center
· former and current residents of the Carolina Youth Developmental Center
· former residents of the Charleston Orphan House
Secondary users are identified as:
· historians interested in the Charleston Orphan House
· genealogists interested in the Charleston Orphan House
· the general public
General Characteristics:
General characteristics of users are
· adult age 18 and above
· reading level is sixth grade
Specific Characteristics:
Specific characteristics of users are
· computer skills consisting of Windows PC and Basic Internet
· familiarity with Charleston, South Carolina history
Hardware Considerations
Microsoft word documents, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat files may be linked to the web page so Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft office may be required. Also, a graphics viewer to show .jpg or .gif files is required.
Instructional Goals, Objectives and Generative Strategies
Goal(1)
Know why the Charleston Orphan House was established.
Objective (1a)
The learner will identify and discuss the circumstances resulting in the establishment of the Charleston Orphan House with 90 percent accuracy.
Knowledge
1. Increase of orphans
a. Yellow fever epidemics
i. http://www.scdhec.gov/administration/history/timeline.htm
ii. 1790s
b. American revolution
i. Death of parent or parents in battles
2. Role of the church
a. Before the revolution, the destitute, orphaned, and abandoned children of Charleston became charges of the Anglican parish of St. Philip’s Church. As representatives of the established church, wardens were empowered to collect and distribute poor rates as they saw fit. Usually they arranged for local families to care for waifs in exchange for a small stipend.
Reference: Murray, J. E. (2004). Literacy Acquisition in an Orphanage: A Historical-Longitudinal Case Study. American Journal Of Education, 110(2), 173.
3. Relief funds
a. Upon disestablishment, poor relief responsibilities devolved on the city of Charleston, supported by a very small payment from the state of South Carolina. Ever seeking to cut costs, the city closely studied how the orphanage founded by George Whitefield operated in nearby Savannah, Georgia. Expecting that a central home for children would cost less than outdoor relief, the city council established the Charleston Orphan House.
Reference: Murray, J. E. (2004). Literacy Acquisition in an Orphanage: A Historical-Longitudinal Case Study. American Journal Of Education, 110(2), 173.
4. Ordinance
a. The Charleston Orphan House was established by an ordinance of City Council ratified on 18 October 1790, “for the purpose of supporting and educating poor orphan children, and those of poor, distressed and disabled parents who are unable to support and maintain them.
b. "An Ordinance for the establishment of an orphan house in the City of Charleston," ratified Oct. 18, 1790, in George B. Eckhard, “A Digest of the Ordinance of the City Council of Charleston, From the Year 1783 to October 1844 (Charleston, 1844), PP. 188-189.
c. WHEREAS, the present mode of supporting and educating poor children at different schools, has been found by experience to be attended with heavy expense and many inconveniences, and the establishment of an Orphan House properly organized and conducted, will be attended with less expense, more convenience and benefit, and may tend to give general satisfaction to the citizens, and induce the benevolent to assist in the support of so charitable and laudable an institution:
Be it ordained,That a lot of land, not less than two hundred feet square, shall be immediately laid out by the Committee of the City Lands, on the most healthy and convenient spot, and reserved for the building and erecting an Orphan House, as soon as the funds of the corporation will admit, or any practical plan to defray the expense thereof can be devised. And that all such poor orphan children and children of poor distressed or disabled parents as shall be deemed proper objects of admission by the Commissioners, who shall be vested with powers for managing the said Orphan House, shall be admitted into the same, and shall be supported, educated and maintained at the expense of the corporation, during such term and under such regulations as the City Council shall from time to time prescribe or sanction.
Until the said Orphan House shall be erected, a proper house and lot of land conveniently situated, shall be rented as an Orphan House, by the Commissioners [elected by City Council] who shall have the direction and management of the same, and who shall admit, and take charge of the clothing, maintenance and education of the children of the Orphan House; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioners to choose and appoint proper assistants, nurses and domestics, and to superintend and manage the Orphan House, the officers and servants thereof, and the children therein, to the best of their judgment and skill, subject to the control of the City Council.
It shall be the duty of the Steward of the Orphan House to see that good and wholesome provisions are sent for the use of the children and other persons residing in the Orphan House, by the butchers, bakers, and other persons employed to furnish such articles as may be necessary; to take care of the articles delivered him for the use of the Orphan House; to keep a book of fair and "regular accounts of all receipts and expenditures, which shall be subject at all times, to the examination of the Commissioners, to perform all the duties of a good Steward, to obey the directions and regulations of the Commissioners; and to enable the said Steward to discharge faithfully the duties required of him, he shall reside in the Orphan House, and shall receive necessary provisions for himself.
A Matron of good capacity and character shall be elected by the City Council on the last Monday in October, annually, but if no Council shall meet on that day, then on the first day of the Council thereafter, as School Mistress and Matron of the Orphan House, whose duty it shall be to teach the children to read and sew, to take care that their clothes are properly made, washed and preserved, to keep the children and their rooms cleanly, and to watch over their morals and conduct; to direct the assistants and nurses, and to see that they discharge their duties faithfully, and to distribute them properly among the children, in the different rooms; to take care that the victuals provided for the children are wholesome, cleanly and well prepared; to preserve order and decorum at table and elsewhere, and to conduct the children regularly to some place of worship on the Sabbath, and to obey all the directions of the Commissioners. And to enable the said Mistress and Matron to perform her duties she shall reside in the Orphan House, and shall receive necessary provisions for herself.
The Commissioners who shall be appointed by the City Council, shall have power and authority to make and frame such rules and regulations as they may think necessary, for the good government and conducting the business of the Orphan House, and all persons therein.Provided,all such rules and regulations are presented to, and approved of by the City Council, within ten days after the same are framed, and that the City Council shall and may confirm, alter and amend or annul the same.
Reference: http://www.hnet.org/~child/Bremner/Volume_I/30_P2_IV_B_Institutional_Care_of_Poor_Children.htm
Generative Strategy
The learner will read selected readings discussing the circumstances resulting in the establishment of the Charleston Orphan House to include increase in orphans, role of the church, relief funds, and the Charleston City Council Municipal Act.
Evaluation
Multiple Choice and true false questions identifying factors involved in origin of Orphan House. Blog entry by learner explaining what led to establishment of Charleston Orphan House.
Goal (2)
Explain the Charleston Orphan House admission and departure process
Objective (2a)
Given a list of criteria, determine if the applicant can be admitted to the Charleston Orphan House with 90 percent accuracy.
Knowledge
1. No child shall be admitted into the house unless surrendered and legally bound to the Institution by the parent or guardian, or by the Commissioners of the Poor. Nor shall any child be admitted who, from character or from unsoundness of mind or body, is likely to interfere with the morals or health of the other children in the house, or otherwise injuriously affect them. Nor shall any child be admitted who has not resided within the limits of the city at least twelve months previous to the application for admission, or be ordered by the City Council to be received. All applications for admissions shall be made agreeably to a form prescribed by the Board.
2. All applications after being read at a meeting of the Board, shall be referred to the Visiting Commissioner of that week, who shall inquire into and report thereon, in writing, at the next meeting of the Board.
3. Applicants for the admission of children shall attend in person with the children upon the meeting to which the Visiting Commissioner makes his report, unless excused from attending by said Commissioner.
- Inmates to be retained until bound out or given up to parents or friends.
4. Children once admitted shall remain in the care of the Institution until they are of suitable age to be bound out to some useful trade, calling or employment, unless previously given up to their relatives, who may be able to support them, and otherwise approved, or to some other suitable person, who shall be responsible for their nurture, maintenance and education.
“No child shall be admitted into the Orphan House until the Board [of Commissioners] have enquired into and determined as to the propriety of their admission; where the children have parents or guardians, on their admission they shall be bound to the Commissioners for the time being, the girls until they have attained the ages of eighteen years and the boys until they have attained that of twenty one years. As the Girls attain the age of thirteen, and the boys fourteen years (unless their capacities may enable them sooner) their indentures shall be transferred to such mistresses or masters as shall teach them such profession, trade or occupation as may be suited to their genius and inclination.”
Reference: Minutes, Commissioners’ Meetings, Charleston Orphan House Collection, South Carolina Room, Charleston County Public Library, vol. 1, p. 38
5. With one exception noted below, the criteria for propriety in admission were rather practical. Inmates were to be residents of Charleston, roughly between the ages of 3 and 14. It was Charleston residents’ taxes that paid for the institution, so applications from out-of-towners were generally rejected and referred to the overseers of the poor of the applicant’s town or county. Younger children required more attention than the steward (manager) and nurses of the Orphan House could provide and so were supported by outdoor relief or kept with their mother in the Poor House. Older children could be bound out directly as apprentices with no need for “the bounty of the institution.” Families, if they existed, were to be poor. The ordinance that established the Orphan House specified that its purpose was to support and educate “poor orphan children and those of poor, distressed and disabled parents who are unable to support and maintain them.” (Minutes, Commissioners’ Meetings, Oct 1790) Especially if the house was crowded, the visiting commissioner might investigate the family’s circumstances more closely to determine whether they were truly needy. Usually they were.
Reference: Murray, J. E. (2004). Literacy Acquisition in an Orphanage: A Historical-Longitudinal Case Study. American Journal Of Education, 110(2), 174.
6. The exception to practicality, which was so obvious to the commissioners that Orphan House records hardly mention it, was race. By far the majority of black children in Charleston were enslaved, and orphans among them were the responsibility of the master.
Reference: Murray, J. E. (2004). Literacy Acquisition in an Orphanage: A Historical-Longitudinal Case Study. American Journal Of Education, 110(2), 174.
7. As was common among antebellum orphanages, the children were bound into the Orphan House with a legally binding contract called an indenture. By endorsing the indenture, the adult who had brought the child to the Orphan House yielded all legal claims to the child. Contact between family members outside the house, especially mothers, and children within it often continued in a frequent and meaningful way (Murray 2002). By the nature of the indenture this occurred at the sufferance of the commissioners, who nearly always granted permission for the mother to visit or for the child to go to his or her extended family for holidays and the like. The child himself also signed the indenture, which obligated him to remain in the Orphan House until he became old enough to be bound out to a master, to whom the indentures would be transferred at that time.