By Anne M. Filiaci, Ph.D.
FARRELL AND THE HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT
Elizabeth Farrell became a resident of the Henry Street Settlement shortly after she began teaching at Public School No. 1. She found the Settlement a stimulating and compatible place to live. Its autonomous, high-powered women residents provided welcome and supportive company. The constant stream of neighborhood visitors and distinguished guests also furnished a fertile environment for the development and dissemination of her ideas. It was an intellectual, social and emotional home that she would happily inhabit for twenty-five years.
Wald later recalled the symbiotic nature of Farrell’s relationship with the Settlement—
“One of the closest bonds between Henry Street and the schools in the past two decades has been the Ungraded Classes. To use the nurses’ vernacular, we were called in at the birth of this movement, we followed its growth from year to year, and Elizabeth Farrell, its creator, was a beloved resident of the House for nearly a quarter of a century.”
Many years later, Wald remembered how Farrell “insisted that she found the House a living spring of inspiration.” The teacher confided to Wald that the “Settlement’s rich understanding of people, life, events, its multicolored and changing activities, … helped keep her own thought and emotion fresh and vital.” Living with public health nurses in the midst of the Henry Street neighborhood also gave Farrell important insight into the lives of her students. Not only did she hear the nurse residents talk about their visits to the homes of these children; all she had to do was open “her Henry Street window” and she could, unseen, listen to the children at play.
Farrell and Wald shared a social commitment to improve the lives of the poor and underserved. They also shared a love of art and beauty. Farrell’s art appreciation was, according to Wald, “another side” of the teacher, another source of inspiration “not known to many.” To her friends at Henry Street, however, Farrell felt free to show her “deep understanding of poetry and the classics, her knowledge of Oriental rugs, Chinese pottery Japanese prints, old furniture, rare books.” Farrell, Wald revealed, “was an amateur collector of these beautiful things.”
Living in the diverse neighborhood of the Settlement and pursuing her career, while at the same time indulging her love of the arts was, to Wald, fundamental to Farrell’s vision and to her success. For both women, “interest in the art and culture of other peoples” added “richness to one’s own life….” It furnished “the soil out of which springs that inspiration which must be passed on to teachers and children if the aims of education are to be attained.”
Bibliography
Duchan, Judith Felson, “A History of Speech-Language Pathology; Elizabeth E. Farrell, 1870-1932,” Last revised: 04/20/2011 17:22:15, available at http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/new_history/hist19c/subpages/farrell.html Current 4/3/17.
Duffus, R.L., Lillian Wald: Neighbor and Crusader, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1939.
Kode, Kimberly, Elizabeth Farrell and the History of Special Education, Arlington, VA, Council for Exceptional Children, 2002 (ERIC Document ED474364, full text available online through ERIC).
Wald, Lillian D., The House on Henry Street, NY: Henry Holt & Co., 1915.
Wald, Lillian D., Windows on Henry Street, Boston: Little Brown, and Company, 1934.
Illustrations
Farrell, Elizabeth, Photo/Portrait Link to Illustration Current 4/4/17
Playground of the Henry Street Settlement Link to Illustration [ca. 1895] Current 4/4/17
Jewish Women’s Archive. “The “Henry Street Family” circa 1900.” (Viewed on 4/4/17) Link to Illustration .
Henry Street Settlement, “263-267 Henry Street between Montgomery and Grand Streets in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City are part of the Henry Street Settlement. The settlement was founded in 1893 by Lillian Wald as the Nurses’ Settlement, and in 1895 Jacob Schiff bought 265 Henry Street for the organization’s use, and gave it to them in 1903. In 1906, the Settlement expanded into the Greek Revival townhouse next door at #267, which had a Colonial Revival facade by Buchman & Fox; the new building was a gift from Morris Loeb. In 1938, the settlement began leasing #263, and purchased it in 1949. #263 was restored in 1989 and #265 in 1992. (Source: Guide to NYC Landmarks (4th ed.))” Link to Illustration Cleaner image at: Link to Illustration Current 4/4/17
New York City Department of Records, 265-67 Henry Street, Collection name: DOF: Manhattan 1980s Tax Photos, 1983-1988; Link to Illustration Current 4/4/17
NYC DORIS, PS 1, Manhattan: exterior. Henry Street, Oliver Street, and Catherine Street, ca. 1900. Link to Illustration Current 4/4/17
Copyright Anne M. Filiaci 2017