How did the magdalene societies work to abolish prostitution?

The Magdalen Society of Philadelphia was a private charitable organization founded in 1800 to redeem prostitutes and other "fallen" women. This was the first association in the United States that sought to rescue and reform wayward women. A number of local clergymen and citizens affiliated with Quaker, Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations met to form the Society. Bishop William White, the nation's highest-ranking Episcopal bishop, was the first president of the Society, which officially incorporated in 1802. The organization was based on Magdalen hospitals in England and Ireland, which were named for Mary Magdalene. Similarly designated groups were soon started in other American cities in the early 19th century.

One response to the problem of women overstepping moral bounds was the Magdalene societies. Magdalene 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. Magdalene 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. Magdalene societies offered the moral rehabilitation that prisons and penitentiaries lacked, but they were far from irreproachable. The New York Magdalene 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 Magdalene 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.

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