Presenter: Marie A. Conn, Ph.D

Founded in 1800, the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia was the first institution in America dedicated to the care and reformation of “fallen women.”  As an institution within the Episcopal Church, Philadelphia’s Magdalen asylum represents an American offshoot of Georgian England’s so-called “Rescue Movement,” which made its way to Ireland, where it was taken over by the Catholic Church and became the now-infamous Irish Magdalen Laundries.

This presentation will look first at the Irish Magdalen Laundry system, then at its American cousin. The answer to the question of whether or not the American system is a direct offspring of the English, an offspring that stopped off at Ireland, or is a unique institution is not clear.