Having discovered the wide ramification of the social diseases which call for social service and come more and more to a recognition of community responsibility in such matters, social workers, men and women, have realized the necessity of educating the public to a sense of that responsibility. Hence the “social exhibit” of every type, and wherever we find an exhibit, even if it be under the direction of men, we also discover a group of patient, skilled, energetic women workers.
Child welfare exhibits took precedence of some of the constructive programs for child nurture that are now coming into prominence and in all these exhibits, from the first to the last, most ardent labor has been contributed by women toward their success. Often they have themselves been the instigators and main support of an exhibit.
Through the first large exhibit of the New York Child Welfare Committee in the 71st Regiment Armory, and since, by neighborhood exhibits, a wider knowledge of city child life and conditions affecting it prevails among city people. Public opinion as to what ought to be done has been aroused so that existing agencies with carefully worked out plans for child welfare have received a more sympathetic and generous support.
Charles F. Powlison thus summarizes the leading results of Child Welfare Exhibits:
New York City
1. The city increased its appropriation to the division of child hygiene of the health department by $167,705.
2. The Department of Parks set aside an old mansion in Carl Schurz Park for child welfare work.
3. The city appropriated $235,000 for a new children’s court building.
4. The children of the city were stimulated to a greater use of the children’s department of the public libraries.