Series V. Records of the St. Agatha Home for Children, 1875-2001, 1875-2001, inclusive

The series contains minutes, correspondence, reports, legal documents, pamphlets, newsletters, clippings, photographic prints and other records of the St. Agatha Home for Children 1875-1977, and the St. Agatha Home of the New York Foundling Hospital 1977-2001, in 7 boxes and 15 volumes. One additional item is also housed in a separate oversized (OS) box, noted in the container list.

The series is arranged in 5 subseries:
V.1 - St. Agatha Incorporation and By-Laws, 1884-1973
V.2 - St. Agatha Minutes and Reports to the Board of Trustees, 1887-1977
V.3 - St. Agatha Reports and Inspections, 1885-1955
V.4 - St. Agatha Records, Chronological, 1875-2001
V.5 - St. Agatha Clippings and Photographic Materials, ca. 1949-1999

Additional documentation of the St. Agatha Home can be found in Series II, Annual Reports of the Foundling (1977, 1981 and 1984 specifically focus on St. Agatha); and Series I and III, Minutes and Administrative Records of the Foundling.

The St. Agatha Home for Children in Nanuet, New York, was founded in 1884 by the Sisters of Charity, on 16 acres of land donated in 1875 by John Reid. Its mission was to be a home and trade school for orphans and neglected children. Most children were referred by the New York City courts. Over the years, land adjacent to the original property was purchased, and various buildings and wings were erected, including a building which functioned first as a "Preventorium" for sick children from 1913-1945, and later as a school. In the 1950's and 1960's, the St. Agatha Home consisted of about two dozen buildings on about 172 acres of land. In 1950, approximately 600 children lived there, and 358 in 1967.

Beginning in 1969, St. Agatha decentralized, operating small group homes in Rockland County, the Bronx and Staten Island, providing community-based care for youth awaiting possible foster placement. In addition, it ran prevention programs, and opened two non-secure-detention shelters for juveniles in the criminal justice system. In the 1970's St. Agatha's struggled financially, relying on city funds during the years of the city's fiscal crisis, while the percentage of teenagers and children with severe problems and special needs increased. The St. Agatha Home merged into the NY Foundling Hospital in 1977. Consolidation of two Sisters of Charity institutions providing related services would enable more effective coordinated care.

After the merger, the St. Agatha Home of the New York Foundling established several new critical care programs for developmentally disabled children and adults, programs for Vietnamese boat children, and shelters for homeless youth, among other services.

The latest material in this series dates from 2001. In 2005, the St. Agatha Home closed and the property in Nanuet was sold.