One of our Pittsburgh authors, Joann Cantrell, is currently working on a book project for Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series - Pittsburgh's Orphanages and Orphans  1900-1950s.

This is Joann’s third book for Arcadia and their format centers on storytelling through original images that have not been previously published.

She typically reaches out to the local media to help get the word out and do a "call for photographs" for the public to submit. This year, she has reached out to This Awful Awesome Life for help to reach as many people as possible. 

Here's a few photographs and a summary to show what she is looking for: 

In the early 1900s, orphanages in the United States housed more than 100,000 children, thousands of them being in Pittsburgh.  

Words varied in describing how children ended up in the orphanages. Thousands were “placed,” “forsaken,” “discarded” or “cast off,” many as infants and toddlers. Many were orphans of circumstance, rather than by the death of both parents and were raised amidst a multitude of children in an institutional setting from infancy until high school graduation because a parent or family member could not adequately care for them. 

The orphanages were constructed through churches and fraternal organizations, complete with boarding accommodations, dining halls, schools, playgrounds, and infirmaries that offered accommodations for 100 to up to 300 orphans at any given time. For the resident children, everything was communal, and privacy was nonexistent. Young boys and girls slept in overcrowded dormitories, waited in long lines to use the lavatories, and lost their individuality to the uniform appearance of being an orphan. Thousands of children throughout decades adopted the lifelong label of being a “Home Kid” while living in such institutional settings, yet the absence of a true home and family created a void that could never be filled.  

Do you have a family member or know someone who was raised in a Pittsburgh orphanage between 1900-1950s? Author Joann Cantrell is searching for original photographs for an upcoming book to preserve the memories and stories of these orphans who remain an important piece of Pittsburgh’s history.

Contact Joann at: joann.cantrell@gmail.com 

Thank you in advance for helping Joann tell this story with your photographs and please be sure to let her know you saw her call out in This Awful Awesome Life.

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