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National Home for Jewish Children in Denver (1928-1952)

 Organization

Biography

The National Asthma Center (NAC) existed under a series of names. It was The National Asthma Center (NAC) (1973-1978) had a series of names: the Denver Sheltering Home for Jewish Children (1907-1927), National Home for Jewish Children in Denver (1928-1952), Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children in Denver (JNHAC) (1953-1956), and the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital (CARIH) (1957-1972). NAC was an independent institution from 1907 until 1978, when it merged with National Jewish Hospital to form the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center/National Asthma Center. The NAC campus in west Denver at 19th and Julian Streets sold in 1981. During the last part of the nineteenth century, Denver, Colorado, became a haven for those suffering from tuberculosis, "the white plague." However, no formal medical treatment facilities existed until the opening of the National Jewish Hospital (NJH) in 1899. Five years later, the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) began treating patients with advanced cases of tuberculosis. A Denver housewife, Fannie Lorber, became concerned about the plight of Jewish children left homeless by a parent's hospitalization or orphaned by a parent's death at NJH or JCRS. In 1907, she and her friends Bessie Willens and Sadie Francis organized other local East European immigrant women and founded the Denver Sheltering Home. For the next 51 years, Fannie Lorber presided over the volunteer board of the Home and was the driving force behind fundraising efforts. At first, funded entirely by the Denver Jewish Community, the Home's expansion eventually led to a system of fundraising Ladies' Auxiliaries throughout the United States. The Home initially sheltered only orphaned or neglected children of tuberculosis victims, but it soon expanded its mission to help combat delinquency among Denver's Jewish children. An arrangement was made with Judge Ben B. Lindsey to send first offenders to the Home rather than to a detention center. (Judge Lindsey created the Colorado Juvenile Court system.) The Home also began taking in orphaned and needy children from other cities, and by 1920, approximately 100 children were living on the expanded campus. The Home's founders aimed to provide a cultured, stimulating, and Jewish environment for the children that was as close to family life as possible, unlike most orphanages of the period. In 1939 the Home instituted the long-term residential treatment of children with intractable asthma. In the 1950s, medical, psychiatric, and research personnel were added to treat children with asthma and allergies. In 1951, Dr. Allan Hurst became the first full-time medical director, and Jack Gershtenson became the administrator, a position he held for nearly thirty years. The Home officially became a non-sectarian in 1953. Dr. Murray Pershkin, chief consultant to the home from 1940 until 1959, advocated '"parentectomy,"' the removal of the child from his or her home for up to two years. In 1957, the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital was created. At the time, it was the only research facility in the country dedicated to asthma and allergic diseases. In 1966, Drs. Kimishige and Taruko Ishizaka, a husband and wife research team at CARIH, discovered immunoglobin E, the physiological basis for asthma. In 1972, CARIH became the National Asthma Center. By the 1970s, National Jewish Hospital had gone from treating tuberculosis to treating a broader range of respiratory diseases, including asthma. It was decided in 1978 that a merger of the two institutions would be beneficial. Patients remained at the NAC campus until 1981, when it was closed. Fannie Lorber was president from 1907 to 1958, Arthur Lorber was president from 1958 to 1975, and Charles M. Schayer was president from 1975 to 1978.

Found in 14 Collections and/or Records:

37th Anniversary Speech 9/29/44, 1944 September 29

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0002.00014
Abstract

37th Anniversary Speech of the National Home for Jewish Children, delivered in New York City.

Dates: 1944 September 29

1948, 1948

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0002.00007
Abstract

Speech given in New York City in 1948. Thanks audience for support of National Home for Jewish Children in Denver. She explains that over half of the children in the Home come from New York City.

Dates: 1948

Greetings from the President of the Home, February 1952, 1952 February

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0003.00024
Abstract

Fannie Lorber's greeting at the Annual Dinner-Dance of the New York Chapter of the National Home for Jewish Children.

Dates: 1952 February

Mrs. Lorber's 44th Anniversary Dinner Speech At the Waldorf-Astoria, November 17, 1951, 1951 November 17

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0003.00028
Abstract

Fannie Lorber's speech at the 44th Anniversary Dinner for the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York on November 17, 1951.

Dates: 1951 November 17

Mrs. Lorber's Speech at 40th Anniversary Dinner, November 23, 1947, 1947 November 23

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0002.00008
Abstract

Speech from 40th Anniversary Dinner in New York. Fannie Lorber thanks the audience for support of the National Home for Jewish Children. She presents awards to Judge Mitchell May, Dr. M. Murray Peshkin and Ralph M. Simon.

Dates: 1947 November 23

Mrs. Lorber's Speech at the 39th Anniversary Dinner, November 23, 1946 at the Waldorf-Astoria, 1947 April 15

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0002.00011
Abstract

Fannie Lorber's speech at the 39th Anniversary Dinner, November 23, 1946 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

Dates: 1947 April 15

Mrs. Lorber's Speech at the 43rd Anniversary Dinner, November 18, 1950 at the Waldorf-Astoria, 1950 November 18

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0003.00032
Abstract

Speech given by Fannie Lorber at the 43rd Anniversary Dinner of the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver on November 18, 1950 held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Lorber introduces the screening of the movie about the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver film entitled, 'Wings Over Denver'.

Dates: 1950 November 18

Mrs. Lorber's Speech for 45th Anniversary Dinner - November 22, 1952, 1952 November 22

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0003.00018
Abstract

Fannie Lorber's speech for the 45th Anniversary Dinner of the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver held on November 22, 1952. Lorber presents a plaque to Judge Louis Goldstein.

Dates: 1952 November 22

Notes for Mrs. Lorber's Address at the Chicago League Luncheon - 11/15/44, 1945 November 25

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0002.00013
Abstract

Fannie Lorber's notes for a speech given at the Chicago League Luncheon include personal stories of three former residents at the National Home for Jewish Children: Ronnie S., Stanley Berman and Helen Rose Wolf.

Dates: 1945 November 25

Our Goal, 1934 March 8

 Item
Identifier: B089.02.0005.0001.00009
Abstract

Speech at the 27th anniversary dinner for the National Home for Jewish Children in Denver. Fannie Lorber thanks guests for their help in keeping the Home afloat. She paraphrases E. B. Browning's poem ''The Cry of the Children''. 2nd page has date of 3/5/34.

Dates: 1934 March 8

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Subject
Speeches 13
Tuberculosis 11
Charities 4
Speeches, addresses, etc., American 1
Wings over Denver (Documentary film) 1