to live among the immigrant poor and minister to the sick. In 1893 the
banker met Wald, then in her mid-twenties, and was impressed by her self-
less idealism. He understood that personal nursing care, especially if fo-
cused on people generally fearful of hospitalization, offered a wide range of
advantages. Above all, it promised to address one of his paramount con-
cerns, the health of the children trapped in the overcrowded ghetto and
vulnerable to epidemics. The banker and his mother-in-law, Betty Loeb,
agreed to pay the salaries of Wald and a co-worker, but they stipulated that
their names not be attached to the service. In short order, Schiff secured
the cooperation of the United Hebrew Charities (which permitted Wald to
call upon their physicians), the “moral support” of the Board of Health,
and within two years a house for the nurses on Henry Street. The nonsec-
tarian pioneering venture that coped with problems of sanitation and per-
sonal hygiene as well as sickness drew immediate acclaim. “I envy you the
paternity of so admirable a work,” Bishop Henry Potter told Schiff after a
visit to Henry Street in 1895.
Work in the tenements broadened Wald’s sights. Convinced that recre-
ation and the arts, as well as education, were essential components of pre-
ventive medicine, she expanded the nurses’ service shortly after its incep-
tion into a settlement house for the ghetto neighborhood. Nursing
remained a central component, but the house on Henry Street gradually
added a kindergarten, a playground and gymnastics, classes in art, house-
keeping and vocational training, clubs for teenagers, and a dramatics
group. Prominent visitors of all stripes flocked to the settlement to ob-
serve its activities and participate in its open discussions; many were sensi-
tized to its philosophy of reform. The idea of settlement houses grew in-
creasingly popular in the United States during the 1890s, and Henry
Street and the others became, in Allen Davis’s words, “spearheads” for Pro-
gressive reform.^25
Schiff took an active interest in Wald’s burgeoning enterprises. Re-
sponding to her graphic descriptions of tenement hardships, he often
added contributions for individual cases or special conditions. A wire to
Wald in the summer of 1906 read: “If you can do anything for relief popu-
lace tenement from suffering excessive heat, shall gladly place five hundred
dollars [not a small sum in those days] at your disposal.” The banker
funded excursions for children to his summer home in New Jersey, and he
enlisted the sympathy and services of his wife and children in the settle-
ment. On one occasion he called on his brother-in-law, a professor of
chemistry, to advise on water and heating arrangements! His generosity ex-
tended to the staff too, and separate funds were earmarked for the welfare
of the nurses. By 1917, Wald’s nurses, operating from Henry Street and
district offices, were serving close to thirty thousand patients annually. On
their behalf, Schiff appealed to Mayor John Mitchel and Comptroller
92 Jacob H. Schiff