82:. More than 150,000 people attended the lectures and Smith's speech was included in a special booklet by the Congress of Women. By the standards of the day, Smith's call for national public kindergartens and fresh air funds was revolutionary. As she said, "Every community stands under a moral obligation to give to every helpless child born within its border the best possible chance to grow into honesty and virtue."
67:. Smith's work focused on empowering the poor and one of her first acts as administrator was to create a loan fund so that "self-respecting persons might obtain small sums to meet their most pressing wants." Smith also created skill building classes like the Women's Sewing Class and Reading Society.
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In 1882, Smith was appointed to the State Board of
Charities. She visited poorhouses and estimated that 2,500 children were housed in these low quality and often dangerous facilities. Thanks to Smith's advocacy, a new law was passed in May 1883 establishing temporary children's homes. These homes
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at the
Hartford City Mission. This was the first free kindergarten in Connecticut. In 1885, Smith pushed the Connecticut State Legislature to authorize kindergartens in public schools throughout the state. The bill passed unanimously.
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During the early years of her marriage, Smith became involved in local charities and wrote short fiction for newspapers. In 1876, Smith was appointed administrator of the
Hartford City Mission, a
19:(August 16, 1836 – January 3, 1903) was a pioneering children's advocate. She helped reform Connecticut's child welfare policies and founded the first free kindergarten program in the state.
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charity which served the poor. Smith expanded the services offered by the
Hartford City Mission, giving it many of the programs included in a
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were only available to children deemed physically and mentally healthy which was only a partly victory in Smith's opinion.
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Smith organized the
Connecticut Children's Aid Society in 1892. She set up a homes for sick and abandoned children in
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93:. The accusations were never proven, but Smith was forced to resign from the Hartford City Mission in 1882.
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The
Congress of Women Held in the Woman's Building: World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U.S.A., 1893
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Meanwhile, Smith's work helping unwed mothers began to trouble some and she was accused of
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Smith was invited to speak at the 1893 World
Congress of Representative Women at the
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Virginia Thrall Smith died in
Hartford in 1903 and she is buried in
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The daughter of
Melissa Griswold and Hiram Thrall, Smith grew up in
299:"History of Serving Children and Families in Greater Hartford"
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James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S. (1971).
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Notable
American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary
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Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)
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31:. She was educated at Suffield Institute,
209:Boynton, Cynthia Wolfe (March 4, 2014).
259:. p. 178 – via Google Books.
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247:Eagle, Mary Kavanaugh Oldham (1895).
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110:Connecticut Children's Medical Center
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278:Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
257:International Publishing Company
340:American human rights activists
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70:In 1881, Smith opened a free
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365:19th-century American people
350:Mount Holyoke College alumni
212:Remarkable Women of Hartford
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370:19th-century American women
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375:Activists from Connecticut
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162:Harvard University Press
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33:Hartford Female Seminary
274:"Virginia Thrall Smith"
108:facility grew into the
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41:Hartford, Connecticut
37:Mount Holyoke College
17:Virginia Thrall Smith
80:Chicago World's Fair
122:Cedar Hill Cemetery
249:"The Kindergarten"
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61:Congregationalist
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23:Early life
106:Newington
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232:July 12,
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104:. The
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