About This Item
Title
Workhouse men
Subject
Almshouses
Homeless Persons
Criminals
Prisoners
Work
Blockley Almshouse
Philadelphia General Hospital
Photographs
Portraits
Description
Workhouse men brought to Blockley to perform labor.
Back of image: The House of Correction gang
Source
Original image: Philadelphia General Hospital Photograph Collection, Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, box 2, photo no. 12
Philadelphia General Hospital was originally part of the Philadelphia Almshouse, which was founded in 1731 for the city’s poor, elderly and indigent. Nicknamed “Old Blockley,” because of its location in Blockley Township of West Philadelphia, the hospital was renamed Philadelphia General Hospital in 1919. The hospital eventually closed in 1977. The images in this collection have been compiled from a number of sources but appear to be predominantly from the personal photo albums of attending physicians.
Publisher
Digitized by the Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Date
1888
Type
StillImage
Identifier
PGH_2_12
Temporal Coverage
History, 19th Century
Spatial Coverage
Philadelphia
Original Format
1 photograph
Physical Dimensions
9.5 x 12 cm
Citation
“Workhouse men,” The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library, accessed October 31, 2025, https://cppdigitallibrary.org/items/show/645.