Pomagać i leczyć. Przyczynek do powstania Instytutu Ubogich (Armeninstitut) w Gdańsku i jego pierwszych lat działalności (do 1795 r.)

Abstract

To help and to cure. An input to the establishment of the Institute for the Poor (Armeninstitut) in Gdańsk and initial years of its operations (until 1795) The article is a form of input complementing a gap concerning the Institute for the Poor (Armeninstitut) in its initial years of operation, namely until the year 1795. On the basis of handwritten and printed sources, the focus lies on presenting the genesis, circumstances of its creation, organisation and functioning of this charitable institution. Institute for the Poor was established in October 1788 as a result of extraordinary efforts of a merchant and official Caspar David Selck. The institution was supposed to help the poor who owned their own flats. One form of the Institute’s operations was to hand over social benefits to those in need directly and on a weekly basis either in cash or in kind. The support also comprised free physician or surgeon care as well as the possibility to conduct work at home, mainly in the form of spinning wool and linen. At first, the institution occupied one chamber in the House of Charity (Spend‑und Waisenhaus) located in Sieroca Street (Am Spendhaus), from where it was later moved to a nearby building located in the same street, which had been bought specifically for that purpose. In 1823 it was relocated to the Correction House (Zuchthaus).