A Friendship: Pro Bono Publico
 

WILLIAM B. LIEBMANN
 

T
 

"^HE friendship of Lillian D. A\'ald and Herbert H. Leh¬
man started at the turn of the century. This association
betveen one of the pioneers in settlement and visiting
nurse service and a future statesman developed into a grand alli¬
ance for the public good.

Lillian Wald had started her endeavors on Henry Street about
1893. By 1900 she had expanded her work beyond the training
of home and visiting nursing aid ro include most of the programs
rhat are now usually associated with good social work. When
Herbert Lehman, recently graduared from Williams College, vol¬
unteered his services, he was asked to form the second boys group
of the settlement. The club, which called itself "The Patriots,"
was composed of thirteen to fourteen-year-old neigiiborhood
boys. The leader conducted discussion groups, ran sports and
games and instituted entertainments of many sorts. This under¬
taking was the first step in Lehman's life-long connection with
both Miss AVald and with the Henry Street Settlement.

By a happy combination of circumstances the written records
of this most interesting friendship have become united at Colum¬
bia. In cataloguing the Herbert H. Lehman Papers, which were
presented to the School of International Affairs by Mrs. Lehman,
a 1936 letter from Miss ^^'ald to Governor Lehman was found to
contain an interesting reference. Lillian ^^'ald, while preparing
material for an exhibition, wrote that she had found "numerous
letters to and from you dating back to earlier years of the century
and ... I cannot send these letters on to the University without
commenting on their content." This correspondence was not lo¬
cated in any known public or private collection of Wald papers.

In 1967, when some basement storage space was being re-ar-