April 15, 1891

Hersh Baraznik is born in the village of Kashoffka, then a part of the Russian Empire. It is located at the junction of the rivers Styr and Oser and bordered by thick pine forests. His father, known as “Nathan the Wise,” and his mother, called “Hannah the Saint” were already the parents of a son, Samuel, and daughter, Bessie. Five other children had died during a typhoid epidemic a few years before Hersh’s birth. The epidemic plunged the family into poverty and Nathan was forced to work in the forest stripping trees and selling the bark. On the day of Hersh’s birth, Nathan found 100 rubles in a hollow stump. He preceded to use the money to go to America to make his fortune. He returned a wealthy man.

 

1900

After the death of his beloved mother and following run-ins with his new stepmother, Hersh left home and apprenticed himself to a merchant who brought him to a brush factory in Sevastopol. While there he saw Czar Nicholas II. Hersh said the experience stayed with him his entire life as he felt a tremendous letdown upon seeing the Czar: “The man whose name carried terror and authority to every corner of the land . . . was a timid little man . . . His step and bearing were nervous, apprehensive.”

 

1902

A second incident left an indelible mark on Hersh more powerful than witnessing the Czar: a pogrom in Sevastopol that resulted in the death of many. “The air was leaden with tension as hooligans were brought into town. I tramped throughout the city and was amazed to discover that as preparations began for what we all knew was coming—and while police and the imperial army looked the other way—non-Jewish neighborhoods casually continued with everyday activities.” He was to witness a fellow Jewish brush maker club a rioter to death. He left Russia soon after, never returning to Kashoffka, which was obliterated from the map in later wars.

 

1903

Hersh travels across Europe with the goal of making it to the United States. As he travels through countries, he sells newspapers to survive. Not long after arriving in England, he stows away on a ship headed for America.

 

December 1903

Twelve-year-old Hersh arrives in Portland, Maine. Unable to speak English, penniless, and unable to find work, he decides to head to Boston, where he knows other residents of Kashoffka have settled. His only belongings are a fine Russian fur coat, hat, and shoes made by the shoemaker to Czar Nicholas II.

 

1904

Hersh begins selling newspapers on Washington Street in front of the old Boston Theatre in Beacon Hill. On his first day he is harassed by older newsboys, who call him a “greenhorn” and make fun of his clothing. One newsboy attacks him, punching him in the eye. “My initiation into the business was not pleasant. The black eye I got on the first day stayed with me for three weeks, and the bewilderment of it all lasted much longer.” Eventually, he establishes a corner at the intersection of Bowdoin and Derne streets. It was on this corner that he met then-Governor Curtis Guild, who, because he refused a dollar tip, gave Hersh the right to sell papers in the State House.

 

1906

Hersh buys the right from another newsboy to sell papers at Filene’s store located off Winter Palace. Although the Filenes family gave him a letter appointing him their official newsboy, Hersh was driven off by a Boston beat cop who threatened to arrest him. Believing he was in the right, Hersh went to see John F. Fitzgerald, the mayor of Boston (and the grandfather of President John F. Kennedy), who ordered the officer transferred.

 

1907

Hersh is elected by his fellow newsboys to arbitrate disputes regarding rights to sell papers at subway entrances. An account of this is published in the local newspapers and Hersh becomes well known among the newsboys of Boston.

 

1908

Hersh joins a newsboys club established by James J. Storrow, a distinguished citizen of Boston (after whom Storrow Drive is named). He writes an article for the club newspaper, “The Daily Lessons of a Newsboy.”

 

1911

Hersh, who has changed his name to Harry Burroughs, wins a scholarship to Suffolk Law School through a contest conducted by the Boston Traveler. Because he had won the respect of the newsboys when he arbitrated their quarrels, they vote for him and encourage their friends and customers to do the same. Harry’s own customers voted for him as well. Harry completes the four-year course in two years.

 

1912

Harry passes the Massachusetts bar exam and in time establishes a very successful practice. Newsboys send their parents to him, and he represents many of his former associates, including the bully who had given him a black eye on his first day as a newsboy. When he tries cases in court, his best audiences are newsboys. “Sometimes I would catch a twinkle in the judge’s eye as he rebuked them for applauding me.”

 

1917-1918

Harry serves in World War I for his adopted country.

 

1921

After nine years of successful law practice, Harry attempts to open a foundation for newsboys but “as often happens when charitably inclined persons know nothing about the conditions they are proposing to remedy, the interest died.”

 

June 1927

Harry receives a call from friend Eddie Keevin, who informs him that Upton Sinclair is in Boston gathering material about the terrible conditions in which newsboys live. Sinclair was a writer known for documenting and criticizing social and economic conditions of the early twentieth century, with his best-known work, The Jungle, exposing the meatpacking industry in Chicago. Harry calls Sinclair and tells him that by the time his book can be published, a newsboy foundation will be in existence.

 

December 1927

Fifteen years after he sold his last newspaper, Harry buys the Elks Lodge at 10 State Street in Boston and converts it into the Burroughs Newsboy Foundation. Over the next 24 years, thousands of boys—who, as Burroughs put it, “knew too much industry, too little play and laughter”—flocked to the gracious, four-story clubhouse for meals and medical attention and to relax, take part in educational and mentorship programs, and earn college scholarships.

 

1930

Harry publishes Tale of a Vanished land: Memories of a Childhood in Old Russia. He dedicates the book to his mother.

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June 1935

Harry first visits the campus of the YMCA’s Camp Maqua in Poland, Maine. He purchases it with the help of benefactor Maximilian Agassiz and creates The Agassiz Village of the Burroughs Newsboys Foundation.

 

July 9, 1935

A few days before Agassiz Village is set to open, Harry and the overseer realize the camp will not be ready as planned. All the available labor in the area has helped to clear debris, cut down burned trees, plant gardens, and repair roofs, but there was still much to be done. Harry sends out a call for volunteers to the newsboys in Boston. “They came in droves, leaving their routes and corners, to help build their village. Boys working beside men, shingling roofs, clearing the land, painting the buildings, and making roads.” An hour before the formal opening on July 9, Harry spoke to his counselors: “Soon the boys will arrive. You will experience something you will never forget—the joy of making children happy.”

 

August 23, 1940

Dedication ceremonies are held at Agassiz Village “in the presence of a score of the country’s leading philanthropists and benefactors of the youth of this nation, 200 other distinguished guests, and 300 Boston newsboys.” Said Harry: “This is a happy day for me, because so many friends are here to enjoy with me the completion of something for which we have all worked together, something for which I have hoped and prayed for many years.”

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1944

Harry publishes Boys in Men's Shoes: A World of Working Children.

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December 19, 1946

Harry, who has served as the Executive Director of Agassiz Village for 11 years, dies at the age of 56. He leaves behind his wife, Hannah, and three children: Harry E. Jr., Warren, and Jean. Five years later, the Burroughs Newsboys Foundation closes. Agassiz Village, the place that reminded him of his homeland, Kashoffka, continues today.