Adelaide Wallerstein

Wallerstein practiced medicine from an office in her New York home,^[7] and in 1905 founded a free clinic,^[8] the East Side Clinic for Children.^[9][10] She was president of the clinic for 25 years, until it closed in 1931.^[1] She also translated French literature into English.^[11]

"There is no better-known clubwoman in New York than Mrs. Harry Wallerstein," noted the cover of Broadway Weekly in 1904.^[12] She was president of the Woman's Legal Aid Society when it began in 1898,^[13] and president of the Adelaide Wallerstein Auxiliary of the National Army Relief Association for Porto Rico; the latter organization sent books, blankets, and disinfectants to American soldiers during the Spanish–American War.^[14][15] During World War I she organized a women's group to assist the Marines.^[16] She was also active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Women's Press Club of New York.^[1] She headed the Philocalian Society in 1907, a group of clubwomen who sought to discourage young women from drinking, low-cut gowns, and late-night socializing in New York.^[17]

Adelaide Wallerstein was president of the Rubenstein Club, from 1904 until a controversial ouster in 1909.^[18][19] In response,^[20] she founded the New York Mozart Society;^[21] the society's chorus performed at the White House in 1911, with Arthur Claassen conducting.^[22] She was president of the Mozart Society from 1909 to 1937.^[1]

Adelaide married businessman Henry "Harry" Wallerstein in 1899;^[23] they divorced in 1910.^[24][25] In 1911 she married businessman Noble McConnell.^[26][27][28] She died at the Hotel Astor in New York City in 1942, aged 73 years.^[29][1] Congressman Chris Shays is her grand-nephew; he is the grandson of Adelaide McConnell's sister, Lillian Cecile Dorn Shays.