Ch. 3
PG. 2

The Settlements

he central feature of social work during the progressive era was the continued growth of the settlement movement. By 1900, settlement leaders identified strongly with the larger more broadly based charity movement. 
 

 

The Pittsburgh Survey exemplified the growing affinity between the two different approaches to social work. The survey was sponsored by the Pittsburgh charity organization and was an important study of working class people. This drawing of steel workers was taken from that study.

 
Settlement leaders continued their commitment to social change and reform. In Chicago, Mary McDowall helped create the National Consumer's League and hundreds of settlement workers joined the crusade for improving conditions of women and children workers led by Frances Kelly. Mrs. Kelly also became a leader in the early women's labor movement.
In New York, settlement leaders such as Lillian Wald and Robert Hunter put social workers into public schools and promoted the idea of school-provided lunches. In some cities, settlement leaders organized anti-tenement groups and otherwise supported better housing for the poor.
 

 

"Why don't they all go to the country for vacation?" 1913 by George Bellows
Settlement leaders were strongly committed to research. However, they realized that publicizing their findings was also essential. Countless talks to clubs and organizations made many local celebrities. A few notables such as Jane Addams and Lillian Wald became national figures. They gave keynote addresses at national conferences, wrote articles in national magazines and were commonly quoted in the nation's leading newspapers.
Some of the more influential leaders developed interests in issues that extended beyond the neighborhood. An example of this type of national activity was the crusade to improve the circumstances of women and children which led to the creation of the Children’s Bureau.