Mary Richmond and the Origins of Social Casework in America

Mary Richmond is generally considered the founder of social casework in America. Unlike such contemporaries as Jane Addams and Charlotte Gilman (they were all born within one year of one another) Richmond did not participate in the idealistic currents of reform associated with settlement house work, social feminism and feminist-influenced progressivism. Instead, her career moved directly from participation in the Charity Organisation societies (from which so much of the settlement house movement broke away) to the establishment of a profession (in which so much of the settlement house movement culminated). Although not as charismatic or sympathetic a figure as Addams, Gilman, Florence Kelley or her other great ‘progressive’ contemporaries concerned with social welfare, the importance of the professions in general and social work in particular gives Richmond’s career continued significance. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.