Login

Publications  •  Project Statistics

Glossary  •  Schools  •  Disciplines
People Search: 
   
Title/Abstract Search: 

Dissertation Information for Nancy Ellen Barr

NAME:
- Nancy Ellen Barr

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1993)

ADVISORS:
- Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Mary E. Odem
- Dan T. Carter

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: A profession for women: Education, social service administration, and feminism in the life of Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge, 1886-1948

Abstract: This dissertation is a biography of Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge, 1866-1948, a noted social work educator of the early twentieth century. It explores how her work at the University of Chicago during the Progressive Era and her subsequent activities during the Great Depression offered women educational, political, and economic "emancipation," as she herself used the term. The project also knits together Breckinridge's professional activism with her personal relations with two other reformers of the period: Marion Talbot and Edith Abbott.

The story unfolds chronologically. Chapter One considers Breckinridge's childhood in Kentucky and traces her development through graduation from Wellesley College in 1888. Despite her achievements there, she wrestled with several potential career choices. Chapters Two and Three uncover these struggles and explain how Breckinridge came to the University of Chicago under the tutelage of her mentor, Marion Talbot. As Dean of Women and founder of the Department of Household Administration, Talbot helped set the agenda for Breckinridge's future career.

While Breckinridge taught in Talbot's department, she also lectured at the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. Here, between 1905 and 1925, she worked with prominent Progressive reformers such as Julia Lathrop and Jane Adams. But Breckinridge's efforts revolved primarily around developing the field of social work as a profession for women. Chapter Four traces the culmination of this ambition, in 1920, with the newly-formed Graduate School of Social Service Administration, at the University of Chicago.

Chapters Five and Six discuss the challenges and opportunities Breckinridge confronted during the era of the Great Depression and the New Deal. With her professional colleague and personal confidante Edith Abbott, Breckinridge sought to place social work on a firm institutional foundation. Beyond this achievement, she also participated in shaping New Deal policy on social welfare. During the New Deal years, Breckinridge's work on behalf of women also broadened; she became increasingly concerned with the gendered dimensions of employment, political power, and personal freedom. In framing these issues, especially in her influential 1933 book, Women in the Twentieth Century, Breckinridge in many ways presaged the modern women's movement of the late twentieth century.

MPACT Scores for Nancy Ellen Barr

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-04-14 09:41:45

Advisors and Advisees Graph

generating graph, please reload

Students under Nancy Ellen Barr

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None