Edith Abbott (September 26, 1876 – July 28, 1957) was an American economist, statistician, social worker, educator, and author. Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. Abbott was a pioneer in the profession of social work with an educational background in economics. She was a leading activist in social reform with the ideals that humanitarianism needed to be embedded in education. Abbott was also in charge of implementing social work studies to the graduate level. Though she was met with resistance on her work with social reform at the University of Chicago, she ultimately was successful and was elected as the school's dean in 1924, making her one of the first female deans in the United States. Abbott was foremost an educator and saw her work as a combination of legal studies and humanitarian work which shows in her social security legislation. She is known as an economist who pursued implementing social work at the graduate level. Her younger sister was Grace Abbott.

The Edith Abbott Memorial Library, in Grand Island, Nebraska, is named after her.

Early life

Edith was born on September 26, 1876, in Grand Island, Nebraska. Her father, Othman Ali Abbott, was a lawyer and Nebraska's first Lieutenant Governor (1877–1879). Her mother, Elizabeth Maletta Griffin, was an abolitionist and suffrage leader. Both parents instilled values of women's rights, equality, and social reform into Edith and her sister Grace, inspiring their future work. Grace Abbott had many accomplishments working as a social worker, child labor legislation reformer, and chief of the United States Children's Bureau (1921–1934), also working with Edith on many different professional projects during their careers.

Education

In 1893, Abbott graduated from Brownell Hall, While at the University of Chicago working on her doctorate, she met Professor Sophonisba Breckinridge. She earned her doctorate in political economy in 1905. Later, Abbott and Breckinridge would publish multiple studies while at the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. In 1905, Abbott graduated, receiving her Ph.D. in economics. While studying in London, Abbott lived part of the time in a social reformers' settlement in a poverty-stricken area of the East End, where she gained experience in social work.

Abbott moved into Jane Addams's Hull House with her sister, Grace, when she moved back to Chicago.

The long-lasting professional partnership between Abbott and Breckinridge first started during their years together at the School of Civics and Philanthropy. They shared a common interest in detailed statistical investigations of contemporary social problems which they believed they could use to spark reform advocacy. As a result of her experience in statistical research, following a crime wave in Chicago in 1914 Abbott was commissioned to investigate statistics on crime and criminals in the city. This led to a ground-breaking report titled "Statistics Relating to Crime in Chicago", published in 1915.

During the first 12 years of their collaboration at the Department of Social Investigation, Abbott and Breckinridge jointly produced 'The Housing Problem in Chicago', which consisted of ten articles in the American Journal of Sociology (1910–15) reporting the results of their major survey of tenement conditions in Chicago. (A follow-up study, The Tenements of Chicago, 1908–1935, was published in 1936); The Delinquent Child and the Home (1912), a study of Chicago's juvenile court; and Truancy and Non-Attendance in the Chicago Schools (1917), an investigation which led them to support compulsory school attendance and child labour legislation. In 1927, in dedication to the "scientific and professional interests of social work", Abbott and Breckinridge jointly established the distinguished academic journal, Social Service Review, published by the University of Chicago Press. Abbott was hired as an associate professor of social economy, and was named dean in 1924. She became the first US woman to become the dean of an American graduate school. Abbott, along with Breckinridge, transformed the field of social work by emphasizing the importance of formal education in social work and the need to include field experience as part of the training. They designed a curriculum that heavily emphasized social statistics as the historical, legal, economic and political root causes of social problems and public welfare efforts. In addition, they fought for the professional status of social work. In 1931, Abbott collected many of her papers, addresses and speeches on social service education and created a single volume entitled Social Welfare and Professional Education (1931, revised and enlarged in 1942). Abbott derived a curriculum for students that desired a career in social work.

Through her advocacy, Abbott wrote in scholarly articles, book reviews, and governmental reports in which she discussed issues such as women's and children's rights, crime, immigration, and public assistance. She also stressed the importance of a public welfare administration, the need for a more humane social welfare system, and the responsibility of the state in addressing social problems.

Many of the contributions during Abbott's career were dedicated to addressing welfare reform and adopting more humane standards for welfare treatment. In 1926, Abbott helped establish the Cook County Bureau of Public Welfare. Abbott and Breckinridge founded the Social Service Review in 1927, which, still administered by the University of Chicago, "is committed to examining social welfare policy and practice and evaluating its effects." Throughout the Great Depression, Edith Abbott worked alongside her sister to combat a wide array of social ills, from the mistreatment of immigrants to the abuses of child labor. In 1935, Abbott assisted in drafting the Social Security Act.

Edith Abbott also had a significant role in the public sphere. Abbott was known to be a confidante and special consultant to Harry Hopkins, adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1950, Abbott was known to have been appointed to a single case on the California Supreme Court, making her the first woman to sit on the state's supreme court.

The sisters are buried together in Grand Island Cemetery.

Publications

Women in Industry (1910)

Inspired by her question of women's 'compensation history' in the workforce Abbott worked in collaboration with Breckinridge who did a large amount of work with legality and economic status of women to write Women in Industry. The book was a milestone in feminist economy writings. Ultimately Women and Industry looked at the wages and labor history from an economic standpoint while at the same time keeping the social causations at the center of her research.

The Delinquent Child and the Home (1912)

The Delinquent Child and the Home: A Study of The Delinquent Wards Of The Juvenile Court of Chicago was published in 1912. It is another collaborative study done by Abbott and her colleague Breckinridge. The study deals with the court in its relation to the families and homes from which the delinquent wards come. It is considered an important work to the field of juvenile delinquency, which itself defends the juvenile court forcefully.

The Real Jail Problem (1915)

Edith Abbott's book, The Real Jail Problem, discusses the issues with Cook County's jailing system, and the poor conditions of those who are incarcerated have to face. In her book Abbott discusses the problems of imprisonment, and how this leads to suffering and humiliation for those who have been jailed. The issues she pointed to were those who were imprisoned because they could not make bail, those who are determined guilty, and those who face long term imprisonment. This work helped analyze specific elements of the criminal justice system and defined the social problems associated with imprisonment.

Truancy and non-attendance in the Chicago Schools (1917)

Truancy and non-attendance in the Chicago school; a study of the social aspects of the compulsory education and child labor legislation of Illinois was published in 1917 by the University of Chicago Press. Abbott and her colleague Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge co-authored the study while researching at the University of Chicago's Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. Abbott and Breckinridge examined non-attendance during compulsory-attendance period, and lack of enforcement of child labor laws. The study was also a continuation of the work Abbott and Breckinridge earlier work examining wards of the Juvenile Court of Cook County.

References

</references>

  • Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Women Working, 1870–1930, Edith Abbott (1876–1957). A full-text searchable online database with complete access to publications written by Edith Abbott.
  • Edith and Grace Abbott, Papers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • at Nebraska State Historical Society
  • Edith and Grace Abbott Papers at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center