| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 288 pages) : illustration |
| Contents |
The founding of community institutions -- Populations and conditions -- Farming for the county -- Poor farm women -- The poor farm and mental health care -- Old age and poor farm residency -- Poor farms and health care -- Crisis and transition |
| Summary |
"By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection between agriculture, provisions for the disadvantaged, and the daily realities of life at poor farms. Conceived as an inexpensive way to provide care for the indigent, poor farms in fact attracted wards that ranged from abused wives and the elderly to orphans, the disabled, and disaster victims. Most people arrived unable rather than unwilling to work, some because of physical problems, others due to a lack of skills or because a changing labor market had left them behind. Birk blends the personal stories of participants with institutional histories to reveal a loose-knit system that provided a measure of care to everyone without an overarching philosophy of reform or rehabilitation. In-depth and innovative, The Fundamental Institution offers an overdue portrait of rural social welfare in the United States"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on March 04, 2022) |
| Subject |
Almshouses -- United States -- History
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Rural poor -- Government policy -- United States
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Rural poor -- United States -- Social conditions
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Agriculture -- Social aspects -- United States
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HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
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SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Services.
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Agriculture -- Social aspects.
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HISTORY / General
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Almshouses.
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Rural conditions.
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Rural poor -- Government policy.
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Rural poor -- Social conditions.
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Social conditions.
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Social services & welfare, criminology.
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Society.
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| SUBJECT |
United States -- Rural conditions.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140507
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United States -- Social conditions -- 1865-1918. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140515
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United States -- Social conditions -- 1918-1932. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140516
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| Subject |
United States.
|
| Genre/Form |
History.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2021046460 |
| ISBN |
9780252053375 |
|
0252053370 |
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