The Fundamental Institution: Poverty, Social Welfare, and Agriculture in American Poor Farms (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780252044380)

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.

Author: Megan Birk
ISBN-10: 025204438X
ISBN-13: 9780252044380
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 04/12/2022
Pages: 300
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.29h x 6.22w x 1.02d