Almost Worthy: The Poor, Paupers, and the Science of Charity in America, 1877-1917

A history and analysis of scientific charity organizations that arose in late nineteenth century America.

In the 1880s, social reform leaders warned that the "unworthy" poor were taking charitable relief intended for the truly deserving. Armed with statistics and confused notions of evolution, these "scientific charity" reformers founded organizations intent on limiting access to relief by the most morally, biologically, and economically unfit. Brent Ruswick examines a prominent national or...