"An examination of the microfilm revealed that considerable forethought was given to filming....[Project participants] should be commended for bringing together a superb collection of primary research materials and for creating a valuable guide to those materials. Scholarship concerning Addams and numerous other subjects will clearly be enhanced."
--Illinois Historical Journal
Jane Addams achieved international fame through her social work, reform strategies, and activities in support of world peace. She was also a role model at a time when few women had entered the public arena.
Students and researchers in women's studies, American history, political science, sociology, and social work can now access important resource materials through this microfilm collection. The many roles of this American heroine can be studied and compared with the course of American history from the Civil War era through industrialization and the New Deal. Some of Addams's notable roles include:
This collection documents the rise of her popularity and its temporary decline when she was reviled as a traitor for her advocacy of peace at a time when public sentiment favored war. Only when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931--four years before her death--were her anti-war actions vindicated in the minds of the general public.
The Jane Addams Papers is organized into five parts:
The more than 120,000 pages of documents in this collection represent a primary research source and open a new chapter in any comprehensive study of Jane Addams and her remarkable influence on the era during which she lived.