From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. Richmond and the Creation of an American Profession

From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. Richmond and the Creation of an American Profession. By Elizabeth N. Agnew. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. xiv, 288 pp. $34.95, ISBN 0-252-02875-9.)

Elizabeth N. Agnew's biography of Mary E. Richmond (1861-1928) provides the first full-length account of an important Progressive Era figure. Tracing Richmond's ascendancy through the ranks of the charity organization movement, Agnew shows how she became a leader in the campaign to create professional social work. While Agnew's focus on Richmond's achievements is admirable, it prevents her from considering some of the controversies that shaped Richmond's career.

As Agnew discusses, Richmond joined the charity organization movement in 1889, becoming a full-time employee in a profession that had yet to be named. Over the course of the next two decades Richmond led charity organization societies...