Unsentimental Reformer: The Life of Josephine Shaw Lowell

by Joan Waugh

If the poor are always with us, how we have perceived and treated them has changed like the seasons. Such was the massive and pitiless industrialization of the nation after the Civil War that Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843-1905) recoiled and sought a new way to approach poverty. She rationalized charity toward hapless families and children in ways that established social responsibility for the welfare of the poor. This introduction of "scientific" methods in social work bridged two great eras of social reform, creating a civic maternalism only denied in law in 1996. A Brahmin, member of an illustrious family, sister of the martyred Robert Gould Shaw, who led his proud black troops against Fort Wagner, and, later, a war widow, Lowell constantly responded to changing ideological and economic conditions affecting the poor. From an emphasis on the regeneration of the individual, she soon showed an appreciation of the importance of social conditions. This book challenges all previous interpretations of Lowell as a "genteel" reformer mostly interested in social control of the underclass. Rather, her aim was to cure pauperism, and her strategies eventually led her to support higher wages and full employment.

Hardcover

First published January 15, 1998

About the author

Joan Waugh is an associate professor at UCLA. Her main field of interest is nineteenth century America: Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age.

Reviews

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written account of an extraordinary life.

[Rusty Tobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice biography of Josephine Shaw Lowell and the transformations in the perspectives and goals of charity workers between 1860 & 1905. The transition to 'scientific charity' and the relationship to settlement houses is well explained. The author also demonstrates the activities of women reform organizations were in this time period. Primarily an intellectual biography of Lowell, there is enough detail regarding her personal life to create a well rounded view of a dynamic woman who was a leader in New York State social reform and whose views underwent transformation over a 40 year period.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waugh does a good job with contextualizing JS Lowell's life within her time. I found this to be much better than the William Rhinelander (he's got another last name in there too but I don't remember it off the top of my head right now) penned biography. Waugh has historical time and personal distance to avoid any bias that the Rhinelander volume suffers---they were friends and worked together after Roosevelt died. He describes her in a very personal way which is nice, but not real helpful for what I was looking for.

I only read through for the sections concerning JSL's charity work and subsequent move to open the Hudson House of Refuge. I cannot speak for anything after that. It seems that Lowell was an impressive woman and a bit of an oddity for a time when the ideology of separate spheres ruled Victorian America. She both worked to improve the public for all and worked with mostly men. Even maintaining friendships with them (gasp)--though I suspect that has something to do with being a widow who wore black for the rest of her life.

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