By the People: A History of Americans as Volunteers, New Century Edition

by Susan J. Ellis, Katherine H. Campbell

Volunteering is so pervasive in the United States that it can be observed daily in almost every aspect of life—from giving blood to handing out political leaflets. The problem is that volunteering, because it is so pervasive, often goes unrecognized. The historical chapters of this book present an overview of the involvement of volunteers in every area of American life and trace the effect of this involvement on American institutions, professions, and social events. Yet presenting a history of volunteers is not enough. We needed to define terms like volunteer, which has many connotations, and note how the past gives direction for the future. We feel that the ramifications of our historical data are important—not just the history itself. In fact, our perspective on the past gave us a way to address some concerns we have about the present, The ways in which volunteering is often misunderstood and therefore volunteers are incorrectly stereotyped as meddlers, do-gooders, radicals, or untrained and unpaid labor. The frequent assumption that volunteering is only done by select segments of the population, such as seniors or women. The tendency to credit volunteer work only in the social welfare area and not to see the many volunteer activities in other aspects of American life, such as political and cultural. The assertion that volunteer involvement is a substitute for adequate funding. By The People puts these issues in historical perspective and suggests implications for the future. There is even an entire chapter specifically on the evolution of the profession of volunteer management.

Genres: History

385 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Island Connect Consulting · Rating 3 out of 5]

An encyclopedic chronicle of volunteerism in America. Aside from the introductory and concluding chapters, probably not a book that many would read cover to cover. A helpful reference nonetheless that effectively showcases the breadth, depth, and impact of volunteerism in the U.S.

[Jayne Cravens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who is going to write a book about volunteerism in the USA, or nonprofits, should read this book, or have it on the bookshelf and regularly consult it. It provides a lot of documentation about volunteerism that I'm not sure could be found elsewhere, in one place. It's more of an account of when various nonprofits and charities were formed, and why they were formed, than it is about volunteerism, but it's still so valuable in what it does document about various volunteering movements throughout the USA. I would have liked more about the motivations of volunteers in, say, the temperance movement - which was very much an anti-domestic-violence movement as much as it was an anti-alcohol movement - and various other movements. Racism in various volunteer movements isn't noted as it should be. Still, as imperfect as it is, it's such an important piece of work.