Education: Lesson Details

Study Guide: Activities and Procedures

Annotated & Abridged Document:
The Defective Classes

1.) What was the metaphor Wright used in the first paragraph to describe the "defective classes?" What were the implications of that metaphor?

2.) How did Wright divide the "defective classes" into separate classifications?

3.) What was the connection between poverty and "defect," according to Wright? What trends in the frequency of "defect" did Wright foresee?

4.) Can you explain the statistical trends in ways other than those offered by Wright?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
Gov. Butler's Charges Against The Tewksbury Almshouse Management

1.) According to this newspaper article, what did the governor of Massachusetts say was happening at the Tewksbury almshouse?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
The State Wards

1.) What seemed to be the attitude of Mr. Marsh toward the people supposedly being cared for at the almshouse?

2.) What new information about the almshouse was revealed here?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
About Tewksbury

1.) How were people with psychiatric disabilities treated at Tewksbury?

2.) What other problems were described in this article?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
Governor Butler's Order To The State Board Of Charities

1.) To whom was Governor Butler giving responsibility for running the almshouse in Tewksbury?

2.) How might politics have affected what Butler was doing?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
The Defenders Of The Tewksbury "Slaughter-house" Barbarities

1.) What did The Lowell Weekly Sun conclude about the investigation into conditions at the Tewksbury almshouse?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
Anne Sullivan: The Story Behind Helen Keller

1.) What did Anne Sullivan experience during her time at Tewksbury? Note that the events she described occured several years prior to Governor Butler's investigation?

2.) How was the Perkins Institution different from the Tewksbury State Almshouse?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
Report From Massachusetts

1.) Does Franklin Sanborn seem to be driven more by hope or by fear?

Annotated & Abridged Document:
The Management Of Almshouses In New England

1.) How did Franklin Sanborn rank Tewksbury in comparison to other almshouses in the United States?

Background Essay: Poor Relief and the Almshouse

Background Essay: Social Darwinism and the Poor

Write an essay briefly describing how the poor were treated in Gilded Age America, using specific evidence from the readings. Then discuss why conditions were so harsh for the poor and disabled.

Consider one of the following projects:

A.) How did the lives of Benjamin Butler, Anne Sullivan, and Franklin Sanborn dovetail to create change in the management of the destitute? Investigate further the lives of these key figures regarding the probe of Tewksbury Almshouse and the concern over treatment of the poor and particularly the “defective classes.” After your research, present at least one image of each figure along with a brief list of factors that led each to come to his or her position on institutions.

B.) In a group prepare a class presentation explaining modern-day treatment of some of those people likely to have found themselves confined in a place like the Tewksbury almshouse. What alternatives does American society offer today concerning those with disabilities, the poor, and the rootless immigrant? Explain why those three groups may have found themselves grouped together during the Gilded Age.

C.) Conduct local research to find the almshouse, or the nearest equivalent, closest to your school that may have existed at some point in the last 100-150 years. Determine its location, why it may have existed there, how it operated, and what happened to it. Compose a brief report of your findings and supply any photographic evidence that you uncover. Consider using your local library, the local historical society, and the internet and databases as your tools.

D.) Construct a first-person story of life in an almshouse during the Gilded Age. Choose the perspective of a patient, a caretaker, a relative, or the warden. Be sure to include your character’s family and social history (What was or is life like outside the institution for the character?) as you explain the inner workings of the institution.

E.) The idea of the unwanted runs through many of the sources in this lesson. Why, for example, did so few infants survive in the Tewksbury Almshouse and likely in many others? Research the community reactions toward abandoned and illegitimate children at the turn of the century and determine the roots of those reactions. Do your findings help explain the eugenics movement of that time period or Margaret Sanger’s urgent plea to supply birth control information to the poor?

Bibliography

Hasia R. Diner, Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983).

Michael B. Katz, In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America (New York: Basic Books, 1986).

Kim E. Nielsen, Beyond the Miracle Worker: The Remarkable Life of Anne Sullivan Macy and Her Extraordinary Friendship with Helen Keller (Boston: Beacon Press, 2009).

David Wagner, The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005).