Richmond, Mary Ellen (1861-1928)

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Russell Sage Foundation

Mary Ellen Richmond to Jane Addams, 1902

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Birth Date

1861-08-04

Death Date

1928-09-12

Birthplace

Belleville, Illinois

Biographical Text

Mary Ellen Richmond was a social worker who was considered the founder of the social work profession. She helped the social work profession evolve by developing "social diagnosis," the belief that the type of care for a person had to depend on the person's situation. Richmond identified six sources of power that are available to clients and their social workers, which contributed to a popular social work theory in the 1970s: sources within the household, in the person of the client, in the neighborhood and wider social network, in civil agencies, and in private and public agencies. Prior to becoming a social worker, Richmond worked at a publishing company, and later as a bookkeeper. In 1889 she worked as Assistant Treasurer for the Baltimore Charity Organization Society, and she was later appointed to be the Society's first female general secretary. Later she held the head administrative position at the Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, and in 1909 she became the director of the Charity Organizational Department of the Russell Sage Foundation in New York. Richmond also wrote books on her social work theories, such as Friendly Visiting among the Poor, Social Diagnosis, and What is Social Case Work.

Richmond died in 1928.