Browse · Jane Addams Digital Edition

Club Women Urged to Visit Factories, Chicago Inter Ocean, November 16, 1902, p. 7..jpg

Speech to the Cook County League of Women's Clubs, November 15, 1902 (excerpts)

Addams and De Bey urge Chicago clubwomen to visit factories to see the working conditions for children and discuss a measure that will make it more difficult to keep children out of school.

Child Labor Education Lectures Legislation

Chicago Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Houses, "Newsboy Conditions in Chicago," 1903

A 28-page illustrated pamphlet outlining the work and social conditions of newsboys and newsgirls, based on a two-day intensive investigation. In it the Committee proposes revisions in child labor laws to curb the worst excesses.

Child Labor Children Gambling Legislation Social Welfare

Lecture to the Fortnightly Club, March 6, 1903 (excerpts)

Addams details the evils of child labor and efforts to abolish it in Illinois.

Child Labor Child Welfare Lectures Legislation

Victor Fremont Lawson to Jane Addams, September 26, 1903

Lawson notes that he has heard that Addams seeks a change in the newsboy ordinance and wants to discuss it with J. C. Schaffer.

Legislation

Victor Fremont Lawson to Jane Addams, October 3, 1903

Lawson responds to Addams letter about Albert G. Beaunisne's reaction to the newsboy legislation and encourages her to provide documentation to Beaunisne.

Child Labor Publishing

Albert G. Beaunisne to Jane Addams, October 6, 1903

Beaunisne acknowledges seeing the proposed newsboy legislation and admits that he responded quickly and requests the report and proposed ordinance again so that he can give them more careful study. He reports long experience with newsboys and claims sympathy with their condition.

Child Labor Legislation Publishing Requests

Address to the Chicago Principal's Association, October 10, 1903 (excerpt)

Addams addresses Chicago principals about enforcing the child labor law.

Child Labor Child Welfare Education Lectures

Statement on Widows Pensions, October 28, 1903

Addams discusses which widows can be granted scholarships for their children.

Child Welfare Education Women

Florence Kelley to Jane Addams, August 19, 1904

Kelley discusses a plan to keep children in school until the age of fourteen, and news of her children's summer plans.

Child Labor Child Welfare Education

Child Labor Legislation, a Requisite for Industrial Efficiency, February 15, 1905

Addams gave this speech at a meeting of the National Child Labor Committee, held in New York City. In it she discussed the child labor reform work done in Chicago.

Child Labor Child Welfare Conferences

Child Labor, March 16, 1905

Addams discusses the damage that child labor causes children, physically and mentally, and calls for it to be halted.

Child Labor Children Education Writings

Chautauqua Speech, August 30, 1905 (summary)

Addams discusses the plight of child labor and immigration in a speech to the Chautauqua.

Child Labor Immigrants Lectures

The Operation of Illinois Child Labor Law, March 1906

Addams discusses how child labor laws in Illinois have impacted children's access to education and the dangers of weakening it. This is a reprint of a speech given on December 16, 1905 at the Annual Meeting of the National Child Labor Committee

Child Labor Consumerism Education Immigrants

Jane Addams et al. to Unknown, January 20, 1906

Addams and others write an appeal to be sent to prominent Chicagoans for the support of the National Child Labor Committee.

Child Labor Philanthropy Requests

Samuel McCune Lindsay to Anita McCormick Blaine, February 7, 1906

Lindsay encloses a list of names sent by Addams and Graham Taylor which should be used with the funding request from the National Child Labor Committee.

Child Labor Philanthropy

Child Labor and Other Dangers of Childhood, November 14, 1906

Addams' argues that child labor is the greatest social ill in remarks at the American Humane Association Convention on November 14, 1906. This version was published in December.

Child Labor Children Conferences Lectures

A National Children's Bureau and a National Investigation of the Labor of Women and Children, December 14, 1906

Addams' speech before the National Child Labor Committee in Cincinnati calls for government regulations to protect women and children.

Child Labor Child Welfare Government

Child Labor and Education, May 10, 1908

In Addams' speech before the National Conference of Charities and Correction, she forcefully argues for child labor reform as well as increased education. The speech, given on May 10 in Richmond, VA, was published in the proceedings.

Child Labor Education Labor Lectures

Comments about a League for the Protection of Children, June 29, 1908

Addams discusses the work of the League for the Protection of Children, formed to advocate for the well being of children in Chicago. The comments were made during the National Education Association meeting.

Child Welfare Juvenile Delinquency Lectures Recreation

The Federal Children's Bureau -- A Symposium, March 1909

Addams argues for the establishment of a federal bureau for the protection of children, especially regarding the issues of child labor and education. This is a published version of Addams's speech to the National Child Labor Committee meeting in January 1909.

Child Labor Child Welfare Education Labor Legislation

Miss Jane Addams Tells More about Women Foreigners, February 21, 1909

Addams argues that when women vote, they help to improve protection for children and to the general public.

Child Welfare Lectures Social Welfare Woman Suffrage

Jane Addams to Anita McCormick Blaine, April 21, 1909

Addams invites Blaine to a meeting of the Illinois Child Labor Committee.

Labor Legislation Requests

Autobiographical Notes Upon Twenty Years at Hull-House: Problems of Poverty, July 1910

Addams describes the poverty of the Hull-House neighborhood in the early days of her work there. She discusses the lack of security and loneliness of the elderly, as well as child labor.

Child Labor Hull-House Labor Poverty Settlement Movement Social Welfare

Jane Addams and Harriet Eliza Merriam Van Der Vaart to Anita McCormick Blaine, October 23, 1910

Addams and Van Der Vaart invite Blaine to attend a conference at Hull-House about child labor legislation.

Child Labor Requests

Samuel A. Harper to Jane Addams, February 25, 1911

Harper offers Addams his opinion on a bill regulating children in the street trades.

Child Labor Legislation

Owen Reed Lovejoy to Benjamin Barr Lindsey, March 3, 1911

Lovejoy writes Lindsey regarding efforts to break child labor laws in Massachusetts, Illinois, and Louisiana, and notes that Jane Addams is "spending night and day" to ensure that the law in Illinois holds fast.

Child Labor Child Welfare Children

Stage Life for Children Seen as Full of Dangers, March 8, 1911

Addams makes a reasoned argument against a bill in the Illinois State Senate that would make child actors exempt from the provision of the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Law.

Child Labor Illinois Legislation Theater

Statement on Illinois State Senate Bill 233 (Child Actor Bill), March 8, 1911

Addams led a contingent to oppose efforts to exclude child actors from child labor laws. She testified before the State Senate committee considering the bill, along with Will J. Davis (speaking for the bill), Mrs. Coonley-Ward, Mrs. A. T. Aldrich, Margaret Halsey, and Anna Nichols.

Child Labor Government Illinois Legislation Theater

Child Labor on the Stage, July 1911

A published version of Addams' lecture on March 11 at the National Child Labor Committee Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, in which she presents arguments against an exception to the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Law for child actors and offers some Tolstoyan allegory to buttress her arguments.

Child Labor Education Illinois Legislation Theater

Ten Years' Experience in Illinois, March 12, 1911

Addams' lecture on March 12 at the National Child Labor Committee Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, in which she discusses child labor legislation in Illinois.

Child Labor Education Gambling Lectures Legislation Recreation

Anonymous to Jane Addams, March 13, 1911

An unknown correspondent writes Addams about the moral dangers of child labor in the theater.

Child Labor Jobs Legislation Requests

Franklin H. Sargent to Jane Addams, March 14, 1911

Sargent explains his inability, as the head of a dramatic school, to support Addams' effort to ban child labor in theaters.

Child Labor Legislation Theater

Owen Reed Lovejoy to Jane Addams, March 28, 1911

Lovejoy asks Addams about the status of the Child Actor Bill pending in the Illinois legislature.

Child Labor Legislation Theater

Benjamin Barr Lindsey to Owen Reed Lovejoy, April 10, 1911

Lindsey apologizes to Owen for any distress following his statement at the Theatrical Benefit and discusses child labor and child actors.

Child Labor Child Welfare Legislation

Thomas Downey to Jane Addams, April 11, 1911

Downey telegrams Addams on the impact of licensing laws on newsboys on circulation.

Child Labor Journalism

Philip Davis to Jane Addams, April 11, 1911

Davis telegrams Addams that the licensing system in place in Boston for newspaper boys does not appear to interfere with the business needs.

Child Labor Journalism Legislation

Everett W. Lord to Jane Addams, April 14, 1911

Lord informs Addams that he has been asked to provide citations for the accuracy of his pamphlet, Children of the Stage.

Child Labor Theater

Jane Addams to Henry W. Johnson, April 15, 1911

Addams sends Johnson her letter to Niels Juul asking for another opportunity to address the Illinois Senate regarding Senate Substitute Bill 233 and child actors.

Child Labor Legislation Theater

Jane Addams to Niels Juul, April 15, 1911

Addams asks Juul if she can speak against a new version of Senate Bill 233 regarding child actors.

Child Labor Legislation Requests Theater

Joseph D. Beck to Jane Addams, April 19, 1911

Beck writes Addams to ask for the arguments she presented before the Illinois legislature regarding a bill to exempt child actors for the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Law.

Child Labor Legislation

Blanche Bates to Jane Addams, April 21, 1911

Bates praises Addams for her work to ban child actors from the theater.

Child Labor Legislation Theater

Frederick Donaghey to Louise de Koven Bowen, April 22, 1911

Donaghey writes Bowen about the scheduling of a new hearing to consider Senate Substitute Bill 233, regarding the exemption of child actors from the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Laws.

Child Labor Legislation Theater

Statement on Illinois State Senate Bill 233 (Child Actor Bill), April 25, 1911

Addams' testimony before an Illinois State Senate committee as the leader of a contingent to oppose legislation in Illinois that would exempt child actors from the state's 1903 Child Labor Law.

Child Labor Government Legislation Theater

Harriet J. Fowler to Jane Addams, April 27, 1911

Fowler sends Addams correspondence between Owen Lovejoy and Ben Lindsey, regarding a benefit held by the Alliance for the Protection of Stage Children.

Child Labor Theater

Edward Fisher Brown to Jane Addams, April 29, 1911

Brown asks Addams for advice about how best to get his research on stage children to Illinois legislators.

Child Labor Legislation

Edward Fisher Brown to Jane Addams, May 4, 1911

Brown writes Addams about the revival of the stage child bill and about plans for a new pamphlet opposing it.

Child Welfare Legislation Theater

Jane Addams to John Gillett Oglesby, May 8, 1911

Addams asks Oglesby to allow herself or someone else to testify before the Illinois Senate in regard to legislation that would give theaters an exception to employing children after hours.

Child Labor Legislation Theater