John Lovejoy Elliott and the Social Settlement Movement

During the Progressive Era, American social settlements played a critical role in helping immigrants adjust to a new life that was puzzling, difficult, and often grueling. Settlements offered immigrants medical help, language classes, art and music lessons, day-care services — and sometimes a place where they could learn to be community leaders. Most often, it is the inspiring work of women reformers that one thinks of in connection with the important work of social settlements. Yet among the many prominent women, several men in the settlement movement were influential and extraordinary in their own right. John Lovejoy Elliott, founder and head worker of the Hudson Guild in New York City, was a prime example.Although Elliott held such impressive posts as President of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Settlements (from 1919 to 1923) and was described by one of his contemporaries as “one of the great social workers and spiritual leaders of our time…. a kind of lay saint,” historically Elliott's work has been overshadowed by that of his more famous female counterparts. Yet one could argue that it is Elliott who created and put into practice a settlement house that best addressed the needs of immigrants and most helped the immigrant underclass achieve some independence and political power.Although John Lovejoy Elliott had a single focus (helping immigrants), female settlement head workers, such as Jane Addams, often pursued a dual goal. They were concerned about helping immigrants, but also were intent on giving college-educated, middle-class or upper-class young American women something to do with their lives. “We have in America,” wrote Addams, “a fast growing number of cultivated young people who have no recognized outlet for their active abilities.”