Little strangers : portrayals of adoption and foster care in America, 1850-1929 / Claudia Nelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nelson, Claudia.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adoption--United States--History.

Adoption.

Orphans--United States--History.

Orphans.

Adoption in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When Massachusetts passed America's first comprehensive adoption law in 1851, the usual motive for taking in an unrelated child was presumed to be the need for cheap labor. But by 1929 -- the first year that every state had an adoption law -- the adoptee's main function was seen as emotional. Little Strangers examines the representations of adoption and foster care produced over the intervening years. Claudia Nelson argues that adoption texts reflect changing attitudes toward many important social issues

Contents:

The 1850s and their echoes : two case studies

Money talks : the displaced child, 1860-1885

Melodrama and the displaced child, 1886-1906

Metaphor and the displaced child, 1886-1906

Adoption and women, 1907-1918

Adoption up to date : the rhetoric of mass individuality, 1919-1929.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-07206-4

9786612072062

0-253-10557-9

0-253-10980-9

OCLC:

52966391