Adoption in America : historical perspectives / edited by E. Wayne Carp.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Carp, E. Wayne, 1946-

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adoption--United States--History.

Adoption.

Adoptees--United States--History.

Adoptees.

History.

United States.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2002.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Adoption affects an estimated 60 percent of Americans, but despite its pervasiveness, this social institution has been little examined and poorly understood. Adoption in America gathers essays on the history of adoptions and orphanages in the United States to demonstrate how the history of adoption can illuminate a variety of issues -- from social welfare to gender relations to identity construction -- providing provocative interpretations that will be debated for many years to come. The book's compelling and thorough introduction follows the development of adoption from the colonial period to the present. The other essays, many by prominent scholars in the field, view adoption from a number of perspectives, exploring such topics as antebellum adoption and orphanages; changing conceptions of adoption in late-nineteenth-century novels; Progressive Era reform and adoptive mothers; the politics of "matching" adoptive parents with children; the radical effect of World War II on adoption practices; religion and the reform of adoption; and the construction of birth mother and adoptee identities. Several essays make use of the confidential adoption records of the Children's Home Society of Washington, signaling a new era in adoption historiography. Adoption in America broadens our knowledge of the roots of this complex institution, and is sure to interest historians, students of culture, sociologists, and anyone personally affected by adoption.

Contents:

Introduction: A Historical Overview of American Adoption / E. Wayne Carp 1

A Good Home: Indenture and Adoption in Nineteenth-Century Orphanages / Susan L. Porter 27

Building a Nation, Building a Family: Adoption in Nineteenth-Century American Children's Literature / Carol J. Singley 51

What's Love Got to Do with It? "Adoption" in Victorian and Edwardian England / George K. Behlmer 82

A Historical Comparison of Catholic and Jewish Adoption Practices in Chicago, 1833-1933 / Paula F. Pfeffer 101

Rescue a Child and Save the Nation: The Social Construction of Adoption in the Delineator, 1907-1911 / Julie Berebitsky 124

A Nation's Need for Adoption and Competing Realities: The Washington Children's Home Society, 1895-1915 / Patricia S. Hart 140

Adoption Agencies and the Search for the Ideal Family, 1918-1965 / Brian Paul Gill 160

When in Doubt, Count: World War II as a Watershed in the History of Adoption / E. Wayne Carp, Anna Leon-Guerrero 181

Adoption Stories: Autobiographical Narrative and the Politics of Identity / Barbara Melosh 218.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472030545

0472109995

Publisher Number:

10.3998/mpub.16238

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.