Practical Work in the City

Practical Work in the City

Beginning in the 1880s, the Chicago Woman’s Club expanded its role in the city and embraced “practical work” in addition to its literary program.  As the earliest and most active women’s reform group in Chicago, the CWC interacted with city officials and other reformers in the city, state, and nation to improve conditions in the city. Into the twentieth century, CWC increasingly adopted Progressive Era sensibilities by looking for social and scientific explanations and solutions to urban disorder.