A collection of essays on public assistance work in the United States and the ways in which aid may be given. Contents:

“Public Assistance in the United States,” Arthur Dunham

“Who Shall Be Granted Public Aid? How Much? In What Form?” Donald S. Howard

“Dealing with People in Need,” Margaret E. Rich

“Problems of Health and Medical Care,” Dora Goldstine

“Tying in with the Community,” Gertrude Vaile

“Public Assistance and Social Work,” Russell H. Kurtz

Russell H. Kurtz was the editor of the Social Work Year Book.

This 1961 book presents the findings of an empirical study that explored the attitudes and behaviors of patients who had experience with more than one way of organizing medical practice, and thereby sought to suggest some of the ways in which both lay and professional social structure figure in the utilization of medical care. The data are used to derive a tentative conceptual framework that takes account of structural as well as cultural factors in understanding the behavior of doctors and patients. The net result is a set of ideas that suggest the nature of the medical system that lies outside the walls of the hospitals, in direct contact with the community.

Eliot Freidson, New York University, and Montefiore Hospital

A systematic presentation of the aims, methods, and cautions to be observed in the field of music in welfare work, made for music educators and musicians in the institutional fields. It stems from the author’s experience as director of the Bureau of Mental Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Willem van de Wall was director of the Committee for the Study of Music In Institutions, and lecturer in the School of Music Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. Assisted by Clara Maria Liepmann.

This 1946 volume examines the systematic application of music as a means of occupational therapy and of recreation in hospitals in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly those for mental and nervous diseases. It stresses the need for professional collaboration between hospital workers and musician and presents a plan for integration of a music program into the hospital service.

Willem van de Wall was head of the Adult Education Section, Education Branch, Internal Affairs and Communications Division, Office of Military Government for Germany, United States.

A 1966 review of major problems, issues, and developments in the field of juvenile delinquency in the United States. It was written at the request of John W. Gardner, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to provide a review of the field of delinquency which might be useful to the department in its planning. With the assistance of Anne Romasco.

The work which this book describes had its beginning in the year 1949 when the Russell Sage Foundation and the Jewish Board of Guardians entered into an agreement to conduct a joint project to explore whether cooperation between social scientists and clinicians in child guidance practice could prove to be of mutual benefit. Specifically, it aimed to investigate the contribution potential of the existing funds of social science knowledge to child guidance practice, as well as the research needs encountered by child guidance workers which could be met by social scientists.

Otto Pollack, Child Guidance Institute of the Jewish Board of Guardians

From the foreword by Fedele F. Fauri, then dean of the University of Michigan School of Social Work: “In the field of social welfare it is often urged that in-service training and reduced workloads are available and effective means of improving service. Such proposals are in keeping with other efforts to raise standards in the public assistance programs. Little evidence from research is available, however, to test the arguments on the subject. This monograph contributes a careful evaluation of experiments with these measures. The study was conducted in the Michigan State Department of Social Welfare and concerned cases carried in the Aid to Dependent Children Program.”

Edwin J. Thomas was associate professor of social work and of psychology at the University of Michigan. Donna L. McLeod was research associate at the University of Michigan. Pauline Bushey was assistant professor of social work at the University of Michigan. Lydia F. Hylton was research assistant at the University of Michigan. In collaboration with Pauline Bushey and Lydio F. Hylton.

This 1937 report has to do with people in the Appalachian Mountain region whose chief concern with handicrafts was the income they would bring, as they offered the only means by which to earn money. One purpose was to show how indispensable handicrafts were in the economy of countless families throughout the region; a second was to show the other rewards handicrafts brought to these same people, what they added to the social and recreational life for the communities in which they carried on, their educational and cultural significance, the esthetic enjoyment they fostered, their help in the field of therapeutics, and the sense of emotional security they gave. Containing fifty-eight illustrations form photographs taken for the work by Doris Ulmann.

Allen H. Eaton was the author of Immigrant Gifts to American Life and part of the Department of Surveys of the Russell Sage Foundation.