The Charity Organization Bulletins were printed for the confidential use of charity organization societies by the Charity Department of the Russell Sage Foundation. The bulletins for December 1910 through November 1911 cover topics such as mental health care, the treatment of widows and deserted wives, homelessness, and how to record social work cases.

This booklet discusses the reasons for the slowing of students’ progress in schools. It includes a text reprinted from the tenth annual report of Dr. William H. Maxwell, superintendent of schools of New York City, as well as an investigation by Leonard P. Ayres, with the assistance of Luther Halsey Gulick, into this problem in fifteen schools in Manhattan.

LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.

LUTHER HALSEY GULICK was director of physical training of the New York public schools. 

WILLIAM H. MAXWELL was superintendent of schools of New York City.

This booklet provides a list of works on the topic of play, as well as a list of stories for children.

GEORGE E. JOHNSON was director of the Pittsburgh Playground Association.

MAUD SUMMERS wrote books on reading pedagogy.

A form listing people and places—including churches, employers, medical agencies, and public officials—that social agencies might have visited with columns for noting the number of visits to each. An explanation following the list notes that agencies using the largest number of outside sources of information will be seen as having made the best investigation into the cases they are treating.

This illustrated booklet focuses on the causes of poverty and ways to alleviate it. It asks such questions as which is better: helping the poor in their poverty or helping the poor out of their poverty and is it money alone that the poor need?

This booklet presents the report of the Committee on Lock-ups, Municipal and County Jails, of the American Prison Association on United States prisoners boarded out by the federal government. It discusses the origins of the boarding-out system, congressional action, three U.S. penitentiaries, federal reformatories, U.S. prisoners boarded out, the difficulties of reforming the county jail system, jail from the prisoner’s point of view, and suggestions for grand jury surveys of conditions under which federal prisoners are kept in county jails.

HASTINGS L. HART was the chairman of the committee of the American Prison Association and consultant in delinquency and penology at the Russell Sage Foundation.  

This booklet presents the result of a study of play for children in institutions presented in a series of five conferences at the invitation of the State Board of Charities of New York. It discusses the function and value of play as well as requisites for play and the adaptation of play for various age groups.

ROBERT K. ATKINSON was a researcher who studied children’s institutions in the United States.

“Written with a strong theoretical background and based in in-depth interviews, The Returned explores the complex and often contradictory experiences of return migration to Mexico. It reveals the mixed emotions of individuals who find themselves trapped between two worlds—one left behind with lost economic opportunities and the other not fully embraced. The authors illuminate the challenges and transformations that shape the lives of returnees, providing a nuanced perspective on the forces that drive and define migration within a complex policy framework.”
—MARÍA DOLORES PARÍS POMBO, profesora-investigadora, Departamento de Estudios Culturales, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana, B.C.

“The Returned makes an important contribution to research on migration, both by focusing on the less researched reality of return migration, which has grown dramatically in recent decades, and by illuminating the struggles returnees face—the sense of being norteado (‘disoriented’ is one translation) when they go to live in Mexico City. Claudia Masferrer, Erin R. Hamilton, and Nicole Denier expertly analyze the experience of deportees and de facto deportees (those who return to Mexico with a deported spouse or family member) and trace how return migration fits into the life course. An important book.”
—ROBERT COURTNEY SMITH, professor of sociology, CUNY Graduate Center and Baruch College

“The Returned tells the story of a historic turning point in which more Mexicans come back from the United States than emigrate. Lively interviews reveal how families cope with binational separation, finding work, and starting over in Mexico City. This is a highly readable contribution to understanding return migration.”
—DAVID FITZGERALD, Gildred Chair in U.S.-Mexican Relations and professor of sociology, University of California San Diego

In the first two decades of the 21st century, more than two million Mexican migrants returned to Mexico from the United States. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of people who returned to Mexico was so large that, for the first time in at least fifty years, more people entered Mexico from the United States than entered the United States from Mexico. Many of these migrants were destined for urban areas, and we know little about how they fare after they return to cities. In The Returned, sociologists Claudia Masferrer, Erin R. Hamilton, and Nicole Denier examine the experiences of returned migrants in Mexico City, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world.

Masferrer, Hamilton, and Denier draw on interviews with former U.S. migrants living in Mexico City to better understand the experience of return migration to urban areas. Each of the migrants they spoke with lived in the United States for long periods with noncitizen status during the last four decades. During this time, U.S. immigration policy became increasingly focused on restriction and enforcement, which made it difficult for migrants to safely move back and forth across the border for work or to visit family without documentation. The authors find that upon their return, migrants in Mexico City felt disoriented and lost and had difficulty adapting to a massive urban environment where there is little support for returnees. They struggled to translate their work experience from their time in the U.S. to find quality jobs. Additionally, many found their family lives upended as they reunited with or formed families in the U.S.. Some found themselves separated from family members still in the U.S. with no ability to legally visit them. Others brought their families back to Mexico, some of whom were U.S. citizens and had never been to Mexico before. They, too, struggled to adapt and integrate to life in Mexico City.

The authors use the experiences of return migrants to discuss policies and practices that would improve their lives and ease their reintegration. To help with the disorientation they experience, returnees proposed ongoing psychological support with mental health professionals who have knowledge and training in the social and legal issues that return migrants face. Return migrants also advocated for policies to enhance skill matching, job creation, and entrepreneurship, as many felt the occupational skills they developed in the U.S. were undervalued in Mexico. To address family separation, returnees argued for legal and policy reform to accommodate family reunification.

The Returned is an illuminating account of the difficulties faced by return migrants and their families in Mexico City.

CLAUDIA MASFERRER is an associate professor, Centre for Demographic, Urban, and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de México

ERIN R. HAMILTON is a professor of sociology, University of California, Davis

NICOLE DENIER is an associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta