Americanization and Cultural Preservation in Seattle's Settlement House: A Jewish Adaptation of the Anglo-American Model of Settlement Work

Authors

Alissa Schwartz

Abstract

This article examines the dual agendas of Americanization and preservation of Ashkenazic Jewish culture through an historical analysis of the work of Seattle's Settlement House, a social service center founded in 1906 by elite, Americanized Jews to serve poorer, immigrant Jews of Ashkenazic and Sephardic origin. Such analysis is set against the ideological backdrop of Anglo-Americanism which pervaded the field of social work in its early efforts at self-definition and professionalization.P articulara ttentioni s paid to the role of the arts at Settlement House, with comparisons to Chicago's Hull-House, the prototypical American settlement operating at the turn of the century. This case study analyzes a German Jewish adaptation of an Anglo-American, Christian model of social work.

Recommended Citation

Schwartz, Alissa (1999) "Americanization and Cultural Preservation in Seattle's Settlement House: A Jewish Adaptation of the Anglo-American Model of Settlement Work," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 26: Iss. 3, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2587
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol26/iss3/3