Daughters of the State: A Social Portrait of the First Reform School for Girls in North America, 1856–1905

by Barbara M. Brenzel

A rich and fascinating study of education, social reform, and women's history, Daughters of the State explores the lives of young girls who came to the State Industrial School for Girls in Lancaster, Massachusetts during its first fifty years. Brenzel skillfully integrates the complex lines of nineteenth-century social thought and policies formed around issues of work, sex roles, schooling, and sexuality that have carried through to this century. In the school's handwritten case histories and legislative reports, she uncovers institutional mores and biases toward the young and the poor and especially toward women. Brenzel also reveals the plight of the parents who were forced by their circumstances to condemn their children to such institutions in the hope of improving their futures.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Brianna McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful case study and analysis of a girls' reformatory that is approachable for budding historians interested in moral/social reform in the 19th century.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Social portrait' is right—this is less about the reform school in question than it is about the social conditions that led such a school to be created, and the conditions/thoughts that influenced the way the school was set up.

The State Industrial School for girls was not, at least in its inception, what we think of as 'reform school' today; most of the girls sent there had done little that would now be considered outrageous (and very few had any kind of criminal record), but they were considered morally deviant...or were called morally deviant, sometimes by their parents, as a way to get them out of impoverished family situations. As Brenzel tells it, most of the girls' life trajectories were not significantly improved upon, relative to what might have been expected for girls of their class, but at least some of them may have been improved upon relative to their family circumstances. (Indeed, in a lot of cases it seems to have been that families sent their daughters to the school because those families could not provide for them.)

There's some really interesting discussion of gendered standards and blurring of understanding of crime vs. poverty—that is, females were less likely to be incarcerated, but when they were it was much more likely that their crimes would have to do with 'moral' transgressions (and it was often assumed that while men could be rehabilitated, women who were morally 'tainted' could not); meanwhile, Brenzel says, social theorists of the time had trouble distinguishing between the innately vicious and the poor (82).

The girl pictured on the front cover is not named, but she is pictured in the book as well—one of few images of people, and she is identified as somebody the State Industrial School eventually (later, when their model had shifted away from a 'family-based' setting and toward a work-training centre) sent to the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded. What that meant for her is anyone's guess (was she mentally disabled? Simply not very good at the housework she was being trained to do? Stubborn?), but I find it interesting that hers is one of the only photos of the girls, and on the cover to boot. Does this just mean that there weren't many photos of the girls to be found, or is it meant as a greater criticism of the questionable successes of the school?

Read out of curiosity and because the library, conveniently, happened to have a copy.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed through this book as research for my work-in-progress about a girls' reform school. This was a case study of the first reform school solely for girls - prior to this, many reform schools were for both boys and girls. I found the section about why girls were committed to reform schools the most interesting - the #1 reason was parental complaints of "stubbornness." Often girls were committed because their parents were too poor to care for them. Sexual activity of any kind was another major reason for girls to be committed. The chapters describing daily life in the school and how it changed throughout the years were also of interest. The book has a lot of information about reform movements over the 50 years covered, many statistics on economic and social change happening around this era, which were of less interest to me.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this book for my history of american education class. it gives a very interesting portrayal of how the first reform schools came into being. good one.