RCNJ Jane Addams Papers Project

05/12/2026

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! It's time to party like it's 1889 -- go found a settlement and change the world!

04/30/2026

We are so excited to see it in print!! July 28 cannot come soon enough!

in 1915, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was founded.

The first WILPF president, Jane Addams, had previously founded the Woman's Peace Party in the U.S., in Jan 1915, this group later became the U.S. section of WILPF.

THE SELECTED PAPERS OF JANE ADDAMS, VOL 4 follows Addams’s increasingly busy life.
https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c049804

cc: RCNJ Jane Addams Papers Project

04/17/2026

Linda Gordon's latest book, Seven Social Movements That Changes America starts with a close look at the settlement movement, comparing Hull-House with the Phillis Wheatley Home in Cleveland. "Hull-House's strategy for helping the poor relied on the connections, resources, education, leisure-time, and self-confidence of the privileged, which enabled its residents to engage with campaigns for legislation, elections, and labor unions. The Phillis Wheatley Home did not and could not do this; its constituency, even more disadvantaged than poor white immigrants, kept it from political engagement. So did its dependence on white donors. . . And yet Hull-House and the Phillis Wheatley Home shared a method for helping poor migrants and immigrants: offering them spaces away from their daily struggles.

A brilliantly conceived and provocative work from an award-winning historian that examines how seven twentieth-century social movements transformed America., Seven Social Movements That Changed America, Linda Gordon, 9781631493713

04/15/2026

Check out our Latest Blogs posted on our website! For quicker access click the link in our bio 🔗

03/30/2026

We are so close to meeting our goal of raising $5,000 for Women's History Month -- can you help? 'sHistoryMonth https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/donor-form/?svcid=tcs&formId=08371064-aaab-4270-80c3-d8e825e5a850&envid=p-V9uJn52MjkOS4TdHYL0FTA&zone=usa

03/30/2026

Jane Addams on the View this morning!

We're celebrating Women's History Month by honoring activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams! Internationally known as one of the most influential a...

03/30/2026

Interesting take on Jane Addams's relevance by a social work master's student!

This our Illinois Chapter visited the historic Hull House on the University of Illinois Chicago campus and spoke with professors, staff, and...

03/30/2026

Sangfroid? These women have it! Read Stacy Lynn's new post about the quality that made things happen!

Currently, I am editing documents in the Jane Addams Papers from the 1920s. Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the United States Congress, has been popping up a lot in my daily work. Rankin went to Europe with Addams in 1919 to attend the International Congress of Women in Zurich. She was....

03/27/2026

Thanks to all who came to the transcribe-a-thon today! We will do it again!

03/13/2026

At the Jane Addams Papers Project every month is women’s history month, but in March we take the time to officially recognize it! Addams is an icon of women’s history, famous in her time as a social worker, social reformer, philosopher and advocate for peace, equality, and social justice. If we have learned anything while working on her papers, it has been the sheer breadth of her work — the connections that she had with women from every continent as they tried to better the world through cooperation, community, and charity.

The Jane Addams Papers tells the story not just of Jane Addams, but the women who worked with her, who were inspired by her, and who opposed her. It offers a deep understanding of the wide variety of women’s experiences in a pivotal time in world history. Over 9,000 women have been named in Addams’s papers, ranging from rank and file members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, settlement workers in New Orleans and Minnesota, and child labor activists in Chicago and New York. They include Japanese and Chinese feminists, Italian peace workers, Mexican social workers, and Dutch suffragists.

The National Endowment for the Humanities will match donations dollar-for-dollar to the Project! The past year has been a challenging one financially for the project. Funding for the humanities is in short supply, and for projects that document the work of women, especially those who worked for equality and social justice, support has been tough to find. We lost an editor in 2025 due to federal funding cuts and have been short-staffed as we try to stay on task. Private support is needed in order to meet the costs of student researcher salaries, research, and web development. For that we need you!

Our goal is to raise $5,000 during this Women’s History Month. Can you help? Please donate here: https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/donor-form/?svcid=tcs&formId=08371064-aaab-4270-80c3-d8e825e5a850&envid=p-V9uJn52MjkOS4TdHYL0FTA&zone=usa