Description
Jessie E. Dean was employed by the Los County Department of Charities from 1919 to 1943, and served as Supervisor in the successive
Divisions of Outdoor Relief, County Welfare and Indigent Relief. A citation of appreciation from her fellow workers, found
in this collection, noted that she was the first, or "near first" trained social worker to practice in Los Angeles. Certainly
she was a founding member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Association of Social Workers, begun in 1923, and also
of its journal "The Lens", published from 1926-37. A 1916-17 bulletin of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, annotated
in Dean's handwriting, indicates that she studied there and was taught by Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge. The collection,
made up of a miscellany of professional papers accumulated during Dean's career and preserved by a co-worker on her retirement,
reflects the high level of personal dedication, social conscience, and moral conviction characteristic of social workers of
her generation. A strong teaching ethic is evident in the detailed instructional outlines she compiled for the training of
new "visitors" and student social workers. The collection contains descriptive annual reports for the County Welfare Division,
from 1921-32 and for 1935, written by Dean for delivery to the Board of Supervisors by her Superintendent. In effect these
long accounts are vivid essays on social welfare conditions prevailing in Los Angeles during the hectic population increase
of the 1920s followed by the Depression. The gradually changing tone of the reports, as professional social workers found
themselves transformed into emergency relief dispensers, indicates the difficult adaptation required of Dean and her co-workers
in the early 1930s. Also included in the collection is a manuscript draft of a critical account of County Welfare operations
in 1925, journals, reprints, pamphlets, articles, sermons, seminar notes and transcripts, reports, teaching materials and
book excerpts and outlines, together with some examples of intake forms used by Dean's office during the Depression.
Background
Jessie E. Dean was employed by the Los Angeles County Department of Charities from 1919 to 1943, and served as Supervisor
in the successive Divisions of Outdoor Relief, County Welfare, and Indigent Relief. A citation of appreciation from her fellow
workers, found in this collection, noted that she was the first, or "near first" trained social worker to practice in Los
Angeles. Certainly she was a founding member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Association of Social Workers, begun
in 1923, and also of its journal "The Lens", published from 1926-37. A 1916-17 bulletin of the Chicago School of Civics and
Philanthropy, annotated in Dean's handwriting, indicates that she studied there and was taught by Edith Abbott and Sophonisba
Breckinridge.
Restrictions
The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives
to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed
to obtain permission from the copyright holder to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections.