Homer Folks and the Minimization of the Michigan County Agents

Abstract

We explore why the Michigan county agents, an extensive nineteenth-century system of paid male social workers, were unknown in social welfare history. We trace the problem to a misrepresentation of the Michigan system in Homer Folks's centrally important book, The Care of Destitute, Neglected and Delinquent Children. We argue that Folks's reporting of history is flawed by the biases of "personal projects" and the limitations of "big picture" history. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of Folks's mistake for welfare history and for contemporary policy makers.

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