Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of America’s most famous social justice reformers. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Addams was dubbed “America’s foremost woman” more than a century ago, when her work for social reform, social work, peace, equality and justice helped shape the Progressive Era. From her signature accomplishment — the founding of the Hull-House settlement – to her work to secure justice and equality for immigrants, women and people of color, Addams became synonymous with the social work profession. Her interests were broad, working for the abolition of child labor and poor industrial conditions, for woman suffrage and civil liberties, and for international peace.
The Jane Addams Papers is a scholarly editing project sponsored by Ramapo College of New Jersey’s School of Humanities and Global Studies. Its mission is to make widely available the papers of Jane Addams in digital and print formats, and to serve as a digital humanities training site for undergraduate students and volunteers.
Since 2017 nearly 200,000 teachers, students, scholars, journalists, and members of the general public have used the Jane Addams Digital Edition. This freely-accessible site publishes the correspondence and writings of Chicago-based social worker, peace and social-justice activist, Jane Addams (1860-1935). With its ease of use and contextual notes, the site has helped rescue Addams from the footnotes of history and brought her ideas and activities — still relevant 100 years later — to the attention of both scholars and students.
The project is currently working on its digital edition and the Selected Papers of Jane Addams, a seven-volume book edition published by the University of Illinois Press.
The Jane Addams Papers Project would not be possible without the generous support of Ramapo College of New Jersey, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the Ruth McCormick Tankersley Charitable Trust, and the generosity of individual donors.