By: Professor Ellen Herman, University of Oregon Since ancient times and in all human cultures, children have been transferred from adults who would not or could not be parents to adults who wanted them for love, labor, and property. Adoption’s close association with humanitarianism, upward mobility, and infertility, however, are uniquely modern phenomena. An especially…

  About Pioneering social worker John E. (Jack) Hansan, Ph.D. (1930 – 2019), launched the Social Welfare History Project in 2010. Recognizing the power of the World Wide Web as an information-sharing platform, Hansan created the site to help the public understand and appreciate the history of social reform and social welfare services that have…