One of Canada’s first social workers, Jane B. Wisdom had an active career in social welfare that spanned almost the first half of the twentieth century. Competent, thoughtful, and trusted, she had a knack for being in important places at pivotal moments. Wisdom’s transnational career took her from Saint John to Montreal, New York City, Halifax, and Glace Bay, as well as into almost every field of social work. Her story offers a remarkable opportunity to uncover what life was like for front-line social workers in the profession’s early years.

In Wisdom, Justice, and Charity, historian Suzanne Morton uses Wisdom’s professional life to explore how the welfare state was built from the ground up by thousands of pragmatic and action-oriented social workers. Wisdom’s career illustrates the impact of professionalization, gender, and changing notions of the state – not just on those in the emergent profession of social work but also on those in need. Her life and career stand as a potent allegory for the limits and possibilities of individual action.

Janet Guildford (Mount Saint Vincent University) and Suzanne Morton (McGill University) are Dalhousie University graduates who have played a leading part in regional studies and women’s history for many years. Their most recent collection is Making Up the State: Women in 20th-Century Atlantic Canada.

Suzanne Morton's profile page

‘This is a remarkable book about a seemingly unremarkable woman… In this rich case study of Jane Wisdom’s career in Canadian social work, Suzanne Morton has made a major contribution to Canadian gender and social welfare history.’

Canadian Historical Review, vol 96:03:2015

‘Since Morton has framed her masterful examination of the emerging Canadian welfare state within Wisdom’s career, it will be virtually impossible for future scholars of the Canadian welfare state to ignore the role of women in its on-the-ground construction.’

Acadiensis, vol 44:01:2015

‘In this evocative, thoughtfully crafted, and engagingly written political biography of social worker Jane wisdom, Suzanne Morton traces the large historical processes of liberal welfare state expansion and the professionalization of social work through the life and carrier of one individual woman.’

Labour/Le Travail, vol 76: Fall 2015