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Harriet Vittum

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Harriet Vittum
A middle-aged white woman with dark wavy hair
Harriet E. Vittum, from a 1918 publication
BornFebruary 14, 1872
Canton, Illinois
DiedDecember 16, 1953
Occupation(s)Social reformer, settlement worker

Harriet Elizabeth Vittum (February 14, 1872 – December 16, 1953)[1] was an American social reformer, especially active in the settlement movement in Chicago.

Early life

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Vittum was born in Canton, Illinois,[2] the daughter of George B. Vittum and Delia A. Burrell Vittum. Her father was a merchant, and she had three brothers.[3]

Harriet E. Vittum (with book on lap) with children at the Northwestern University settlement house in 1914; from the Library of Congress

Career

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Vittum had social reform interests from an early age, as evidenced when she opened a clinic in her family's home in Canton.[4] She moved to Chicago in 1893, initially to work at the Illinois pavilion at the World's Columbian Exposition, and later working with the Illinois Children's Aid Society. She started a milk station for infants, and worked for school nurses, playgrounds, night school classes, and summer camps.[5][6] Vittum was head resident of the Northwestern University Settlement.[7] She was active in the suffrage movement,[8][9] civic director of the Woman's City Club,[10][11] and president of the Chicago Kindergarten Institute.[2]

In 1914, Vittum ran for alderman in Chicago's 17th ward.[9][12] She also ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners.[13][14] In 1915, she was elected mayor of Eleanor Model City, a civics project of the Eleanor Association of Chicago.[15][16] In 1918, she debated Clarence Darrow on the topic of film censorship, noting "I believe that motion pictures ought to be an important educational and social asset."[17] She was a friend to Black social worker Ada S. McKinley; they marched together and gave joint lectures.[18] She worked on the presidential campaigns of Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, and Leonard Wood in 1920.[2][19]

Vittum spoke about her work in Chicago at women's groups.[20][21] "We so-called Americans who have lived here for several generations need to Americanize ourselves," she told an Iowa audience in 1924. "We must remake within ourselves something of the true American spirit before we can make the foreigners who come here see what it means."[22] Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned breakfast with Vittum in a 1938 newspaper column.[23]

In 1940, Vittum was founder and president of Roll Call of American Women, a women's organization opposed to American involvement in World War II; Jessamine Hoagland was the organization's treasurer.[2] During both World War I and World War II, she was director of Illinois' Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense.[24][25] She retired from the Northwestern University Settlement in 1947.[5] In 1948, she testified at a joint Congressional hearing on housing,[26] and advocated for improved housing and recreational opportunities in Chicago's Northwest Town neighborhood.[27]

Publications

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  • "Culture of Family Life from the Social Settlement Standpoint" (1914)[28]
  • "Neighborhood Development" (1914)[29]
  • "The House and the Delinquent Child" (1917)[30]
  • "The Evolution of the Christmas Spirit" (1920)[31]

Personal life and legacy

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Vittum lived at the Alexandria Hotel after retiring from the Northwestern University Settlement.[32] She died after a stroke in 1953, aged 81 years.[33] There is a Harriet Elizabeth Vittum Park in Chicago, named in her memory.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Hold Services Tonight for Miss Vittum". Chicago Tribune. 1953-12-18. p. 71. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d "Vittum, Harriet Elizabeth (1872-1953)". Jane Addams Digital Edition. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  3. ^ Vittum, Edmund March; Page, Celinda Miller Bean (1922). The Vittum Folks. Priv. Print. for E.M. Vittum. pp. 180–181.
  4. ^ "Early Illinois Women: Harriet E. Vittum". Parlin-Ingersoll Library. 1998. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  5. ^ a b Thalia (1947-11-09). "Chicago's Civic and Social Leaders Bid Miss Vittum Adieu". Chicago Tribune. p. 121. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Lynch, Agnes (1946-05-16). "Harriet Vittum is Honored for 40 Years' Work". Chicago Tribune. p. 23. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "66,000 People; 20 Bathtubs; That Ratio in Seventeenth Ward, Says Miss Harriet Vittum". Chicago Tribune. 1907-11-15. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ National American Woman Suffrage Association Records: Subject File, 1851-1953; Congressional Union; Harriet Vittum; via Library of Congress.
  9. ^ a b Flanagan, Maureen A. (2020-07-21). Seeing with Their Hearts: Chicago Women and the Vision of the Good City, 1871-1933. Princeton University Press. pp. 127–128, 133, 135. ISBN 978-0-691-21596-9.
  10. ^ "Harriet Vittum". City Club Bulletin. 9: 14. January 10, 1916.
  11. ^ "Chicago Civic Worker to Lecture at Woman's Club". The Courier-Journal. 1916-11-13. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Chicago Worker Foremost in her Field". Wisconsin State Journal. 1922-10-05. p. 11. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Goodwin, Joanne L. (2007-12-01). Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform: Mothers' Pensions in Chicago, 1911-1929. University of Chicago Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-226-30391-8.
  14. ^ Murphy, Lucy Eldersveld; Venet, Wendy Hamand (1997). Midwestern Women: Work, Community, and Leadership at the Crossroads. Indiana University Press. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-253-21133-0.
  15. ^ "Girls Start Own City; Model Municipality Within Confines of Chicago". The Washington Post. 1915-05-09. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Lawrence, Jeanne Catherine (2000). "Chicago's Eleanor Clubs: Housing Working Women in the Early Twentieth Century". Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture. 8: 219–247. doi:10.2307/3514415. ISSN 0887-9885. JSTOR 3514415.
  17. ^ "The Censorship of 'Movies'". City Club Bulletin. 11: 187–188. May 6, 1918.
  18. ^ Lee, KangJae Jerry; Dieser, Rodney B. (2020-11-30). "Ada S. McKinley: A Hidden History of African American Settlement House in Chicago". Leisure Sciences. 45 (4): 351–367. doi:10.1080/01490400.2020.1830904. ISSN 0149-0400. S2CID 229385751.
  19. ^ "Presidential Aspirants Name Women to Launch their Campaign". Logansport Pharos-Tribune. 1920-03-26. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Harriet Vittum Sees Poor Living Conditions as Vital Causes of Juvenile Crime in America". The Herald-Palladium. 1936-10-20. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Miss Harriet Vittum Is Announced as Federation Speaker Here Next Month". The Herald-Palladium. 1936-09-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Let's Talk it Over". Herald and Review. 1924-05-11. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 21, 1938". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
  24. ^ "The Price of Victory". Chicago Tribune. 1917-10-07. p. 41. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "War Time Amusements". Illinois Farmers' Institute Yearbook: 118–126, picture on 119. 1918.
  26. ^ Housing, United States Congress Joint Committee on (1948). Study and Investigation of Housing: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on Housing ... Eightieth Congress, First Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2237.
  27. ^ "Harriet Vittum Tells Plans for Blighted Area". Chicago Tribune. 1948-02-05. p. 32. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Vittum, Harriet E. (1914). "Culture of Family Life from the Social Settlement Standpoint". The Social Welfare Forum: Official Proceedings of The Annual Forum, National Conference on Social Welfare. pp. 111–114.
  29. ^ Vittum, Harriet E. (1914). "Neighborhood Development". Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction. 41: 367.
  30. ^ Vittum, Harriet (1917). "The House and the Delinquent Child". Proceedings of the National Housing Association. American Housing Association. pp. 314–318.
  31. ^ Vittum, Harriet E. "The Evolution of the Christmas Spirit" The Neighbor (January 3, 1920): 4.
  32. ^ "Honor Social Worker". Chicago Tribune. 1953-02-13. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "Harriet Vittum Dies; Pioneer Social Worker; Retired N. U. Settlement House Leader". Chicago Tribune. 1953-12-17. p. 57. Retrieved 2022-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ "Vittum (Harriet Elizabeth) Park". Chicago Park District. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
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