Elizabeth Beardsley Butler (1884–1911) was a pioneering social investigator of the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...

. She is best known for her contributions to

The Pittsburgh Survey ''The Pittsburgh Survey'' (1907–1908) was a pioneering sociological study of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States funded by the Russell Sage Foundation of New York City. It is widely considered a landmark of the Progressive Era re ...

, a landmark study of social conditions in an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

city.

Life

She was born in New York on 1 December 1884. A 1905 graduate of

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

, she also took courses at the

New York School of Philanthropy The Columbia University School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University. It is the nation's oldest social work program, with roots extending back to 1898, when the New York Charity Organization Society's first s ...

before securing employment as a researcher of wage earners, both female and child, in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Beginning in 1907 she worked for

Paul Kellogg Paul Underwood Kellogg (September 30, 1879 – November 1, 1958) was an American journalist and social reformer. He died at 79 in New York on November 1, 1958. Life He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1879. After working as a journalist he m ...

's Pittsburgh Survey, funded by the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her recently deceased husband, rail ...

. Her resulting book, ''Women and the Trades'', was published in 1909. It was the first large survey of wage-earning women in America and the first of the six volumes of the Survey. Butler died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

at age 26 in

Saranac Lake, New York Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406, making it the largest community by population in the Adirondack Park. The village is named after Upper, Middle and Lower Saran ...

. Her final book, ''Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores: Baltimore, 1909'', was posthumously published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 1912.

References

1880s births 1911 deaths American social sciences writers Barnard College alumni Columbia University School of Social Work alumni 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state) {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub