Ethel Sturges Dummer (1866–1954) was a Chicago-based

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

activist, writer, and philanthropist whose interests encompassed child labor laws, prison reform, education, psychology, and conservation.

Family Life

Born in Chicago in 1866 to Mary (Delafield) Sturges and George Sturges, one of the city's wealthiest families. As a young girl her father described her "as homely as a hedge fence" and chastised for being like the boys and climbing trees. She graduated in 1885 from the Kirkland School, a high school, in Chicago. Dummer's wide-ranging interests included biology, psychiatry, anthropology, and economics. She married William Francis Dummer (1851–1928), a prominent Chicago banker, in 1888. The couple had four daughters—Marion, Ethel, Katharine, and Frances—and a son who died in infancy. After 1947, Dummer lived with her daughter Katharine Dummer Fisher in Winnetka, Illinois. She died in Winnetka in 1954; memorial services were held at the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago.

Social Activism

Although she had no formal education beyond secondary school and never held a paid job, she played a significant role in the Chicago school of sociology and in professional sociology in general, according to sociologist

Jennifer Platt Jennifer Platt FAcSS is a sociologist who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex, where she taught from 1964 to 2002. She has been President of the British Sociological Association The British Sociological Association (BSA) is a schol ...

. Dummer funded projects she considered important and encouraged professionals to work on them. She often provided to these professionals relevant data gathered by networks of social reformers, many of them women. In 1905, she joined the

National Child Labor Committee The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was a private, non-profit organization in the United States that served as a leading proponent for the national child labor reform movement. Its mission was to promote "the rights, awareness, dignity, well ...

and the Chicago

Juvenile Protective Association Juvenile Protective Association (JPA) is a private non-profit agency devoted to protecting children from abuse and neglect by providing intervention and treatment services to families in Chicago. History Founded in Chicago in 1901 by Jane Addam ...

, and in 1908, she became a founder and trustee of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, later the

University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, formerly called the School of Social Service Administration (SSA), is the school of social work at the University of Chicago. History The school was founded in 1903 by minister and so ...

. She extended financial support to entities such as the

Juvenile Psychopathic Institute The Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR) is a research, demonstration and training center housed in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago. The institute has more than 40 faculty members and 65 profes ...

and to prominent psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists including Adolf Meyer, Thomas Eliot, William Alanson White,

Trigant Burrow Nicholas Trigant Burrow (September 7, 1875 – May 24, 1950) was an American psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, psychologist, and, alongside Joseph H. Pratt and Paul Schilder, founder of group analysis in the United States. He was the inventor of the conc ...

Katharine Anthony Katharine Susan Anthony, sometimes also spelled Katherine (November 27, 1877 – November 20, 1965), was a US biographer best known for ''The Lambs'' (1945), a controversial study of the British writers Charles and Mary Lamb. Biography Kathar ...

Jessie Taft J. (Julia) Jessie Taft (June 24, 1882 in Dubuque, Iowa – June 7, 1960 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania) was an American philosopher and an early authority on child placement and therapeutic adoption. Educated at the University of Chicago, she spent th ...

, and others. She funded research, writing, and administrative projects undertaken by

Miriam Van Waters Miriam Van Waters (October 4, 1887 – January 17, 1974) was an American prison reformer of the early to mid-20th century whose methods owed much to her upbringing as an Episcopalian involved in the Social Gospel movement. During her career as a ...

, a well-known prison reformer. She helped found the Illinois Society for Mental Hygiene and served on the boards of the

City Club of Chicago The City Club of Chicago is a 501 (c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization intended to foster civic responsibility, promote public issues, and provide Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois with a forum for open political debate. The ...

, and the National Probation Association. In September 1917 Dummer was invited by

Raymond Fosdick Raymond Blaine Fosdick (9 June 1883 - 19 July 1972) was an American lawyer, public administrator and author. He served as the president of the Rockefeller Foundation for twelve years (1936-1948). He was an ardent internationalist and supporter of ...

to join the Committee on Protective Work for Girls (CPWG), along with Maude Miner, Abby Rockefeller, Vera Cushmann and Martha Falconer. The CPWG became the enforcement arm of The American Plan. Despite early reservations that the committee could be used to repress young women rather than protect them, Dummer accepted Fosdick's invitation stating "the work is somewhat appalling utis of great importance, and feeling sure that under Maude Miner it will be not merely repressive, but constructive in a large way, I will serve on the committee on Protective Work for Girls." The committee started recruiting women to serve as protective officers—to hit the streets and look for women in need of protection. Dummer herself traveled to Camp Devens, in Massachusetts, to inspect conditions for women, while Miner journeyed to the Midwest. Foslick didn't provide the committee with enough money to implement an individual casework model and so Dummer funded the CPWG herself within a few months of joining.See Letter from Jessie Binford to Ethel Sturges Dummer, December 22, 1917, Folder 402, Box 25, A-127, ESDP.

Published works

In a review of Dummer's autobiography, ''Why I Think So – The Autobiography of an Hypothesis'' (1937), Thomas Eliot of Northwestern University, said, "Mrs. Dummer is best recognized in her intellectual enthusiasms, and in her generous tributes and contributions (spiritual and material) to the work of others." She also published ''The Unconscious: A Symposium (1928)''; ''The Evolution of a Biological Faith'' (1943), and ''What is Thought?'' (1945). Dummer's published work includes prefaces to ''The Unadjusted Girl'' by

William I. Thomas William Isaac Thomas (August 13, 1863 – December 5, 1947) was an American sociology, sociologist, understood today as a key figure behind the theory of symbolic interactionism. Collaborating with Polish sociologist Florian Znaniecki, Thomas dev ...

(1923), a prominent sociologist and author. Concerned about the unequal treatment of women and men involved in what were known as sexual vice crimes, Dummer paid Thomas $5,000 a year for two years to research and analyze cases involving female

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

s and unmarried mothers. Drawn to the work of

Mary Boole Mary Everest Boole (11 March 1832 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire – 17 May 1916 in Middlesex, England) was a self-taught mathematician who is best known as an author of didactic works on mathematics, such as ''Philosophy and Fun of Algebra'', an ...

and her husband, mathematician George Boole, Dummer supported publication of Mary Boole's collected works in 1931 and wrote a pamphlet, ''Mary E. Boole: A Pioneer Student of the Unconscious'' in 1945.

Family Life

Social Activism

Published works

References

Further reading