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Edith Abbott
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== Later career == {{Progressivism sidebar|expanded=activists}} Abbott was a prominent immigration expert, working for reforms that would end exploitation of immigrants. She was appointed chair of the Committee on Crime and the Foreign Born of the [[Wickersham Commission|Wickersham National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement]] (1929β31).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sicherman, Barbara|author2=Carol Hurd Green|title=Notable American Women: The Modern Period|year=1980|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674627338|pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00sich_0/page/2 2]|url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00sich_0/page/2}}</ref> Through her advocacy, Abbott wrote in scholarly articles, book reviews, and governmental reports in which she discussed issues such as women's and children's rights, crime, immigration, and public assistance. She also stressed the importance of a [[public welfare]] administration, the need for a more humane [[social welfare]] system, and the responsibility of the state in addressing social problems. Many of the contributions during Abbott's career were dedicated to addressing welfare reform and adopting more humane standards for welfare treatment. In 1926, Abbott helped establish the Cook County Bureau of Public Welfare. Abbott and Breckinridge founded the Social Service Review in 1927, which, still administered by the University of Chicago, "is committed to examining social welfare policy and practice and evaluating its effects."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneers/a/abbott_e.htm|title=Edith Abbott|website=www.naswfoundation.org|access-date=April 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912015959/http://www.naswfoundation.org/pioneers/a/abbott_e.htm|archive-date=September 12, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Throughout the [[Great Depression]], Edith Abbott worked alongside her sister to combat a wide array of social ills, from the mistreatment of immigrants to the abuses of child labor. In 1935, Abbott assisted in drafting the [[Social Security Act]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/people/abbott-edith/|title=Abbott, Edith - Social Welfare History Project|date=December 13, 2010|work=Social Welfare History Project|access-date=April 19, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> Edith Abbott also had a significant role in the public sphere. Abbott was known to be a confidante and special consultant to [[Harry Hopkins]], adviser to President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. In 1950, Abbott was known to have been appointed to a single case on the [[Supreme Court of California|California Supreme Court]], making her the first woman to sit on the state's supreme court.<ref name="Sicherman, Barbara, and Carol Hurd Green 1980 1" /> The death of Edith's sister, Grace, in 1939 caused Edith to become quarrelsome and lonely, and slowly she began to withdraw herself from public life. In 1941, she published her final book, Public Assistance, and in 1942 she officially retired as the Dean of the School of Social Service Administration. Edith Abbott spent her remaining years living with her family in their home in Grand Island, Nebraska, where she died of [[pneumonia]] in 1957. She left the bulk of her estate to the Grand Island Public Library. She also left a trust for a collection of nonfiction books in memory of her mother, Elizabeth Abbott. At the time of Edith Abbott's death in 1957, Wayne McMillen of [[Social Service Review]] wrote, "History will include her name among the handful of leaders who have made enduring contributions to the field of education. Social work has now taken its place as an established profession. She, more than any other one person, gave direction to the education required for that profession. Posterity will not forget achievements such as these."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/people/abbott-edith/|title=Abbott, Edith - Social Welfare History Project|date=December 13, 2010|work=Social Welfare History Project|access-date=March 3, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> The sisters are buried together in Grand Island Cemetery.<ref>Resting Places: The Burial Places of 14,000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson</ref>
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