The Social Work of the Salvation Army

This early 20th-century document offers a rare firsthand account of the Salvation Army's revolutionary approach to social welfare. Edwin Gifford Lamb, writing from direct observation of institutions in American and English cities, examines how an organization born from religious revivalism became one of the most innovative social service providers of its era. Lamb traces the practical machinery behind the Army's network of shelters, employment bureaus, and educational programs, work that operated distinctly from the group's evangelistic mission. His analysis reveals an early model of secular social intervention, one that addressed poverty through job training, housing, and dignity-centered reform decades before the welfare state emerged. For historians of social work, this text serves as a vital record of institutional practice at a transitional moment in charitable aid.