| Chapter 1: | An American Ideology of Improvement |
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Chapter 1
An American Ideology
of Improvement
In 1901 University of Chicago sociologist Charles Zueblin and school teacher Margaret Haley hosted the first conference of Chicago's “various improvement societies” to exchange ideas on the “betterment of the city.” The gathering at Fullerton Hall exhibited many of the characteristics that would become central features of progressivism, including an elitist belief in the superiority of individual expertise. As a demonstration of their commitment to civic engagement and public education, the organizers opened the conference to the public, although only select reform leaders were permitted to address the meeting. “The ideas the conference received,” reported the Chicago Tribune, “were those based on experience,” and “the suggestions for future work came from men and women who have been in the field and who know the needs as they exist.” Speakers at the meeting included Jane Addams, Graham Taylor, Mary McDowell, and other principal figures of Chicago progressivism. As the Tribune observed, the conference was imbued with an idea that