Introduction: The Legend of Mary Ellen Wilson
Introduction: The Legend of Mary Ellen Wilson
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the history of child protection in the U.S. during the Gilded Age. It describes the case of Mary Ellen Wilson, a child abuse victim who was rescued by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) from her foster parents. This volume argues that the nexus of animal and child protection was neither sad nor strange, but was instead tightly bound to the crosshatched threads of sentimentalism and liberalism.
Keywords: child protection, U.S., Gilded Age, Mary Ellen Wilson, child abuse, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ASPCA, animal protection, sentimentalism, liberalism
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