BookLife (PW) Review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: "Touching, informative account"

The BookLife review of my memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has just come in and is everything I hoped for—selected details illustrating the scope and focus of the book, an overview of its place in history, and the recognition that the book is more than just a family document, that it has a wider audience. The reviewer writes:  Settlement House Girl is engaging, tracing Arnold’s growth from a young girl to an adult journeying into being a writer in her later life, but it’s also a valuable contribution to the social history of 20th-century America, offering urban history enthusiasts a wealth of information about the daily lives of families living in mid-century cities.

The full review is below. BookLife is the review service of Publishers Weekly. The review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is now available online. It will also be included in the print copy of the July 8, 2024 issue of Publishers Weekly. If you subscribe, be sure to look for it.

Many thanks to the BookLife reviewer for the perceptive comments about my book. I hope that they will help SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL reach a wider audience.

Arnold tells the compelling story of a 1950s childhood spent in the North East Neighborhood House (NENH) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Offering vital services like “child care, job training, medical and dental care,” and classes in English and citizenship, settlement houses, Arnold notes, emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to help recent immigrants transition to American life. Arnold’s social-worker family moved to the NENH in 1948 when her father became its director. Through vivid recollections and much clarifying historical context, the author paints a picture of life among a diverse community. Her memories range from being a flower girl at a neighbor’s wedding, taking her first train ride, making prank phone calls with friends, to first trying that “exotic foreign food,” pizza.

Arnold’s detailed descriptions of NENH life include charming anecdotes, such as going skating with friends in winter, only to later realize that the sweet liquid given to them by a friend’s grandmother to keep them warm was actually brandy. Arnold also pens a touching paean to her stamp collection, and she fondly recalls her summers at Camp Bovey—a northern Wisconsin escape for NENH children—where she progressed from camper to kitchen aide, crafts counselor, and finally cabin counselor. Moreover, her transition from living in a settlement house to moving to her family’s own house offers insight into how challenging it is for children to uproot themselves from a community and start again.

Settlement House Girl is engaging, tracing Arnold’s growth from a young girl to an adult journeying into being a writer in her later life, but it’s also a valuable contribution to the social history of 20th-century America, offering urban history enthusiasts a wealth of information about the daily lives of families living in mid-century cities. The detailed accounts of Arnold's experiences provide a unique glimpse into the fabric of community life during this era, highlighting the interactions and shared experiences that defined the settlement house environment.

Takeaway: Touching, informative account of life in a Minneapolis settlement house in the 1950s.

Comparable Titles: Ellen Snyder-Grenier's The House on Henry Street, Jane Addams’s Twenty Years at Hull House.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

[Note: North East Neighborhood House (NENH) became East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS) in 1963.]

WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT HOUSE? WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

North East Neighborhood House, settlement house in Minneapolis, MN, founded in 1915.

Whenever I tell people that I grew up in a settlement house, the first question is, “But what is a settlement house? Why are they called settlement houses?”

I try to explain in the introduction to my book SettlementHouse Girl, without going deeply into the history of the settlement house movement. But here, I think, is a better answer.

The following is from the introduction of an article about the history of the National Federation of Settlements by John E. Hansan, Ph.D.:

In 1886, Stanton Coit founded America’s first settlement house, the Neighborhood Guild (later renamed University Settlement) on New York City’s Lower East Side. Over the next 15 years, settlement houses were established in cities as places where socially motivated middle-class men and women could live, or “settle,” among the poor.  Settlement house staff resided in the same buildings in which neighborhood residents participated in programs and activities. Living in close proximity, settlement staff regarded the people who used the settlement as “neighbors,” not “clients.”  Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, Robert Archey Woods founded South End House in Boston, and other civic leaders, including Lillian Wald, John Lovejoy Elliott and Mary K. Simkhovitch, established settlement houses in New York City.

Many of these individuals had been influenced by the founders and staff of London’s Toynbee Hall and other British social activists who believed that students and people of wealth should “settle” in poverty-stricken neighborhoods both to provide services to help improve the daily quality of life, as well as to evaluate conditions and work for social reform. The settlements taught adult education and English language classes, provided schooling for immigrants’ children, organized job clubs, offered afterschool recreation, initiated public health services, and advocated for improved housing for the poor and working classes.

As explained above by Dr. Hansan, settlement houses were often called "neighborhood houses" with settlement house staff, like my social worker parents, regarding the people who came to the settlement house for classes and social services as "neighbors" not "clients".  From the age of four, until I was ten, my family lived at North East Neighborhood House, a settlement house in Minneapolis. Before that, my father had been the director of another settlement house, Neighborhood House in Syracuse, NY. 

While the term "settlement house" is no longer common, many of the institutions that began as settlement houses still exist and have evolved to meet the current social service needs of their communities. North East Neighborhood House, founded in 1915, continues as East Side Neighborhood Services, in a new modern building just a few blocks up the street from the original building. That building has been converted to low-income apartments and has been placed on the National Historical Register. Settlement House Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a memoir of my childhood there. In the Appendix to the book is a short description of the history of North East Neighborhood House and an article about some of the activities offered when my father was the director.

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH KALB

I was pleased to be interviewed by journalist Deborah Kalb about my new memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL. She has posted it on her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb this week. Deborah Kalb interviews a lot of authors and I am happy to join the list. It is always good to have more publicity! Thank you Deborah!

Here are the questions she asked me. Check out her blog for the answers!

1. What inspired you to write Settlement House Girl?

2. How much of the book comes from your own memories, and how much from research?

3. What do you think are some of the most comment perceptions and misconceptions about settlement houses?

4. What impact do you think growing up in a settlement house had on your life?

5. What are you working on now?

6. Anything else?

North East Neighborhood House, the settlement house in Minneapolis where I grew up.