Citation

Broder S. Gender Soc. 1988; 2(2): 128-148.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/089124388002002002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines baby farming as an urban neighborhood-based system of group child care in Philadelphia in the late nineteenth century and considers the dangers and abuses the practice of baby farming posed for parents, children, and baby farmers. It explores reformers' early efforts to regulate the city's baby farms. Finally, the essay also investigates the ways in which the residents of Philadelphia's poor neighborhoods monitored the child-care establishments in their communities that catered to working mothers.