''The Pittsburgh Survey'' (1907–1908) was a pioneering

sociological Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociology was coined in ...

study of the city of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States funded by the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her re ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is widely considered a landmark of the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...

reform movement. The Survey is one of the earliest and most thorough descriptions of urban conditions in the United States. Some seventy investigators, including

Elizabeth Beardsley Butler Elizabeth Beardsley Butler (1884–1911) was a pioneering social investigator of the Progressive Era. She is best known for her contributions to The Pittsburgh Survey, a landmark study of social conditions in an American city. Life She was born i ...

, Margaret Byington,

John R. Commons John Rogers Commons (October 13, 1862 – May 11, 1945) was an American institutional economist, Georgist, progressive and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Early years John R. Commons was born in Hollansburg, Ohio o ...

, Edward T. Devine,

Crystal Eastman Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist, feminist, socialist, and journalist. She was a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, a co-founder and co-editor with her brother Max Eastma ...

, John A. Fitch, documentary photographer

Lewis Hine Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940) was an American sociologist and muckraker photographer. His photographs taken during times such as the Progressive Era and the Great Depression captured young children working in harsh ...

, and artist

Joseph Stella Joseph Stella (born Giuseppe Michele Stella, June 13, 1877 – November 5, 1946) was an Italian-born American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America, especially his images of the Brooklyn Bridge. He is also ...

, began work in 1907. The research was first published in magazines, including

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

, in 1908 & 1909, then was expanded into a series of six books (4 monographs and 2 collections of essays) published from 1909 to 1914. In the early twentieth century Pittsburgh was America's prototypical industrial city.

Immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from Central, Eastern and Southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

poured in seeking jobs and escape from poverty. Large corporations such as

U.S. Steel The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

dominated local governments. Life for most Pittsburgh citizens was famously smokey and hardscrabble.

Progressives Progressivism is a left-leaning political philosophy and reform movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human so ...

and urban reformers viewed with alarm

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

and immigrant life, corporate industrialism, and the effects of

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

on the urban environment. Survey director

Paul Kellogg Paul Kellogg may refer to: * Paul U. Kellogg (1879–1958), American journalist and social reformer * Paul Axtell Kellogg (1910–1999), Episcopal bishop {{hndis, Kellogg, Paul ...

aimed to connect the reformist purpose with the latest methods of scientific inquiry. He hoped the results would alert the public about the social and environmental ills raging in

industrial America Manufacturing is a vital economic sector in the United States of America. The United States is the world's second-largest manufacturer after the People's Republic of China with a record high real output in 2021 of $2.5 trillion. As of December ...

and favorably influence policymaking, both corporate and government, in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation.

Volumes of the Pittsburgh Survey

* Volume 1 * Volume 2 and a
Google Books
* Volume 3 * Volume 4 and a
Google Books
* Volume 5 * Volume 6

References

* * *

External links

The Pittsburgh Survey; Findings in Six Volumes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsburgh Survey History of Pennsylvania History of Pittsburgh 1907 in Pennsylvania 1908 in Pennsylvania Progressive Era in the United States Russell Sage Foundation