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In this article, we introduce prosopography, a valuable historical research method that can be used by feminist social work scholars. While feminists in various fields use this methodology to investigate background characteristics of women in history through collective studies of how they have established relationships and networks to influence change, our review of the literature suggests that it has been little used in social work. We provide a brief overview of prosopography, strengths and limitations, and an illustration of the method as enacted focusing on the roles of early feminists within the development of nonprofit human service organizations. It is our intent to demonstrate the possibilities of prosopography to identify and understand groups of women who have been erased in social work history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the name Flexner is mentioned in schools of social work, it is typically a reference to Abraham Flexner, who spoke to the National Conference on Charities and Corrections in 1915. Yet, his daughter Eleanor wrote the definitive history of the women's rights movement in the United States, and her work was influential in the transition between first- and second-wave feminism. This article honors her legacy and recognizes its significance to the integration of women's history into the social work curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three traditions of women's organizations emerged in the 1800s: benevolence, reform, and rights. This article focuses primarily on women who founded the forerunners of today's nonprofit health and human service agencies. Using Richmond, Virginia, as an example, it draws from historical documents, as well as the literature, to reframe the importance of what Lady Boards of Managers did in shaping the governance and administration of early human service organizations. Of particular importance is the invisibility of their actions, which were extraordinary for the times in which they lived, in the theories and practice models that drive current macro-social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If social work education is truly committed to social justice and self-determination, it will have to liberate the knowledge of groups with which it works. To do so, it is necessary to recognize the unique role of practitioners in discovering and interpreting subjugated knowledge, which requires that academicians, practitioners, and consumers of services have opportunities to dialogue. Four strategies for freeing subjugated knowledge are proposed in this article. Dialogue that results from these strategies allows academicians and practitioners to focus on gaps between the practice theories they teach and the work they have to do and can contribute to curricular reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the implications of teaching students about the application of collaborative practices in organizational changes. Although students in social work foundation courses learn about the application of strengths perspectives with clients , advanced students in administration and planning develop skills in being linear, rational, and reductionistic in organizational life. Traditional models of planned change have been based on rational, positivistic approaches and are taught in various fields. The coming millennium demands recognition of the diverse workforce in American organizations. This diversity is complicated by the movement to a world economy that necessitates an acknowledgment of different ways of knowing and achieving change. For a viable professional future, social work educators have the responsibility to prepare the next generation of social-change agents to work in organizations that may have different structures and require different conceptualizations of change. A collaborative approach is grounded in interactional processes in which people work together.