Policewoman, The.
[Labor]. Hamilton, Mary E. The Policewoman. Her Service and Ideals. To cure is the voice of the past, to prevent, the divine whisper of today. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co, 1924.
8vo.; blue cloth, stamped in gilt; white dust-jacket printed in navy; illustration of Hamilton on upper panel lightly soiled; extremities lightly chipped.
First edition, with a foreword by Raymond B. Fosdick; with blurbs on the lower panel of the jacket by Kate Douglas Wiggin, Lady Astor, and Raymond Fosdick A presentation copy, inscribed on the front pastedown: To my beloved friend/ Mrs. Wm. Albert Lewis with/ love and appreciation/ Mary E. Hamilton/ Oct. 29- 1925.
Hamilton, the first woman to serve on the New York Police Department, dedicates her book to her fellow policewomen, “whose service and ideals are consecrated to the great cause of humanity.” The author’s note in full reads:
The following is not a historical survey; it is merely an account of police work as I, a woman, have experienced it, together with my observations and views on the subject generally. The purpose in presenting such a book is twofold. It is hoped that it may serve in a way as a guide to women who enter the field and also give all people a better understanding of what women can do along these lines and how greatly they are needed in working out the problems which have to do with the betterment of human conditions through police protection and crime prevention.
In her preface, Hamilton names social service as “the corner stone” of the foundation upon which a career as a policewoman should be built, and explains why now, in the wake of World War I, women can uniquely contribute to the field since society is faced with many new problems relating to the protection and welfare of children, girls, and women (pp. xi-xiii). The 18 chapters include “The Policewoman as Detective,” “A Women’s Precinct,” and “The Policewomen of the Future,” and outline the areas within a police department that women are best suited for—namely, detective work, where women can apply their “natural feminine guile,” (pp. 77) and cases involving runaway children and missing persons. Hamilton often describes situations from her own personal experience to convince women readers that police work is both challenging and inspiring. Though initially, as Fosdick recounts in his foreword, police departments hired token female officers so that “Chiefs of Police could say that their departments were up to date,” (p. xvii) now women are joining police forces in a number of cities and becoming “chief agents in the community” (p. xviii). In 1925, a film entitled Lilies of the Streets was made based on Hamilton’s casework, with a cast that included Hamilton, playing herself.
Raymond Blaine Fosdick (1883-1972) spent the majority of his career working under Woodrow Wilson as auditor and comptroller for the Democratic Party and first undersecretary of the League of Nations, but got his start in public service and social reform. After graduating from law school at New York University, he worked under Lillian Wald at the Henry Street Settlement in exchange for room and board. From 1910 to 1913, he served as Commissioner of Accounts for the city of New York and attracted the attention of John D. Rockefeller. It was Rockefeller that suggested Fosdick spend a several year in Europe studying their police systems as a model for reform. Upon returning to the States, Fosdick began investigating police departments in America, but was interrupted by the onset of World War I. As a result, his book, American Police Systems (The Century Co., 1920) was not published until 1920. During the war, Fosdick acted primarily as an advisor to the Allied troops and offered suggestions as to how to best train military personnel based on his police force research. In 1936, the Rockefeller Foundation appointed him President of the Rockefeller General Education Board. In that role, Fosdick promoted many African-American c
Print Inquire
