Beschrijving
Haarlem, H.D. Tjeenk Willink, viii,241pp. illustrated with plans for housing projects in Amsterdam for the poor and workers. original paper softcover binding, which is suffering. Spine almost gone, block loosening. Helena Mercier (17 October 1839 – 1 February 1910) was a Dutch social-liberal feminist, a social reformer, a writer, and one of the founders of the idea of social work in the Netherlands.Mercier is mainly remembered as the person who made the public aware of the slums of Amsterdam, which were largely the consequence of the Industrial Revolution and its need for factory workers. She played an important role in the discussions about housing that eventually led to the Housing Act of 1901. After a tour of the Amsterdam Jordaan and other working-class neighbourhoods, led by the doctor and suffragist, Aletta Jacobs, she wrote a series of articles about housing for workers. In these she discussed initiatives to improve the housing situation of the working class in the Netherlands and other countries, with particular enthusiasm for the work of Octavia Hill in London. The importance that Mercier attached to good housing as a way of improving the condition of the working class was apparent from her share in the founding of the company, N.V. Bouwonderneming Jordaan, in 1896. With money from the philanthropist Peter Wilhelm Janssen, 131 slums in the Jordaan were bought, converted into good working-class houses and placed under the supervision of the social worker, Louise Went. Although Mercier did not sit on the board of the company, she remained closely involved in the work after its foundation. Important book on the development of poor peaples houding in Amsterdam, written by the woman who fought tirelessly for the improvement of conditions for the poor and for low paid workers.
