Friends of Madison Library
Presents
“Poor House and Town Farms: The Hard Row for Paupers”
Steve Taylor
Thursday, September 24 at 7 pm in the Madison Library Chick Room
A NH Humanities Council Program
Steve Taylor will discuss how New Hampshire has struggled with issues surrounding the treatment of its poor due to compulsory taxes for maintenance of the poor which made no distinction between the “vagrant, vicious poor and the helpless and honest poor. This confusion led to the establishment of alms houses and poor farms and, later, country institutions. Taylor will examine how paupers were treated in these facilities and how reformers eventually succeeded in closing them down.
This event is free and open to the public.
Poor House and Town Farms