Poorhouse, almshouse, poor farm : buried American history -- Scenes from the poorhouse -- What the forefathers had in mind : the purpose and contradictions of the poorhouse -- Undermining the poorhouse : long and short-term inmates in the late nineteenth century -- Inmates, overseers, and the politics of the poorhouse -- The long end : inmates in the twentieth century poorhouse -- Matrons, doctors, staff and the end of the poorhouse -- The ironies of history : the return of the poorhouse.
