The Blue Blood of George Barton: An Introduction

My next several posts will cover the issue of social class and Gilded Age Society.  I am hopeful that these posts will provide a rich background to help in more fully understanding George Barton's interests and interactions regarding occupational therapy.  Introducing the concept in short form is intended to set the stage for the next several posts.I previously wrote about the early life experience of George Barton and how his father was a banker and that he was raised among the social elites in Boston.  We know that he traveled to England and was trained under William Morris - certainly not an experience that was available to most people.  Social standing is a significant point of analysis that has not been previously documented about George Barton.Quiroga was unsure of how to assess Barton's nature (p. 124).  It may very well be accurate to state that he was truly eccentric - but the larger context of social class can not be ignored in this analysis because this may provide some needed context about his interactions.As historical background for the upcoming analysis, the Gilded Age covers the approximate date range of 1870 through the turn of the century.  Industrialization was fundamentally transforming people's work, the United States was experiencing unprecedented population growth, electricity and telecommunications were being introduced into cities, railroads were built that connected the country and all of these events represented the dra...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Therapists Tags: history Source Type: blogs