During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, more Americans belonged to fraternal societies than to any other kind of voluntary association, with the possible exception of churches. Despite the stereotypical image of the lodge as the exclusive domain of white men, fraternalism cut across race, class, and gender lines to include women, African Americans, and immigrants. Exploring the history and impact of fraternal societies in the United States, David Beito uncovers the vital importance they had in the social and fiscal lives of millions of American families. Much more than a means of addressing deep-seated cultural, psychological, and gender needs, fraternal societies gave Americans a way to provide themselves with social-welfare services that would otherwise have been inaccessible, Beito argues. In addition to creating vast social and mutual aid networks among the poor and in the working class, they made affordable life and health insurance available to their members and established hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. Fraternal societies continued their commitment to mutual aid even into the early years of the Great Depression, Beito says, but changing cultural attitudes and the expanding welfare state eventually propelled their decline.

A Coal Miner's Family at Mooseheart describes the lives of Homer Rhodes' widow and children at Mooseheart, IL, from 1919-1939. An orphan's home-school, which still operates, Mooseheart is arguably one of the most unusual child care programs of the 20th Century. This story begins with my family's arrival at Mooseheart and my rough introduction to the boys' codes of behavior. I report on how a Demerit system was replaced by a Merit system that worked well for 1,300 students living in this community which absolutely prohibited corporal punishment. Also I explain our daily routines. Further sections illustrate how the Founder's idealistic vision worked for our family and the students we knew: 1) how Blanche and her family adopt Earl and Carolyn Guinn, who lost both parents, 2) how students play and compete as the Mooseheart Spirit emerges, 3) how they can work to earn and spend their own money, 4) how they must learn a skilled trade, 5) how they may get a high school diploma --if they can pass the courses, 6) how they worship in the faith of their parents, 7) how they dance and romance, 8) how they dream, strive, become lonesome, suffer growing pains, 9) how they become ambitious, develop enough courage to leave Mooseheart to scatter and settle; 10) And finally, how they return to their very special utopia and wonder whether they can ever repay the Moose. Since this is a family memoir, I attach sections about our life before Mooseheart. I record what we know about our parents, Blanche Porter and, Homer Rhodes, and about Carrie Thomas, our mother's birth mother. I attach also a section about Spruce Knob, WV, and the Elk Lick Coal Company when Homer Rhodes was Superintendent of the mine there from 1919 until he died in 1925.