Social work will never become a profession—except through the professional schools[4]The Edith Abbott Memorial Library, in Grand Island, Nebraska, is named after her.
[5] Both parents instilled values of women's rights, equality, and social reform into Edith and her sister Grace, inspiring their future work.
However, her family could not afford to send her to college due to a drought which struck Nebraska and eventually led to an economic depression.
[9] Determined to receive a college education, Abbott took correspondence courses and night classes until she was able to afford to fully enroll.
The Webbs were in favour of repealing the British "poor laws"—which they viewed as demeaning to people in poverty—and they supported establishing programs to eliminate poverty.
[12] Abbott returned to the United States in 1907 after her years studying in London, and took a job teaching economics at Wellesley College.
[12] At that time, Hull House was renowned as a mecca for educated women, for its vibrant community of residing revolutionary thinkers.
Grace and Edith Abbott became great additions to the reform-minded community as they contributed significantly through their commitment to social reform advocacy and scholarship of statistical research.
[citation needed] The long-lasting professional partnership between Abbott and Breckinridge first started during their years together at the School of Civics and Philanthropy.
They shared a common interest in detailed statistical investigations of contemporary social problems which they believed they could use to spark reform advocacy.
She was appointed chair of the Committee on Crime and the Foreign Born of the Wickersham National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (1929–31).
[17] Through her advocacy, Abbott wrote in scholarly articles, book reviews, and governmental reports in which she discussed issues such as women's and children's rights, crime, immigration, and public assistance.
"[18] Throughout the Great Depression, Edith Abbott worked alongside her sister to combat a wide array of social ills, from the mistreatment of immigrants to the abuses of child labor.
In 1941, she published her final book, Public Assistance, and in 1942 she officially retired as the Dean of the School of Social Service Administration.
Edith Abbott spent her remaining years living with her family in their home in Grand Island, Nebraska, where she died of pneumonia in 1957.
At the time of Edith Abbott's death in 1957, Wayne McMillen of Social Service Review wrote, "History will include her name among the handful of leaders who have made enduring contributions to the field of education.
Ultimately Women and Industry looked at the wages and labor history from an economic standpoint while at the same time keeping the social causations at the center of her research.
This work helped analyze specific elements of the criminal justice system and defined the social problems associated with imprisonment.