Live from Philadelphia! School of Social Work faculty take their act on the road

Mistress Susan Larimer and Sir Robert Vernon

Oct. 30, 2008 - Indiana University School of Social Work Professor Robert Vernon and Susan Larimer, MSW Student Services Coordinator, are performing "The Queen's New Poore Law," at this year's Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting in Philadelphia.

The interactive presentation, which they put on for MSW students at the beginning of the fall semester, recreates a town meeting in the year 1601. That's the year the Elizabethan Poore Law was enacted, which is considered the beginning of modern welfare.

Dr. Vernon plays the role of Justice of the Peace for Darbyshire County while Larimer represents the Vestry, the powerful church elite.

During the presentation, Vernon and Larimer call on audience members, some of whom are given jobs, such as overseers of the poor or wardens in the almshouse or workhouse. Others receive goods and services such as medicines, clothes, while some will be impressed into service and set to gainful ends.

 After the performance, a discussion is held to look at the similarities and differences between the services provided in 1601 and contemporary ones.

The conference runs Oct. 30-Nov. 2.