Negotiating charity

Abstract

This article studies the role of emotions as charity and poor relief expanded in late 18th- and early 19th-century Sweden, with a special focus on how fundraising was expressed in the local media. It was important for the local press to include almsgivers and to mobilize their ability to give when a more well-organized poor relief managed by men of the expanding middle class developed. The needs of the poor and the charity that were described and discussed were almost always dealing with the so-called ‘worthy’ poor. It was important that the almsgivers gave voluntarily and with joy. This was necessary for both women and men. Furthermore, it was important for both sexes, irrespective of whether the gifts consisted of money or goods, to give from the Christian heart and thought with honesty, tenderness, pity, and consideration. These emotions were expressed within a local community in which the main responsibility for charity and poor relief was local, and in which the local press in this way contributed to shaping an emotional community. Emotions towards the poor were reciprocal, and the so-called unworthy poor, or ungrateful poor, aroused negative emotions. Many of the donors in these cases were anonymously and gender-neutrally described. Class relations were more significant than divisions based on sex.

Keywords:

• poor relief
• charity
• gender
• emotions
• middle class
• Sweden

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Van Voss and Van Leeuwen, ‘Charity in the Dutch Republic’, 181–4.

2 Van Leeuwen, ‘Giving in Early Modern History’, 323–9.

3 Grell, Cunningham, and Roeck, Health Care, 4.

4 Engberg, I fattiga omständigheter, 57–61. Widén, Änkekassa och samhällsklass.

5 Helgesson, ‘Den offentliga fattigvården’, 35–7.

6 Engberg, I fattiga omständigheter, 61–3; Petersson, Den farliga underklassen, 17.

7 Cavallo, Charity and Power, 108–45.

8 Van Nederveen Meerkerk, ‘The Will to Give’, 242–3.

9 De Swaan, In Care of the State, 27; Lynch, Individuals, Families, 103–4, 109; Karlsson Sjögren, ‘Citizenship, Poor Relief’, 158–60; Javette Koefoed, ‘Performing Male Political Citizenship’, 173–5.

10 Bull, ‘All of my Remaining Property’, 76–82.

11 Wessel Hansen, Den skjulte fattigdom, 151–4, 172–3.

12 SOU 1923:2, 13–17.

13 Karlsson Sjögren, ‘Citizenship, Poor Relief’, 159.

14 Van Leeuwen, ‘Giving in Early Modern History’, 310.

15 Karlsson Sjögren, Männen, kvinnorna, 155–71.

16 Åberg, ’Revivalism, Philanthropy’, 19–22.

17 Nilsson, Historisk tätortsstatistik.

18 Karlsson Sjögren, ‘Citizenship, Poor Relief’, 157.

19 Ibid., 153–8.

20 Anderson, Imagined Communities, 62.

21 Oscarsson, ‘Med tryckfrihet’, 207.

22 Mral, När tidningen var, 203–16; Lundell, Pressen i provinsen, 76.

23 Rosenwein, ‘Worrying about Emotions’, 842.

24 Weckoblad för Gefleborgs län, 5 January 1787.

25 Ibid., 3 March 1787.

26 Ibid., 30 June 1787.

27 Ibid., 30 June 1787.

28 Ibid., 13 October 1787.

29 Ibid., 17 November 1787.

30 Ibid., 1 December 1787.

31 Ibid., 8 April 1787.

32 Ibid., 14 April 1787.

33 Nordbäck, Lycksalighetens källa, 253.

34 Helgesson, ‘Den offentliga fattigvården’, 35–7.

35 Berglund, ‘Food Riots’, 100–1.

36 Karlbom, Hungerupplopp och strejker, 57.

37 Weckoblad för Gefleborgs län, 3 November 1787.

38 Ibid., 3 November 1787.

39 Ibid., 10 November 1787.

40 Ibid., 17 November 1787.

41 Enefalk, ‘Alcohol and Respectability’, 308–9.

42 Weckoblad för Gefleborgs län, 10 November 1787. Another example is after a shipwreck, when it was ‘brothers feeling pity’, who, with ‘brotherly love’, were ‘those who are touched by such emotions’ that should donate gifts. Ibid., 2 October 1790.

43 Forselius, God dag, min läsare, 85–104.

44 Weckoblad för Gefleborgs län, 22 November 1788; 20 August 1791; 17 September 1791; 22 October 1791.

45 Ibid., 11 December 1790.

46 Ibid., 8 August 1800.

47 Ibid., 14 March 1812.

48 Ibid., 10 November 1787.

49 Ibid., 11 April 1807; 25 April 1807.

50 Ibid., 27 February 1813.

51 Ibid., 11 April 1812.

52 Gävle stadsarkiv, Fattigvårdsstyrelsen, Kassaböcker med verifikationer, GIIIa:1 (1801–1803).

53 Weckoblad för Gefleborgs län, 23 February 1799.

54 Ibid., 2 March 1799.

55 Ibid., 1 January 1808.

56 Ibid., 20 February 1808.

57 Ibid., 27 February 1808.

58 Ibid., 12 March 1808.

59 ‘Bör ej behofwets barn bli hulpet utaf alla? Den swage af en starck, och dåren af en wis? Medborgaren af sin kung?’ Ibid., 12 March 1808.

60 Ibid., 16 April 1808.

61 Ibid., 16 April 1808. Almsgiving as a sign of patriotic behaviour was expressed earlier; for example, in November 1792, after the assassination of Gustav III, when the paper announced that a ball in the City Hall should be arranged to celebrate the nameday of Gustav and that the surplus should be given to the poor (Ibid., 3 November 1792). The week after, three different subscriptions were reported. Even if no specific emotions were mentioned amongst the almsgivers, the paper reported that the poor had expressed their ‘glad gratitude’ (Ibid, 10 November 1792).

62 Ibid., 25 April 1812.

63 Ibid., 31 December 1812.

64 Ibid., 27 November 1813.

65 Ibid., 9 September 1806.

66 Ibid., 5 February 1791; 10 January 1807; 17 January 1807.

67 Ibid., 25 April 1812.

68 Ibid., 26 October 1811.

69 Ibid., 24 April 1812.

70 Ibid., 17 October 1807.

71 Ibid., 5 April 1800.

72 Ibid., 7 March 1807.

73 Ibid., 24 December 1813.

74 Ibid., 31 December 1813.

75 Ibid., 5 July 1800.

76 Ibid., 4 April 1808.

77 Ibid., 3 May 1800.

78 Ibid., 20 May 1785.

79 Bladh, ‘Gendered by Nature’, 216.

80 Crawford, Parents of Poor Children.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Åsa Karlsson Sjögren

Åsa Karlsson Sjögren is Professor of History at Umeå University and director of the research project ‘Segregation and integration. Gender, class and citizenship in the Swedish education system, ca. 1800-1850’ (financed by the Swedish Research Council 2014–2016). Her main research interest is women and gender history from legal, political, and social perspectives. Her most recent publication is Gender in Urban Europe. Sites of Political Activity and Citizenship, 1750-1900 (Routledge, 2014, co-edited with Krista Cowman and Nina Javette Koefoed).