Social work as human relations Anniversary papers of the New York School Work and the Community Service Society of New York

Two coincident milestones of significance to the broad field of social welfare were marked by the papers comprising this book and its companion volume, The Family in a Democratic Society.

In observing the one hundredth anniversary of the Community Service Society of New York and the fiftieth anniversary of the New York School of Social Work in the spring of 1948, the purpose was not so much to review the past as to look ahead. Accordingly, a program of three scientific symposia was offered. These were designed to increase understanding of the present problems of social welfare and contribute to a more effective approach to these problems, by drawing upon knowledge and experience now available in the medical and social sciences and in the practice of social and health work.

Most of the papers in this volume were presented at the third symposium, on "Professional Social Work: Its Substance and World Significance." This marked particularly the half-century anniversary of the School as the first professional training institution of its kind, which is not only a division of the Society but also a graduate school of Columbia University. Some other relevant papers, presented at the Society's anniversary dinner and at the first symposium, are placed with them. The other symposium papers make up the companion volume.