Otherwise Destined for Eloise: Dread, Contentment, and the Public Alternative to Private ‘Relief’ in Old Age

The horror of the poorhouse “cast a wide shadow” in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Almost everyone was afraid of ending his or her life in an institution that was ostensibly designed for public relief, but which occasioned fear since colonial times, never more so than in the beginning of the Great Depression. We build a case that the specter of the Wayne County, Michigan poorhouse, popularly known as “Eloise,” influenced Luella Hannan Memorial Home (LHMH) administrative decisions and the life courses of its aged applicants and clients, primarily women, in a number of crucial ways that relate to broader national issues concerning aging.