Wald, Lillian D. (1867–1940), nurse, social worker, and political reformer, was born in Ohio to parents of Polish and German origins (see NURSING: UNITED STATES; SOCIAL WORK: UNITED STATES). Her prosperous family subsequently moved to Rochester, New York, where Lillian attended a private French-language boarding school. Wald graduated from the New York Hospital School of Nursing in 1891 and then attended the Women's Medical College. While teaching home nursing classes to immigrants on *New York City's Lower East Side, she first witnessed urban poverty and the lack of health services for the poor. In 1893, Wald and a colleague established residence in an immigrant neighborhood and founded the Nurses’ Settlement. Relying on her nursing and settlement movement connections, Wald enlisted the funding and friendship of financier and philanthropist Jacob Schiff, who introduced her to the city's elite networks.

Wald's institution grew into the Henry Street Settlement House, which offered visiting nursing, as well as citizenship classes and amateur theater. She campaigned for parks, playgrounds, and school lunch programs and pioneered public school nursing and classes for disabled students. Completely *secular and at times criticized for the lack of Jewish content in her work, Wald contributed to the increasing secularization and professionalization of social work and nursing. Alongside other political progressives, she linked her local efforts to broader reform campaigns for labor (see UNITED STATES: LABOR MOVEMENT), women's, immigrant, and civil rights (see UNITED STATES: CIVIL RIGHTS; for global anti-militarism; and for public health.