Fashion for charity in the nineteenth century

In the paper we present various forms of charity in XIXth century and their criticism. In fact XIXth century is often called the century of philanthropy but it is reasonable to raise the question of the reasons for it. Philanthropy propagated by rich, often on the occasions of public meetings, balls, social gatherings and parties, was often criticised in the 2nd half of the XIXth century as the fashionable activity made for the sake of appearances. The fact that for many philanthrops it was a kind of entertainment and social autopresentation is an important aspect of this activity. Traditional charity was successively replaced with modern forms of social welfare, educational activities, and several activities supporting self-dependence of people threatened with poverty.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00. Publikacja dofinansowana przez Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztyni