Social settlements were located in poor, predominantly immigrant communities, and provided housing, educational, and cultural opportunities and other resources to low-income residents. Frequently established by university and seminary alumni, they were conceived of as training facilities for future social scientists and religious leaders who wished to study firsthand the social questions of the day, and offered important professional opportunities for women as well. The settlement movement began in England with the establishment of Toynbee Hall (1884) and quickly spread to the United States, where Chicago's Hull House (1889) had a lasting influence. Because the root principle of settlements was that of "service through sharing in the spirit of friendship," settlement workers frequently resided in the settlement house, allowing for mutual education and benefit.

The importance of social settlements to the reform movement was made evident in a 1908 Social Museum exhibition. Its intention was "to make a comparative study of the settlement movement as a whole" and "demonstrate the worth of the settlement as an agency in social progress." In the accompanying publication, William I. Cole describes the photographs and graphic material as "visualized answers" to the questions raised by four factors for which information was sought: the sort of neighborhood in which the settlement carried out its work, the racial and industrial character of its constituencies, its activities, and its results.