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neighborhood social-welfare agencies and variously called social settlements, community centers, neighborhood houses, associations or guilds. 22 

The Thomas Garrett Settlement House in Wilmington, Delaware was no different. Located at Seventh and Walnut streets, it was named after a white Quaker and abolitionist who participated in the Underground Railroad in the slave state of Delaware during the 1840s; Garrett paid a fortune in court fines for his crime of aiding fugitives.23 The practice of employing college-educated workers to reside in the settlement house in order to interact with the community was ideal for Alma Thomas, who secured a small apartment in the Garrett facility. Drawing upon her kindergarten training and the years at Armstrong, she taught general arts and crafts, made costumes for children's carnivals and circuses, painted animals, and performed other related events for the enrollees of Garrett Settlement House. A Wilmington newspaper indicates the broad scope of Thomas's involvement: 

The fifth annual May Day Activities of the Kitchen-Garden Sewing Class and Kindergarten of the Thomas Garrett Settlement... was a decided success. The whole arrangement was under the direction of Miss Alma W. Thomas, directress of the Settlement. All the decorations, dresses worn by the girls and stage effects were designed by Miss Thomas....24

She remained there for six years.

The experiences at the Settlement House deepened her interest in costume design as a professional goal. At the same time, however, the shift from the 

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