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harmonious relationships among community groups of different cultural, economic, religious and social characteristics, and to help people act together to improve their living conditions and environment. They were founded as neighborhood social-welfare agencies and variously called social settlements, community centers, neighborhood houses, associations or guilds.

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 [[strikethrough]] ran [[\strikethrough]] participated in an Underground Railroad station in the slave states of Delaware during the 1840s; Garrett paid a fortune in court fines for his crime of aiding fugitives. 13

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, [[strikethrough]] staged puppet shows [[/strikethrough]], 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

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