L. J. Hanifan
L.J. (Lyda Judson) Hanifan is believed to be the originator of the concept of social capital. Robert Putnam in his book, Bowling Alone (2000) credits a 1916 paper by Hanifan as the first recorded instance in the English language of the use of the term. Hanifan was born February 12, 1879 in the coal camp of Cubana, West Virginia and went on to higher education at West Virginia Wesleyan College, West Virginia University, the University of Chicago and Harvard University, receiving an A.M. degree in 1909. [1] He returned to the state where he served school systems in Elkins, Belington, Charleston and Welch, and for nearly 10 years was state supervisor of rural schools. Hanifan authored two books and a number of pamphlets on rural education. According to Putnam, "the first known use of the concept (of social capital) was not by some cloistered theoretician, but by a practical reformer of the Progressive Era - L. J. Hanifan, state supervisor of rural schools in West Virginia. Writing in 1916 to urge the importance of community involvement for successful schools, Hanifan invoked the idea of 'social capital' to explain why." [2] "Hanifan's account of social capital," Putnam continues, "anticipated virtually all of the crucial elements in later interpretations, but his conceptual invention apparently attracted no notice from other social commentators and disappeared without a trace" for the next 84 years.