Alice S. (Alice Squires) Cheyney

Alice S. Cheyney, also listed as Alice Squires Cheyney and later Alice Squires Cheyney Beekley, is known for A Definition of Social Work: A Thesis in Sociology. Project Gutenberg records that work under her name and notes Beekley as an alias, which helps connect the different versions of her name found in public records.

Available genealogical records indicate she was born in 1888 and died in 1968. She was the daughter of historian Edward Potts Cheyney and Gertrude Levis Squires Cheyney, placing her within a family connected to academic life and public thought.

Although only a small amount of biographical detail is easy to confirm, her surviving thesis points to an author engaged with the emerging language and identity of social work. That makes her an interesting figure for listeners curious about the early history of social reform, sociology, and professional social service.