author
Charles Josiah Galpin
1864–1947
A pioneering voice in rural sociology, this American scholar helped bring careful research to the study of farm communities and country life. His books explored how people lived, worked, and organized themselves in rural America.
1 Audiobook
Empty churches : The rural-urban dilemma
by Charles Josiah Galpin
About the author
Born in Hamilton, New York, in 1864, Charles Josiah Galpin became one of the early scholars most closely associated with rural sociology. He studied at Colgate, later taught in schools and colleges, and went on to build a career focused on the social life of farming communities.
Galpin is especially known for applying systematic research to rural populations, standards of living, and community organization. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and also worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where his research helped shape the study of rural life as a serious academic field.
His published works include Rural Life, Rural Social Problems, Empty Churches, and the memoir My Drift into Rural Sociology. He died in 1947, leaving behind a body of work that helped define how scholars understand the structure and everyday realities of rural communities.