Mary Mapes is a visiting research associate. Her work focuses on late 19th and 20th Century American social welfare, religion, and women's history. She is currently writing "A Public Charity: Religion and Social Welfare in Indianapolis," a book that examines faith-based social welfare in Indianapolis. Her academic accomplishments include an In-Residence Fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago and a Pew Fellowship in the Religion and American History Program at Yale University. Mapes joined The Polis Center in 1998. She has a Ph.D. in American history from Michigan State University.