Lillie Peck was born on December 28, 1888 in Gloversville, Fulton County, New York, United States. She was the daughter of Adolph L. Peck, a librarian who migrated to the United States from Vienna when he was twenty-two, and Clara Sperling.
After graduating from the Gloversville school system, Lillie Peck attended Simmons College from 1907 to 1909 and again from 1910 to 1913, receiving a B. S. in household economics. She returned to Simmons for an additional semester in 1916.
While at Simmons, Lillie Peck became involved in settlement house work. In 1912 she served as a volunteer at South End House in Boston and took a course at the Boston School of Social Work under Albert J. Kennedy, one of the pioneers of the early settlement movement. Another important influence on Peck was Ellen W. Coolidge, a cousin of President Calvin Coolidge. In 1908, Coolidge and Robert A. Woods, head of South End House, had formed a city federation of Boston settlements, the Boston Social Union.
In 1912, Lillie Peck became assistant secretary of the Boston Social Union (now the Boston Settlement Council). Later she replaced Coolidge as secretary. Peck and Coolidge also supported settlement cooperation on the national level when the National Federation of Settlements was formed in 1911. The next step was international cooperation. After World War I, Peck joined Coolidge for a trip abroad, during which they visited settlement houses in most European countries and urged the European settlement workers to form national federations. These national federations formed the basis for the International Federation of Settlements, organized in 1922. Peck spent 1924-1926 on a National Federation of Settlements fellowship visiting settlements in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, France, and England. Her purpose was to help the Europeans prepare for the Second International Conference of Settlements, held at Paris in 1926.
Lillie Peck returned to the United States in 1926 to resume her position at the Boston Social Union, and in 1928 became assistant head worker of South End House. Two years later she moved to New York City, where she was assistant to her mentor, Kennedy, then head of University Settlement. She was also the unpaid assistant secretary, under Kennedy, of the National Federation of Settlements, devoting herself full-time to its affairs. In 1934 the National Federation formally hired Peck as its first paid executive secretary. In this capacity Peck did much to strengthen the national settlement movement. Kennedy thought that when she took over, the federation was possibly heading for disintegration because of sectional feeling and a lack of communication. Peck helped to bind the settlement together through her correspondence and field visits. She also served as a consultant to local settlements.
In addition, it was Lillie Peck's duty to make arrangements for the annual National Federation conferences. Her outstanding achievement in this regard was to arrange an integrated convention in the South in 1936. She did it by using construction camp dormitories at the Norris, Tennessee, site of the TVA. One of the reasons that Peck was chosen executive secretary of the National Federation was her belief that reform and social change activities were very much a part of the settlement idea.
As secretary, Lillie Peck frequently participated in meetings held to draft resolutions favoring various reforms. She was usually note taker, jotting down ideas and making sense out of the general stream of conversation. She also wrote letters to politicians and others on behalf of the reforms endorsed by the settlements. Furthermore, in her capacity as informal adviser to settlements, she tried to channel local houses into the mainstream of New Deal reform. Peck's life-style and personality enhanced her effectiveness as secretary of the federation.
During the late 1930's Helen Hall was head worker at Henry Street as well as president of the National Federation, and the proximity of the two contributed to their professional collaboration. Peck responded constructively to criticism, was sensitive to the needs of others, was eager to be of service, and had the ability to get people to cooperate. Like many settlement workers, she communicated easily with people at all levels of the social scale. Not only her professional life, but her personal life as well, revolved around settlements. With little money, Peck ran the office of the federation almost single-handedly until 1944, when a second person was added to the staff. In 1945 the staff increased to three, and in 1947 to four. At that point Peck stepped aside for a younger professional, John R. McDowell. Peck retained responsibility for the international work of the National Federation, assuming the title of secretary for international work in 1947, the year she was elected president of the International Federation of Settlements.
During the 1949 Berlin blockade, the American military government hired Lillie Peck as a consultant for neighborhood centers in Berlin. After that the Arbeiter-Wohlfahrt and the Unitarian Service Committee asked her to organize a settlement house, which she did in Bremen, Germany, during 1951 - 1952. On her return to the United States, Peck served as the International Federation of Settlements representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She continued in this role for the rest of her life. In addition she assisted the State Department in planning the itineraries of foreign social workers visiting the United States under various exchange programs. She was an honorary president of the International Federation of Settlements and active in its affairs until her death in New York City on February 21, 1957.
Lillie Peck was the founder of International Federation of Settlements (1922).
Lillie Peck was unmarried.
