Call Number:

3H.74-3

Repository:

Bryn Mawr College

Extent:

7 boxes

Language:

English

Date:

1894-1975 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bryn Mawr College

Abstract:

Mildred Fairchild Woodbury was a noted labor economist and educator. Her collection contains materials from 1894-1975 and includes a variety of materials related to the Department of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College, the American Association of University Women Philadelphia, the YWCA, the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee for Public Assistance, and the Southeast Regional Planning Council, the Pennsylvania Criminal Justice Planning Board, and some personal materials.

Mildred Fairchild Woodbury took her A.B. from Oberlin College in 1916 and then worked at Fisk University for two years. From 1918 to 1920 she worked with the War Camp Community Service and with the Playground and Recreation Association of America from 1920-22 . In 1923, Woodbury was the Oberlin College Field Organizer, taking her Master's degree from that college in 1925.

At Bryn Mawr, Woodbury was a Fellow in Social Economy and Social Research from 1925-27 and a Research Assistant from 1927-28. The next year, she was at the London School of Economics as a student as the Gamma Phi Beta Fellow of AAUW. Bryn Mawr College granted her a Ph.D. in Social Economy and Social Research in 1929. Woodbury then travelled in Russia and researched the conditions of women in industry under the auspices of the Society for the Advancement of Cultural Relations with Russia (1929-30). In 1930, she returned to Bryn Mawr, where she worked as an Associate from 1930-34, then an Associate Professor of Social Economy and Social Research until her retirement in 1947. From 1936 to 1946 she was the director of the department. Woodbury went to Geneva in 1947 in Chief of Section on Women's Work and Protection of Young Workers at the International Labour Office. She returned to Philadelphia in 1954 and resumed work in her field with numerous boards, committees, and councils on local, state, and national levels.

The Mildred Fairchild Woodbury papers is a collection of the professional and personal papers of Mildred Fairchild Woodbury, Associate Professor (1934-47) and Director of Social Economy and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College (1936-46). The collection contains materials from 1894-1975 and includes a variety of materials related to the Department of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College, the American Association of University Women Philadelphia, the YWCA, the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee for Public Assistance, and the Southeast Regional Planning Council, the Pennsylvania Criminal Justice Planning Board, and some personal materials.

The collection is housed in seven boxes.

The first box contains a miscellany of materials, including histories and administrative records for the Department of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College; correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, and notes and newsletters and printed materials related to Woodbury's work with the American Association of University Women Philadelphia Branch. The second box contains materials pertaining to the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee for Public Assistance, from 1966-1972. The third box contains materials pertaining to AAUP Philadelphia, Women in Prisons; the National Committee on the Education of Migrant Children; and the various committees for the YWCA Philadelphia. Box 4 contains public assistance and Health and Welfare Council materials. Boxes 5 and 6 include materials for the Southeast Regional Planning Council, including grant applications to the Pennsylvania Criminal Justice Planning Board. Box 7 contains materials concerning Montgomery county juvenile justice; miscellaneous papers; and some personal letters and pictures of relatives.

Mildred Woodbury spent her adult life working to better labor conditions for working women. This collection highlights her contributions to the fields of social economy and social research. It would be of value to those interested in Woodbury, labor rights in the 1930s-1950s, and the history of the Bryn Mawr Department of Social Work and Social Research.