Emily Hartshorne Mudd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emily Borie Hartshorne Mudd (September 6, 1898 – May 2, 1998), was an early family expert, women's rights activist and birth control advocate.[2][3][4][5] According to The New York Times, she "...helped lay the groundwork for virtually every aspect of professional marriage and family counseling."[4]
Emily Hartshorne Mudd | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 6, 1898 |
| Died | May 2, 1998 (aged 99) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupations | Professor, Birth Control Advocate |
| Honours | Elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1993.[1] |
Education
Emily Mudd attended Vassar.[6] She earned a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work (1936) as well as a doctorate in Sociology (1950).[7]
Career
In 1927, Mudd founded Philadelphia's first birth control clinic.[5] Knowing there was a law on the books in the city of Philadelphia barring pregnant women from being imprisoned, a pregnant Mudd worked to create this clinic. She published an article about early family planning in the February 1931 edition of the Birth Control Review.[5] She was also heavily involved in the creation of the Planned Parenthood Association of Philadelphia.[7] In 1933 Mudd and her husband, a microbiologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, helped create the Philadelphia Marriage Council.[4] She served as its executive director from 1936 to her retirement in 1967.[4] In addition to her counseling work, Mudd was also a consulting editor on Alfred Kinsey's report on the sexual behavior of the human female.[7] She and her husband co-authored 14 papers.[4]
Mudd was appointed in 1952 to an assistant professorship of family study in psychiatry, becoming the third woman on the medical school's faculty.[4][8] In 1956, she became the first woman appointed a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school.[4][5]
Personal life
She married University of Pennsylvania professor Dr. Stuart Mudd in 1922.[4][7] They remained married for fifty years until he died in 1975.[5] The couple had two sons and two daughters.[9] Mudd was voted mother of the year by The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1961.[10] She later remarried.[4] She lived to the age of 99 and had ten grandchildren.[5][11]