Juvenile Delinquents in Court: A Study in Four Countries (Israel, Poland, Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia)

mnsss75 Helen Leland Witmer Papers, 1928-1979 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Burd Schlessinger. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College

Northampton, MA

2003

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-06-09 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mnsss75 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Helen Leland Witmer Papers, 1928-1979 Finding Aid MS 199 Burd Schlessinger 1998 Processing of the Helen Leland Witmer Papers was made possible by the generous support of the Carel Bailey Germain Fund. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Witmer, Helen Leland Helen Leland Witmer Papers1928-1979 1935-1965 MS 199 4 boxes (1.5 linear ft.) Sophia Smith Collection

Smith College Northampton, MA

Sociologist, teacher, and social worker. The bulk of the Witmer papers pertain to her writings, including notes, typescripts and manuscripts for her unpublished book, Juvenile Delinquents in Court: A Study in Four Countries (Israel, Poland, Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia). There are also photographs, correspondence, lectures, and conference papers. Also documented are her tenure as director of research at Smith College School for Social Work and at the U.S. Children's Bureau. English. Biographical Note

Helen Leland Witmer was born in Lansford, Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. from Dickinson College in 1919, and her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1923. She did post doctoral work at the London School of Economics and went on to receive a certificate of social work from Bryn Mawr College in 1924.

After working as a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, a statistician in the Massachusetts Division of Corrections, and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, she became Director of Research at the Smith College School for Social Work where she remained from 1929 to 1949. Her responsibilities at Smith included formulating final exam questions, helping to set standards for social work theses, editing Smith College Studies in Social Work, and conducting research and writing for various state and national social service and mental health agencies. From 1949 to 1951, she was Director of Fact-finding for the White House Conference on Children and Youth. In 1951 Witmer became Director of Research for the United States Children's Bureau (a Health, Education and Welfare agency), a position she held from 1951 until 1967. During her tenure there, she worked on setting research standards for evaluating federally funded children's programs. She also wrote and published extensively on such topics as juvenile delinquency, pediatric psychiatry, family welfare, daycare, parent education, adoption, and child guidance. In 1967 she became editor of the Children's Bureau Research Reports, a publication of Children's Bureau research findings.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The papers are arranged in three series: Biographical Material, Writings, and Professional Activities. The Biographical Material series contains curriculum vitae, photographs and memorabilia. The bulk of the Writings series is comprised of notes and a book-length typescript for Juvenile Delinquents in Court: A Study in Four Countries, an examination of the management of juvenile delinquency in selected cities in Israel, Poland, Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia. Although the book was ready to go to press, it appears that Witmer never found a publisher. This series also contains typescripts of essays, lecture and conference papers, and journal articles.

The Professional Activities series contains correspondence, typescripts, and notes from Witmer's tenure at the Smith College School for Social Work. There are also extensive notes pertaining to her work at the United States Children's Bureau.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into three series:

I. Biographical Material II. Writings III. Professional Activities Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

The copyright owner of this collection is unknown. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Helen Leland Witmer Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

History of the Collection

The family of Helen Leland Witmer donated her papers to the Smith College School for Social Work in 1980. They were transferred to the Sophia Smith Collection in 1982, via Vida S. Grayson. A subsequent donation was made by Charles Gershenson in 1987.

Processed by Burd Schlessinger, 1998.

Search Terms Child welfare--United States--History--20th century--Sources Juvenile delinquency--United States--History--Sources Mental health services--United States--History--20th century--Sources Smith College. School for Social Work--Faculty--History Witmer, Helen Leland SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL 1 1 Curriculum vitae, n.d. 1 2 Photographs, 1950, n.d. 1 3 Memorabilia, 1979, n.d. SERIES II. WRITINGS Book Juvenile Delinquents in Court: A Study in Four Countries (unpublished), circa 1966 1 4 Summary of project 1 5-22 Typescripts and notes, Ch. 1-9 2 23-32 Typescripts and notes, Ch. 10-11 and appendix Essays 2 33 Typescript, "Science and Social Work," n.d. 2 34 Other typescripts, 1953, n.d. 2 35 Journal articles, 1933-35 2 36-44 Lectures and conference papers, 1935-61 3 45-51 Lectures and conference papers, A-W, n.d. 3 52 Humorous, n.d. SERIES III. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Smith College School for Social Work 3 53 Correspondence, 1928 3 54 Tests and exams, 1936-48, n.d. 3 55 Notes on writing and evaluating theses, 1937-47, n.d. 3 56 "Periodicals, Indices and Encyclopedias" (compiled by students), 1945 3 57 Annual Meeting of the Schools of Social Work: correspondence, agenda, 1949 3 58 Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth: newspaper clipping, 1950 United States Children's Bureau 3 59 Ribicoff Bill: memoranda, 1965 Evaluation research project 3 60 Prospectus, 1952 3 61 Correspondence, 1955-58 3 62-63 Abstracts, 1952-55, n.d. 3 64-65 Typescript and manuscript drafts, Chapter 1 and unidentified, circa 1955-56 3 66-67 Notes, n.d. 4 68-70 Notes, n.d. 4 71-72 Bibliography, n.d.