1 box

Agency History/Biographical note:
Janet Brown was born in 1930 in Newburgh, New York, and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1950. After receiving her master's degree, magna cum laude, in 1951, she worked in experimental psychology and child development. In 1952 she travelled in the U.S. extensively with her schoolmates. She then went on to receive her Ph.D. from Yale in 1955. She spent three years working at the Yale Child Study Center. From 1957-1978 she worked as Director of Research and Training and as Acting Clinical Director at the Putnam Children's Center. From 1978 to the present, she has been a self-employed child psychologist/consultant working with children in foster care and emotionally disturbed children.

Scope and Content:
The Janet Louise Brown Papers contain weekly correspondence from 1946-1949 to her parents in New York and three pieces of memorabilia: a program from a Cleveland Orchestra performance, a program from a sophomore skit and a card showing a senior blazer. Because these pieces were referred to within the correspondence, they have been left with their respective letters. Her papers concentrate on the daily activities in her college life. They also discuss campus and social events such as the Glascock Poetry Contest, and the Intercollegiate Poetry Contest; academics; impressions from lectures she attended by distinguished people such as Robert Frost, Thomas Mann, Francis Perkins, Lillian Picken, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Dr. Harlow Shapley, and Cord Meyer; Mount Holyoke traditions such as Mountain Day, apple picking, Vespers, weekly teas, Junior Show, Founder's Day, big-sister/little-sister, V-8's a capella concerts, intramural sports, community service opportunities, the Outing Club, the International Relations Club, dorm/room choosing. She gives a detailed description of meals served during the time, wages and  prices for everyday items, and ration books and coal strikes. The correspondence mentions the foreign affairs of Greece and Russia in the post-war era as well as events of historical significance such as the death of Gandhi, the presidential elections of 1948 and Truman's conflicts with a Republican Congress. She writes of her experiences working at a psychiatric ward in Leeds, Massachusetts and of her visits to nearby Camp Rabbit Hollow. She describes time-scheduling, chapel attendance, curfew requirements, and the dress code. Three times she mentions having her posture pictures taken and improving her grade from a "C" to a "B". She makes references to Jeanne "Toby" Plowman Deschner '50, Helen "Brucie" Douglas Talcott '50, Eudora "Rusty" DeRenne Roebling '50 and Bea Yamaski '50, all Mount Holyoke students.

Cite as: Janet Brown Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

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