Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Ruth Mellor Papers, 1921-1970

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Burd Schlessinger.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2003

Biographical Note

Ruth Mellor was born in Rockville, Connecticut on January 15, 1889 and graduated from Smith College in 1912. In 1916-17, she attended the Bryant and Stratton Business School in Boston, and from 1918 to 1922 was executive secretary of American Red Cross, Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1923 she earned her master's degree in psychiatric social work at the School of Social Work in New York City, afterwards working as Chief of Social Service at the Child Guidance Demonstration Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1924 to 1926. From 1926 to 1929 she worked at the Children's Aid Society in Philadelphia, taking time in 1929 to act as field psychiatric worker in a survey conducted by the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. While living in the Philadelphia area, she continued her friendship with Mildred Scott Olmsted, who also graduated from Smith College in 1912. Mellor worked as a social worker for the Massachusetts Society for Mental Hygiene from 1929 to 1931, and from 1931 to 1933 was executive secretary of the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. She took a position as executive director of the Mental Hygiene Clinic in Louisville, Kentucky, where she remained at least until 1949. (This clinic was renamed the Bingham Child Guidance Clinic, which was heir to Ruth Mellor's estate.) She was also a lecturer in the Social Sciences division of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Louisville until her retirement in 1961. She died in Louisville on November 9, 1989.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The papers consist primarily of material related to a survey conducted by Ruth Mellor in 1929 for the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. The purpose of the survey was to assess social welfare services in the state of Connecticut, and information was gathered from institutions concerned with providing those services. They included churches; hospitals and clinics; mental health institutions; state agencies; charities and humane societies; and county homes, as well as rural and city schools and several colleges. The principle method for gathering information was to interview a range of educators, judges, lawmakers, doctors, social workers, prison wardens, and other citizens concerned with the welfare of the indigent and the mentally, emotionally and physically impaired. The interviews are summarized by Mellor and often include her frank assessment of the interviewee. These, along with some statistical data and notations about site visits, comprise the bulk of the papers. Mellor often used the reverse side of professional correspondence for hand-written and typed notes.

Also included are twenty-seven passionate love letters to Mellor from Marion W. Bomer, called Maisie or Wendy, written in 1928-29. Apparently against Bomer's wishes and to her distress, Mellor had insisted on one year of separation, during which time Bomer pined for her and pleaded to be reunited. The letters clearly indicate a lesbian relationship. The papers also include letters to Bomer from two other women who appear to have been attracted to her romantically. Love letters to Mellor from George de Schweinitz, written during the 1930s, suggest that Mellor was probably bi-sexual.

The papers also include general correspondence, and typed and hand-written notes. Material pertaining to Mellor's education is located in the Professional Activities series, as part of her employment application to the Connecticut Society for Mental Health. Since Dr. Samuel W. Hamilton participated in the Connecticut Society for Mental Health survey, a list of interviews by him is filed with those conducted by Mellor.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into four series:

• I. Biographical
• II. Correspondence
• III. Professional Activities
• IV. Subjects

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SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL

SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE

SERIES III. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

SERIES IV. SUBJECTS

OVERSIZE MATERIALS