Barbara Spofford Morgan

Barbara Spofford Morgan (July 15, 1887April 1, 1971) was an American educator, essayist on religion and a specialist in mental testing.

Early life and education

Barbara Spofford was born on July 15, 1887, in New York City, the daughter of Charles Ainsworth Spofford, a director of the Northern Pacific Railway, and Ellen Boardman. They moved to Norfolk, Connecticut, to give their daughter a better environment, and in 1898, built The Alders (now known as the Manor House), a Victorian Tudor-style mansion, designed by E.K. Rossiter. Later Barbara and Shepard Morgan lived on Mountain Road, Norfolk. Spofford was the granddaughter of Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Librarian of the United States Congress from 1864 to 1897.

She was educated at Miss Spence's School in New York City, and then attended Wycombe Abbey School in England where her father was working on a government commission. In 1905, she was presented at court in the presence of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Morgan attended Darmstadt University in Germany and in 1909 Bryn Mawr College. After college, she made a world tour.

Career

On February 20, 1912, she married Shepard Ashman Morgan (1884-1968), president of the Chase National Bank and author of ''The History of Parliamentary Taxation in England'' and ''Reminiscences of Shepard Ashman Morgan'' (1950). The Morgans were members of the Jekyll Island Club, a Southern haven for America's millionaires.

In 1926, while her husband was economic advisor and later finance director of the Office for Reparation Payments in Berlin, Germany, she enrolled at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, where she received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1928, the first American woman to achieve such a distinction. Her doctoral thesis was ''The Individual in American Education''.

Morgan was the author of ''The Backward Child, a Study of the Psychology and Treatment of Backwardness; A Practical Manual for Teachers and Students'' (1914), ''Friendly Shepherdess'' (1933), ''Individuality in a collective world'' (1935), ''Skeptic's search for God'' (1947) (reissued in 1949 as ''Man's restless search''). She also contributed articles to ''The Atlantic'', the ''North American Review'', and ''The Baltimore Sun''.

From 1910 to 1911, she directed the psychological clinic of the Neurological Institute of New York. In 1911, she was featured in a full-page article in ''The New York Times'': "Teaching Backward Children Their A-B-C's by Dancing, Where ordinary methods fails, Miss Barbara Spofford resorts to a novel plan of her own to instill the alphabet into youthful minds". From 1916 to 1918 she lectured on mental testing at the New York University and from 1914 to 1920 she had a private practice in mental testing in New York City.

Morgan was governor of the Women's Municipal League, a field worker for the North American Civil League for Immigrants and an activist for the benefit of the Randalls Island Hospital for Mental Defectives. She was a trustee of the Public Education Association and a governor of the Cosmopolitan Club.

Later years

In 1970, she donated ''The Papers of Ainsworth Rand Spofford'' to the Library of Congress. Morgan died on April 1, 1971, in Canaan, Connecticut.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Barbara Spofford
1887 births
1971 deaths
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American women philosophers
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Writers from New York City
People educated at Wycombe Abbey
Educators from New York City
20th-century American educators
20th-century American women educators
American women non-fiction writers
20th-century American philosophers