Meyer Bloomfield (February 11, 1878 – March 12, 1938) was an American lawyer and social worker.

Early life

Bloomfield was born on February 11, 1878, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the son of Morris Bloomfield and Bertha Postmantir. Bloomfield immigrated to America with his family when he was four and settled on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

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, where his father taught English classes for immigrants. In his youth, he participated in activities at the Neighborhood Guild and the University Settlement.

Education

He graduated from the College of the City of New York with an A.B. in 1899, followed by

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

with a second A.B. in 1901. He attended

Boston University Law School The Boston University School of Law (BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a Private university, private research university in Boston. Established in 1872, it is the third-oldest law school in New England, after Harvard Law School and ...

from 1903 to 1905, and in 1905 was admitted to the bar.

Career

Following his graduation from Harvard, he became the first director of the

Civic Service House Civic Service House was an American settlement movement, social settlement and a school for citizenship, located at 110-112 Salem Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Established October, 1901, by Pauline Agassiz Shaw as a center for civic education, re ...

, a settlement house financed by

Pauline Agassiz Shaw Pauline Agassiz Shaw (February 6, 1841 – February 10, 1917) was an American philanthropist and social reformer who opened day nurseries, settlement houses, and other establishments in Boston to help new immigrants and the poor. She financed pub ...

, in the North End of

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He served as its director until 1910. In 1910, he became director of the Vocational Bureau, which was founded by his former law school professor Frank Parsons. He worked there for the next eight years. He served as president of the National Vocational Guidance Association from 1916 to 1918. Bloomfield lectured at the Harvard University Summer School from 1911 to 1913 and at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

Summer School from 1914 to 1915. In 1916, he was an associate faculty of

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

and a special professor of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. In the winter of 1910, he went to

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to study industrial and education conditions there on behalf of the

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. In the spring of 1912, he went to Europe to study labor exchanges for the

United States Bureau of Education The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal Government of the United States within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1867 to 1972. It is now separa ...

. He also served as a vocational expert for the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

in 1912. When America entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he went to

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and served in the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting ...

Emergency Fleet Corporation The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...

as Head of the Industrial Service Department. He was invited to the position by General

George Washington Goethals George Washington Goethals ( June 29, 1858 – January 21, 1928) was an American military officer and civil engineer, best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. He was the first Go ...

, Admiral Washington L. Capps, and Admiral Bowles in 1917 to organize the build-up of manpower needed to build ships and provide the right conditions for efficiency. Under him, the shipyards grew from 60,000 people to 400,000 people by 1919. From October 1918 to January 1919, he was special representative in Europe for ''The'' ''Saturday Evening Post'' and investigated labor conditions there. After the war, Bloomfield and his brother Daniel formed the law firm Bloomfield & Bloomfield and worked as industrial relations consultants. They also edited a periodical called ''Industrial Relations: Bloomfield's Labor Digest''. The partnership ended in 1923. He then moved to New York City, where he specialized in immigration law and did consulting work in the industrial relations field. In 1922, he went to Russia as a confidential advisor to President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...

. He later made social studies in other European countries. He was a labor advisor and attorney to a number of large corporations during the 1920s. In 1929, he was appointed advisor to seniors and professors of vocational guidance at the College of the City of New York. In 1935, he became advisor of

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

. He contributed to industrial and popular periodicals and published several books on labor, management, and vocational issues.

Family

In 1902, Bloomfield married concert singer Sylvia Palmer. Their children were Catherine Pauline, Joyce Therese, and Lincoln Palmer.

Death

Bloomfield died in Presbyterian Hospital from stomach cancer that metastasized in the liver on March 12, 1938. Rabbi Charles Fleischer officiated his funeral at the

Riverside Memorial Chapel The Riverside Memorial Chapel is an American Jewish funeral home chain with their main facility at 180 West 76th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City.Superintendent of Schools In the American education system, a superintendent or superintendent of schools is an administrator or manager in charge of a number of public schools or a school district, a local government body overseeing public schools. All school principal ...

Dr. Harold G. Campbell, Borough President

Stanley Isaacs Stanley Myer Isaacs (1882–1962) was a Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from New York City who served as Manhattan Borough President from 1938 to 1941 and later as a member of the New York City Council from 1942 to 1962. ...

, City College president Dr. Frederick B. Robinson, Mrs. Bernard Deutsch, and a number of educators. He was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomfield, Meyer 1878 births 1938 deaths 19th-century American Jews 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American lawyers American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American social workers Boston University School of Law alumni City College of New York alumni Harvard College alumni Lawyers from Boston Lawyers from New York City People from North End, Boston People from the Lower East Side Romanian emigrants to the United States Deaths from stomach cancer in New York (state)