File f62 - Miller, Grace H., nee Jeffrey and Campbell, Catherine Janet, nee Boyle

File consists of a recording of Grace Miller. Topics of the conversation include Queen's Math Dept. c. 1911; ready acceptance of Queen's graduates by other grad schools. Doctoral work as theoretical possibility, highly unusual; MA degrees more standard. Strong encouragement, lack of inhibiting sexual discrimination, in subject's education, family life; contrast with Queen's sexist discrimination against granddaughter as Med School applicant. Daughter's attendance at Queen's, determined by family loyalty, financial considerations. Queen's campus, 1911-14: 250 female student population, possibility of knowing everyone. Shock of gas and oil lighting in 'Old Residence', Earl Street, after Ottawa electricity. Acquaintance with future husband in tiny Queen's office shared by 8 mathematics instructors. Etta Newlands, female math instructor at Queen's during 1890s; increase in female employees at Queen's following WWI years, Charlotte Whitton era. 1976/77 as first year Queen's female freshman (54%) have outnumbered men. Candlelighting ceremony, dated back to period between 1914 and 1921. Levana Society as far more active than Arts Society male counterpart; Levana disciplinary Council. Alumnae Association's women's residence fund drive, organised by active Ottawa members (Marty, Muir, Shortt): clock system of contributions, rummage sales. Organisation of general Alumni Association. Residence Fund Treasurers Miss Redden, May Chown. Aletta Marty, 'the most important person I ever met': exceptional abilities as French tutor; concern for women's higher education, women's place in society; recall by Queen's for Ban Righ sod-turning ceremony, honorary degree; death on return from Africa; Alumnae Marty Scholarship fund. Technical job, Topographical Surveys Dept., Ottawa, till 1921. Jeanne LeCaine Agnew, Queen's math grad, employed by McGill for WWII bomb research; frustrating restriction on early writings as classified information, thus unpublishable. Subject's return to Queen's for post-war celebrations: return of Grant Hall to university by army; huge convocation exercises; employment by Queen's Math Dept., hard-pressed to staff veteran-packed engineering courses. Sudden retirement from executive work; previous extensive involvement (past President) with Queen's Alumnae. Role of Alumnae apart from General Alumni Association; blow felt by Levana Society merger with Arts and Science Society. Alumnae role advancing women for executive positions. Admiration, dubious regard, for Charlotte Whitton; Whitton as subject of excellent radio programme; horror at Kay Whitton's comments on Charlotte. Omission of Whitton Hall ('I fear it was on purpose') on Queen's campus. Social evenings in Grant Hall. Drinking on campus as reported fact, never personally witnessed. Residence rules, 'made to be broken'; comparative boarding-house freedom. Subject's Math major, Physics minor; lecture/lab hours. Adequacy of Grant Hall for Convocation purposes; present-day arena-capacity requirements. Annexation of private houses for residence purposes; Observatory building used by Math students. Side Two is a recording of Catherine Campbell. Topics of the conversation include position as Chief Social Worker, Children's Section, Clarke Institute (Toronto), since 1966; 15 years' previous work with Toronto Psychiatric Hospital. Initial high proportion of children patients giving way to high proportion of adolescents. Recent shift within multi-disciplined Institute to cross­discipline expansion, based on specialist's desire to broaden role. Subject's original home in Weston, Ont.; juggled high school education due to crowding difficulties, quibbling over Toronto area boundaries. Attendance at Queen's, encouraged by family situation: responsibilities on farm too great after mother's death, family insistence that subject escape home pressures. Education as family priority, concern of musically-educated mother; freedom to choose place of study despite financial considerations. Queen's general Arts programme, subject's Psychology major. Enjoyment of Queen's: women students (300) as 25% of student population; participation in baseball team. Leanings toward social work encouraged by summer camp employment, influential Public Health aunt who praised social work, discouraged nursing. Lack of Sociology faculty at Queen's, extra course required for entrance to U of T MSW programme 10 years later. Position with Children's Aid (1947-9), 'great fun': working out of Timmins to Hearst, James Bay; colourful temporary child abandonment case, regular abandonment of children during blueberry-picking season. Interlude of marriage, period of psychometrical work in Toronto schools, 1937-47. Transfer to Toronto Psychiatric Hospital(government institute),1949; transfer to Clarke Institute (private board), 1966. Effect of financial cutbacks on subject's work: staff decrease from 9 to 3 since 1966; less administrative work, some teaching, more clinical duties. Change in patient problems: 1949-66 mostly neurotic cases (i.e. isolated character problem) from middle class, 2-parent families; since 1966, largely multi-problem cases (involving total character, more difficult to analyse) from single-parent families; wider class spread since OHIP subsidy. Upsurge in multi-problem patients perhaps related to upsurge in child-psychology specialists dealing with neurotic difficulties. Difficulties faced by single parents, single-parent offspring; problems caused by pressure on women to take outside work. Subject's training, sense of humour, as aids to perspective; ability to be compassionate at work, shed problems before going home. Enjoyment of many interests, hobbies; domestic responsibility for 90-year-old aunt. Friendships in and out offield, particularly with Timmins people and Queen's grad Martha Sheppard. Division of working women into three groups: bright, educated, professional women who want to work and therefore should; secretarial-level workers who often wish not to work, feel they must, yet can't afford acceptable mother­substitutes, and therefore shouldn't work; mothers who find children trying and need work as a reassurance of personal adequacy. Opinion that children need one-to-one care till at least age two. Younger Clarke workers' affinity with adolescent patients, helpful so long as they don't over-identify; subject's preference for child-patient work. Clarke day­treatment programme for children up to twelve.