Louise Bryant

Louise Stevens Bryant (1885 – 1956) was an American public health specialist, writer, editor and publicist. She was especially involved in the fields of human sexuality and maternal health, and was the executive secretary of Robert Latou Dickinson's Committee on Maternal Health from 1927 to 1935.

Early life and education

Louise Stevens Bryant was born in Paris, France to American parents in 1885. Following her father's death in 1888, her mother moved Louise and her sister Ernesta first to New York City, and then to Rahway, New Jersey, where the girls were childhood friends of sisters Ida and Carolyn Wells.

Bryant attended Smith College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1908. She then worked at the Russell Sage Foundation, where she worked in school reform, followed by the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked in Lightner Witmer's clinical psychology clinic for children and simultaneously studied for a PhD in medical science, which she received in 1914.

Career

After completing her PhD, she worked at the Philadelphia Municipal Court, first as chief of the criminal department's division for women, and then, during the war, as a statistician for the chief of staff.

Bryant served on the Statistical Bureau of the War Industries Board in Washington, D.C. for one year, from 1918 to 1919. She wrote statistical reports on food supplies for the U.S. Army and for the Allies. She also worked with the statistical branch of the United States Chiefs of Staff during this period.

Then, from 1919 to 1923 she worked for the Girl Scouts of the USA as the educational and publications secretary.