Insley, Virginia

Virginia Insley, medical social worker, was born Ruth Marie Henze on Jan. 2, 1912, in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Adele Henze and a father who abandoned them. In February 1913 AH "voluntarily surrendered the said child to the care and custody of The Baby Home" (see #1). In March 1913 Fannie (Brazee) and Morton H. Insley, a "travelling agent," of Portland, adopted her and changed her name to Virginia Insley.

In 1929 VI graduated from St. Helen's Hall, a private school, and went on to the University of Washington in Seattle, where she majored in sociology and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. The Depression, and the death of her father, made it impossible for her to go straight to graduate school. Even before she received her BA (1934), VI had embarked on the long and successful social work career, dedicated to maternal and child health, reflected in the following chronology.

During these busy years VI continued her education by attending courses at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University and other institutions; and contributed chapters to books and articles to professional journals. She also was and continues to be a panelist and speaker at workshops and conferences, a charter member of National Association of Social Workers, a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, and an active member of other professional organizations. VI is a supporter of the arts, community service organizations, political candidates, and the National Organization for Women.

In 1989 VI gave material related to the Brazee and Insley families to the Oregon Historical Society.

The George Arents Research Library for Special Collections at the Bird Library, Syracuse University also holds material donated by VI: VI monographs (1951-1982, scattered), writings by others (1940-1990, n.d., scattered), correspondence, others to others (1948-1950, 1977, 1980), and approximately 200 volumes on maternal and child health care. A preliminary listing of this material is available in #190.

More biographical information is available in this collection. (see #1-44).

Virginia Insley (1912-2003) was an American social worker known for her steadfast promotion of high standards in social work education and practice in maternal and child health programs. She worked for the U.S. Children's Bureau as chief of the medical social services section, Division of Maternal and Child Health Services, a position she held for more than 20 years.

A medical social worker, Virginia Insley graduated from the University of Washington (B.A., M.S.W.) and worked for nearly thirty years for the federal government, serving finally as chief of medical social work in the Bureau of Community Health Services, U.S. Public Health Service.