Van Waters, Miriam, 1887-1974

Miriam Van Waters, penologist, was born October 4, 1887, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, the eldest living child (an older daughter died before Miriam was born) of George Browne (1865-1934) and Maude Vosburg (1866-1948) Van Waters. She had two sisters and two brothers: Ruth Van Waters Burton (1893-1967); Rebecca Van Waters Bartholomew (1898-1974?); George, Jr. (1899-19??); and Ralph (1906-). She graduated in 1904 from St. Helen's Hall in Portland, Oregon, and then attended the University of Oregon, where she earned a B.A. in Philosophy, 1908, and an M.A. in Psychology, 1910. She received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1913.

From 1913 to 1932, Van Waters devoted her career to various aspects of juvenile care. She served as a special agent for the Boston Children's Aid Society, 1913; the superintendent of the Frazer Detention Home in Portland, Oregon, 1914-1915; the superintendent of Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles County, California, 1917-1920; director of the El Retiro School for Girls in Los Angeles, 1919-1920; and referee of the Juvenile Court in Los Angeles, 1920-1930. Van Waters was director of the juvenile delinquency section of the Harvard Law School Crime Survey, which began in 1926, and a consultant on juvenile delinquency for the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement ("Wickersham Commission"), from 1928 probably until 1931. Throughout this period she also served on other government and university committees and commissions, participated in various professional organizations, delivered speeches and lectures, and wrote two books: Youth in Conflict (1925) and Parents on Probation (1927).

In 1932 Van Waters succeeded Jessie Hodder as the superintendent of the Reformatory for Women at Framingham, Massachusetts. Her progressive penal policies included: emphasizing psychological treatment, allowing mothers to keep their children with them at RW, and broadly interpreting the Massachusetts indenture system to allow for more day work. During her tenure there, several state officials along with local newspapers, launched critical attacks on Van Waters and her policies. After hearings in 1948, Van Waters was dismissed as Superintendent in January 1949. She was then reinstated by a governor's commission in March 1949, following further hearings and much publicity. She served as superintendent until her retirement in 1957. As in previous years, she was involved in other activities: teaching, serving on committees in professional organizations, delivering speeches, conducting research and writing.

In 1929 she assumed guardianship of a seven-year-old girl and renamed the child Sarah Ann. Van Waters, who never married, legally adopted Sarah in 1932. In 1941 Sarah Ann Van Waters (1922-1953) married Richard Hildebrandt. They had three sons before they were divorced in 1949: George (born 1941), Richard (born 1943), and Peter (born 1945). Sarah Hildebrandt was killed in a car accident in February 1953.