Brown, Dorothy Kirchwey, 1888-1981

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Dorothy Browning Kirchwey was born in Albany, New York, on September 3, 1888, to Dora Child Wendell and George Washington Kirchwey. She was one of four children: Mary Fredericka "Freda" (1893-1976), Karl (1885?-1943) and George Washington (1897?-1905). The elder George Washington Kirchwey (1855-1942) was a noted criminologist, law professor, and dean at Albany Law School and Columbia Law School, as well as a New York State commissioner on prison reform and warden at the Sing Sing state prison in Ossining, New York.

Dorothy Kirchwey attended the progressive Horace Mann School in New York City, where her maternal aunts Mary and Clara also taught. She graduated in 1906 and then attended Barnard College (B.A., 1910). Subsequently she worked at Smith College for a year as an Assistant in Economics and Sociology, and returned to New York City to work for the Russell Sage Foundation as an investigator. In 1912 she traveled to Hamburg, Germany, to conduct a study of employment systems of harbor workers in the port. She subsequently moved to Washington, DC, in order to work for the United States Commission on Industrial Relations.

On November 23, 1915, she married lawyer Herman LaRue Brown (B.A., Harvard, 1904; LL.B., Harvard, 1906), known as LaRue. LaRue Brown was at that time working in Washington as Special Counsel for the United States on a variety of Sherman Act and Clayton Act cases. Dorothy Kirchwey Brown worked for the US Children's Bureau, specializing in issues of child labor. Their daughter Eleanor was born August 1, 1917, in Boston, and died in early 1920. Perhaps because of this tragic loss, Dorothy developed close bonds with many young women throughout her life, some of whom addressed her as "Aunt Dorothy."

From the time of his graduation from law school until his death, LaRue Brown practiced law in Boston with the firm Brown, Field & Murray (later Brown, Field, & McCarthy). From 1917 to 1919 he worked in Washington, DC, as an Assistant Attorney General of the United States. Beginning in 1920, Dorothy was chair of the League of Women Voters' Child Welfare Committee, and she worked to pass the Sheppard-Towner bill (which addressed issues of maternal and infant health) and fought to get a Child Labor Amendment adopted.

Dorothy Kirchwey Brown resigned her job with the national League of Women Voters in 1922, but served as a Director of the League from 1936 to 1940. She was one of the original trustees of the Carrie Chapman Catt Memorial Fund, a League of Women Voters endeavor which became the LWV Overseas Education Fund. Brown was elected President of the Massachusetts League of Women Voters in 1939 and served until 1942. She was also extremely active in the Boston chapter of the League of Women Voters, serving as Vice President and on several committees throughout the 1930s and 1950s.

In 1942, LaRue Brown was appointed special representative of the Attorney General of the United States and Special Assistant to the Ambassador, US Embassy, London, England. In this capacity, he worked out an agreement between the US and Great Britain known as the "waiver," or "knock for knock" agreement, which called for avoiding "useless litigation in matters of maritime transportation prejudicial to their respective economies in wartime." He traveled to and from London several times during the end and after World War II. Dorothy accompanied him several times, once (beginning in February 1945) as a representative of the Unitarian Service Committee, which was active in war refugee relief.

The Browns were both extremely active in Democratic Party politics; LaRue Brown and Franklin Roosevelt were classmates and friends at Harvard, and the two families were close. Dorothy served as Vice Chair of the Democratic State Committee and was a Director of the Jefferson Society, a liberal political group formed after the 1928 election. Dorothy Kirchwey Brown's early interest in child labor practices and law led her to be appointed to many state-wide committees and boards. In 1930 she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Training Schools; the Board managed the schools and oversaw parole supervision of delinquent children. Brown served for 17 years; she was then a member of the successor group, the Governor's Advisory Committee on Service to Youth, from 1948 to 1952. She was member of the Corporation of the Family Service Association of Greater Boston from 1963 to 1970.

In their later years, the Browns were able to travel internationally a fair amount. LaRue Brown died in 1969. Dorothy Kirchwey Brown died at home in Boston on July 30, 1981.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Kirchwey, Freda, 1893-1976. Papers, 1871-1972 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Tilton, Elizabeth, 1869-1950. Papers, 1914-1949 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Van Waters, Miriam, 1887-1974. Papers, 1861-1971 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Records, 1939-1992 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Hudson, Manley Ottmer, 1886-1960. Papers, 1894-1960 Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Van Waters, Miriam, 1887-1974. Papers, 1861-1971 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Tilton, Elizabeth, 1869-1950. Papers, 1914-1949 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Additional records, 1938-1973 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers of Elizabeth Glendower Evans, 1859-1944 (inclusive), 1882-1944 (bulk) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers of Dorothy Kirchwey Brown, 1917-1957 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Friends of Framingham, Inc. Records, 1938-1973 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn League of Women Voters (Cambridge, Mass.). Records, 1916-ca.1976 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Van Waters, Miriam. Correspondence with Johan Thorsten Sellin, 1949. University of Pennsylvania Library
referencedIn Papers of Elizabeth Glendower Evans, 1859-1944 (inclusive), 1882-1944 (bulk) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Papers, 1969-1970 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Woman's rights collection, 1853-1958 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Kirchwey, Freda. Papers, 1871-1972 (inclusive), 1937-1971 (bulk) [microform]. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Boston Women's Trade Union League. Records, 1923-1933 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Hart, Henry Melvin, 1904-1969. Papers, 1927-1969 Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn The Nation, records, 1879-1974 (inclusive), 1920-1955 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Papers of Dorothy Kirchwey Brown, 1917-1957 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Woman's rights collection, 1853-1958 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Friends of Framingham, Inc. Additional records, 1938-1973 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Kinderman, Katharine Bancroft Schlesinger, 1942-. Papers, 1969-1970 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Sheldon Glueck papers Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Papers, 1821-1961 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Baldwin, Amelia Muir, 1876-1960. Papers, 1821-1961 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Window Shop (Cambridge, Mass.). Records, 1939-1992 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Additional papers, (inclusive), (bulk), 1857-1976, 1912-1971 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Abbott, Grace, 1878-1939. person
associatedWith Acheson, Dean person
associatedWith Acheson, Dean, 1893-1971. person
associatedWith Baldwin, Amelia Muir, 1876-1960. person
associatedWith Barnard College. corporateBody
associatedWith Birth Control League of Massachusetts. corporateBody
associatedWith Blackwell, Alice Stone, 1857-1950. person
associatedWith Boston Women's Trade Union League. corporateBody
associatedWith Brandeis, Louis Dembitz, 1856-1941. person
spouseOf Brown, Herman LaRue, 1883-1969. person
associatedWith Brown, Nellie LaRue person
associatedWith Brown, Nellie LaRue. person
associatedWith Burns, James MacGregor. person
associatedWith Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947. person
associatedWith Comstock, Ada Louise. person
associatedWith Cunningham, Minnie Fisher, 1882-1964. person
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associatedWith Democratic Party corporateBody
associatedWith Democratic Party (Mass.). State Committee. corporateBody
associatedWith Democratic Party (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Democratic State Committee corporateBody
associatedWith Driscoll, Katharine. person
associatedWith Dummer, Ethel Sturges, 1866-1954. person
associatedWith ELIZABETH GLENDOWER (GARDINER) EVANS, 1856-1937 person
associatedWith Elizabeth (Hewes) Tilton, 1869-1950 person
associatedWith Evans, Elizabeth Glendower, 1856-1937. person
associatedWith Frankfurter, Estelle person
associatedWith Frankfurter, Estelle S. person
associatedWith Frankfurter, Felix person
associatedWith Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965. person
associatedWith FREDA KIRCHWEY, 1893-1976 person
associatedWith Friends of Framingham, Inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Friends of Framingham, Inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Friends of Framingham, Inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Glueck, Sheldon, 1896- person
associatedWith Hamilton, Alice, 1869-1970. person
associatedWith Hart, Henry Melvin. person
associatedWith Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1841-1935. person
associatedWith Horace Mann School, New York. corporateBody
associatedWith Horace Mann School (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Hudson, Manley Ottmer, 1886- person
associatedWith Katharine Bancroft (Schlesinger) Kinderman, 1942- person
associatedWith Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932. person
associatedWith Kinderman, Katharine Bancroft Schlesinger, 1942- person
associatedWith Kirchwey, Freda. person
associatedWith Kirchwey, George W. (George Washington), 1855-1942. person
associatedWith Kirchwey, Karl. person
associatedWith Larue family. family
associatedWith Larue family. family
associatedWith LaRue family family
associatedWith Lathrop, Julia Clifford, 1858-1932. person
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associatedWith League of Women Voters of Cambridge corporateBody
associatedWith League of Women Voters of Massachusetts. corporateBody
associatedWith League of Women Voters (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Mahoney, Mildred. person
associatedWith Massachusetts Child Council. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts Child Council. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts Committee on the Ratification of the Child Labor Amendment. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts. Parole Board. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts Training Schools. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts Training Schools. corporateBody
associatedWith Massachusetts. Youth Services Board. corporateBody
associatedWith Nation (New York, N.Y. : 1865). corporateBody
associatedWith O'Keefe, Ruth Evans person
associatedWith O'Keefe, Ruth Evans. person
associatedWith O'Neill, Tip. person
associatedWith Owen, Marguerite. person
associatedWith Park, Maud Wood, 1871-1955. person
associatedWith Parole Board of Massachusetts corporateBody
associatedWith Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965. person
associatedWith Peterson, Esther, 1906- person
associatedWith Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. corporateBody
associatedWith Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962. person
associatedWith Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945. person
associatedWith Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944. person
associatedWith Stantial, Edna (Lamprey) person
associatedWith Stantial, Edna Lamprey. person
associatedWith The Window Shop, Inc., 1939-1987 corporateBody
associatedWith Tilton, Elizabeth, 1869-1950. person
associatedWith Unitarian Service Committee. corporateBody
associatedWith Van Waters, Miriam, 1887-1974 person
associatedWith Window Shop (Cambridge, Mass.) corporateBody
associatedWith Youth Services Board. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Boston MA US
New York City NY US
Albany NY US
Washington, D. C. DC US
Subject
Suffrage
Alice Stone Blackwell Fund
Childbirth
Child labor
Child Labor Amendment
Child rearing
Child welfare
Courtship
Family records
Juvenile delinquency
Massachusetts Training Schools
Maternal and infant welfare
Newsletter to Catholics
Politics, Practical
Sargent Bulletin
Sheppard
Women
Women
Occupation
Teacher
Women activists
Activity

Person

Birth 1888-09-03

Death 1981-07-30

Female

Americans

English

Information

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