Milicent Shinn
Milicent Washburn Shinn was a writer, editor, and early developmental psychologist. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She entered the State University in September 1874 and finished her undergraduate degree in 1880. She was one of three student speakers at the commencement. After graduation, she worked as the Overland Monthly from 1882 to 1894. Shinn was also the first in the U.S. to comprehensively detail the process of a child’s intellectual and physical maturation. Her mobilization of a network of educated women to observe children made it possible to compare children and establish average estimates of development over time. Although she advocated for more research to be conducted before her findings could be applied in educational programs, Shinn’s research furthered the field of psychology's overall understanding of development and paved the way for pedagogical advances. She received her Ph.D. in Education in 1898 at the age of 40.
Early life
Milicent Washburn Shinn was born on her parents' ranch at the mouth of Alameda Creek on April 15, 1858. She was the daughter of James Shinn and Lucy Ellen Clark. The ranch was between Centerville and Vallejo Mills. Some time after the Transcontinental Railroad came through Alameda Cañon and established Niles station, the area became the town of Niles, California. Her father was a nurseryman and fruit rancher. He was involved in state horticultural, nurseryman, and agricultural organizations. Shinn was one of seven children, however, three of her siblings died at a young age and her sister Annie died as a young adult in 1878. Shinn's parents sent children Annie, Milicent, Joseph, and Charles Howard Shinn to the University of California, Berkeley. UC Berkeley started admitting women in 1873. Milicent Shinn began in 1874.Before Shinn began her studies at UC Berkeley, she was enrolled in Oakland High School. There, she met Edward Rowland Sill, a respected poet and acting principal at the time, who inspired her and advised her to pursue a college education. Although they encouraged her to attend UC Berkeley, Shinn’s family was not wealthy. Accordingly, Shinn wrote for newspapers to earn money for tuition and, in 1877, took two years away from school to generate income as a public-school teacher. Upon graduation, Shinn gained employment as the editor of the San Francisco Commercial Herald; however, at Sill’s behest, she soon became the editor of the Overland Monthly, a failing literary magazine. Shinn agreed to embark on this risky editorial venture in part because of Sill’s recommendation and because she believed that she could use the Overland Monthly to persuade young male writers to take an interest in California and establish improved moral and intellectual standards within the state.
Milicent Shinn's older brother, Charles Howard Shinn, was a writer, teacher, inspector of the UC experiment stations, horticulturalist, and forest ranger. Shinn's cousin Edmund Clark Sanford was a prominent psychologist. Joseph Clark Shinn, the youngest brother, lived on the Shinn Ranch for his whole life and took over for his father, James. Milicent Shinn studied Charles' daughter Ruth, starting in 1890, the main focus of Shinn's early research. Shinn also studied her brother's other three children from 1906 on.
Additionally, Shinn was known to frequently correspond with her extended family.
Career
Shinn was active as a writer, editor, scientist and research worker. Following her undergraduate studies, Shinn began her work as the editor for the Overland Monthly.Shinn believed in the power of the press and thought that contributing to the literature of California would help aid in reducing the social woes that had arisen following the end of the American Civil War.
Shinn is well known in the Psychology community for her University of California Press papers "Notes on the Development of a Child I, II, III & IV. Additionally, Shinn's personal observational work prior to her doctorate program, "The First Two Years of the Child" was considered the first of its kind in the United States. Her research focused specifically on observations of the emotional and physical health of her niece and her progression over the first two years of her life. This was the first extensive documentation of a child's upbringing and was thought to be incredibly valuable to the field of child psychology. As a result, Shinn was invited to present her findings at the World’s Columbian Exposition, a fair in which a series of conferences were delivered to explain many of the academic advances of the time. Shinn’s observations of Ruth’s development were revolutionary, as few academics had offered notes as comprehensive and insightful as hers at the time. The value of her work was recognized by many, and she was consequently invited to attend various graduate institutions so that she could continue her studies on child development. Fiercely loyal to California, her family, and those who supported her throughout her endeavors, Shinn elected to again attend UC Berkeley so that her home state would benefit from any notoriety her studies garnered. Prepared to fully pursue a doctoral degree, Shinn resigned from the Overland Monthly in 1894 and became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.
Shinn’s presentation on Ruth’s development was not, however, the sole impetus for her graduate studies. While working as an editor, Shinn was intimately involved with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae and, in fact, spearheaded the California branch’s inaugural meeting in 1885. Her work in the ACA primarily consisted of advocacy for female UC Berkeley students and the promotion of child study among college women. Around 1891, Shinn founded the California Child Study Section within the ACA with the goal of establishing a network of women who would observe the growth and development of children and compare their findings to existing research. Her work with the ACA led her to collaborate with Professor Bernard Moses, with whom she constructed and organized graduate courses on pedagogy in the context of child development. These courses later became known as Berkeley’s Graduate Seminary in Pedagogy, and in 1893, Shinn managed to obtain admission into the program for the ACA California Child Study Section, which permitted members the opportunity to earn graduate degrees for their research. Thus, when Shinn pursued her own graduate studies in 1894, it was with the intention of furthering her research on child development, motivated by her interest in the field and its broader applications, her involvement in the ACA, and her work with Ruth.
Shinn was also a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the American Academy of Science, the Phi Beta Kappa, the American Eugenics Society, the Alumni Association of the University of California, the Prytanean Society, the Save the Redwoods League, the League of Nations Association. She was on the advisory council of the Women's Congress Association of the Pacific Coast in 1895. She spoke about "Early Home Environment" at the conference: "To live in the country, to see birds flying and flowers growing and trees waving in the wind and great skies spreading above, to dig in the ground, to know some thing of the way God works his wonders in plant life; this seems to me the only real living for a little child." She is listed in American men of science: a biographical directory. The New York Times reviewed her publications in 1908: "Miss Milicent Washburn Shinn has compiled in two volumes a series of Notes of the Development of a Child, the second volume of which, The Development of the Senses in the First Three Years of Childhood, has recently been published by the press of the University of California."
The ''Overland Monthly''
The Overland Monthly, the newspaper which Shinn helped resurrect at the age of 24, was based in California and produced its first series of works in the year 1868. The newspaper, which maintained the same ownership throughout its existence, changed titles over the years 1868 to1935.Milicent was, for a time in 1882 assistant to Warren Cheney, editor of The Californian. The September issue noted that the later issues would be titled "The Californian & the Overland" The November 1882 issue was titled the Californian and Overland Monthly. The December issue had announcements for 1883
A dinner on December 22, 1882, relaunched the Overland Monthly under Shinn's editorship. It was held at Irving M. Scott's house in San Francisco. Guests included Milicent Shinn, Prof. Kellog, W. W. Crane, Drs. Joseph and John LeConte, John H. Carmany, Charles S. Greene, Ina Coolbrith, Prof. E. R. Sill, Prof. Bernard Moses, and others. The supplement to the first volume of the second series describes the dinner and includes speeches and letters. The first issue of the second series has an overview of the years under Bret Harte, "Overland Reminiscences" of the year before the revival of the journal.
In the June 1883 issue, her essay "Thirty Miles" depicted what she saw on her journey from Niles to the San Francisco office by train and ferry.
In an 1891 article titled the "Warmed Overland Monthly" Ambrose Bierce, known for his biting journalism, wrote about the rumors that the Overland Monthly would be soon passed into new hands. He wrote "Miss Shinn herself writes well, if conventionally, but as an editor she has been handicapped by patrons who besides furnishing money have insisted on seeing themselves in print."
In the April 1894, Milicent resigned from the editorship and introduced her replacement Rounsevelle Wildman. In an article in the Overland Monthly, July 1898, Shinn reflected on her years as editor, 1883–1894. She talked about how the world's attention at the time was fixated on the Gold Rush that took place in California. Shinn corresponded with many famous people, like John Muir, while editor.