Los
Angeles County
Biographies
MAUD WILDE, M. D.
It is not surprising that the first Mother’s Educational
Center in America should have been organized and sponsored by Dr. Wilde, for
she has all of the elements of the pioneer in her inheritance and her training.
Born in Gilmore, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Sylvester
Irving Shaw and Roza (Neely) Shaw, she found herself
at the age of six months moving westward.
Her father, an oil man, having heard of indications of oil in the states
of Colorado and California brought his family to Durango, Colorado, on the
maiden trip of the first railroad train and there, with the other first comers,
they settled to subdue a country to the needs of man. Not finding oil, Mr. Shaw turned to ranching
and cattle raising.
It was in such open spaces that her early childhood was spent. After finishing the public schools she
entered the University of Denver taking up the study of medicine and oral
surgery. Shortly after graduation she
moved to Mercur, Utah, then the largest mining camp
in the world. There she married Thomas
Bancroft Wilde, a mining engineer and mayor of Mercur.
The following year the family moved to Philadelphia for a
period of five years where Dr. Wilde continued her studies, taking up
psychology, obstetrics and children’s diseases, it being her desire to fit
herself for better motherhood. She is
the mother of two children, Dorothy Josephine Wilde, a lyric coloratura
soprano, European trained, and Thomas Bancroft Wilde, Jr., a graduate of the
University of Southern California in engineering.
While visiting the University of Pennsylvania Dispensary
one Monday morning the thought came to Dr. Wilde that most of the children
there that morning would not be ill, had their mothers not been so ignorant of
their care, and at that moment was born the idea of the Mothers’ Educational
Center, which has been brought to such splendid fruition in Los Angeles. In 1911 Dr. Wilde was president of the Echo
Park Mothers’ Club; in 1913 she was appointed chairman of Public Health for the
Los Angeles District Federation of Women’s Clubs. She initiated the Conference plan of
Education now used in the Federation. In
1915 she was selected to conduct a birth registration survey under the auspices
of the Federal Children’s Bureau for the five southern California
Counties. Then in May, 1916, the
Nation-Wide Baby Week was inaugurated by the Federal Bureau to take stock of
the nation’s children, and placed her again in leadership.
Under the slogan of “Save the Babies—Save the Nation,”
all agencies, county, municipal and private were coordinated with the results
that Los Angeles was accredited with the finest celebration in the United
States.
Following this celebration Dr. Wilde presented her plans
to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for the establishment of a center where
women could receive education in homemaking and child rearing. She found a ready listener in Mr. Frank
Wiggins, the veteran secretary, the result of which was that the Chamber not
only sponsored the opening of the center, but gave it space for operation. This same splendid spirit of cooperation
still exists with Mr. A. G. Arnoll, the present
secretary.
The Mothers’ Educational Center functions through
thirteen divisions of service, covering health certificates for young people
contemplating matrimony; instruction in marital relationship and prenatal care;
the proper feeding of children; normal growth and development; character
building and child guidance; publishes bulletins and conducts classes in
parental education and furnished lectures for other organizations and
radio. This organization has been and is
a tremendous force in the field of social service all over Southern California.
Its purpose is:
To raise to the highest pinnacle
the profession of Motherhood;
To insure children their right to the
fullest potential development mentally, morally and physically, through
educating the mother.
This method is:
1. Placing in easy access to all mothers,
education in child saving.
2. Physical
and mental examination of the child.
3. Definite
instructions in individual cases.
4. Small
group conferences.
5. Well
planned lecture scope.
The result is:
1. Intelligent, responsible parents.
2. Healthy,
vigorous children.
Dr. Wilde is the author of two books, “The Business of
Being a Mother” and “The Story of Life.”
She is at present serving as chairman of Child Welfare for the Los
Angeles District California Federation of Women’s Clubs and is President
Emeritus of the Mother’s Paidology Club. For nine years she served on the board of
directors of the Los Angeles Tuberculosis Association and for three years was
Child Hygiene Chairman for the First District, Parent Teacher Federation. These are only a few of the affiliations and
activities of Dr. Maud Wilde.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 133-135, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES