author
Florence Powdermaker
1894–1966
A physician and psychiatrist who wrote for parents in a warm, practical voice, she focused much of her career on helping children feel secure in family and social life. Her best-known work, Children in the Family, brought psychological ideas to everyday readers.
1 Audiobook
Food Guide for War Service at Home Prepared under the direction of the United States Food Administration in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education, with a preface by Herbert Hoover
by United States Food Administration, Katharine Blunt, Florence Powdermaker, Frances Lucy Swain
About the author
Born in the 1890s and active through the mid-20th century, Florence Powdermaker was an American physician and psychiatrist. Available records describe her as a doctor whose work centered on child development, emotional security, and the place of children within family life.
She is especially associated with Children in the Family: A Psychological Guide for Parents, written with Louise Ireland Grimes and published in 1940. The book was aimed at general readers rather than specialists, reflecting her interest in making psychiatric and psychological thinking useful to parents.
Local historical sources also remember her alongside her sister, the anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker, as one of the notable Powdermaker sisters. Although surviving biographical detail is limited in the sources I could confirm, the picture that emerges is of a doctor committed to child guidance and to explaining mental health in clear, practical terms.