author
Otterbein Oscar Smith
b. 1858
A pastor and lecturer from the Midwest, he turned an early-1900s public talk into a candid book about childhood, parenthood, and sexual education. His surviving work offers a revealing glimpse of how reform-minded writers tried to guide families through subjects many people still avoided in public.
1 Audiobook
Child Life and Sex Hygiene: A Remarkable Message
by Otterbein Oscar Smith
About the author
Born in 1858, Otterbein Oscar Smith was an American clergyman who was active as a pastor and lecturer. The surviving record tied to his best-known book presents him as “Otterbein O. Smith, D.D.” and describes him as a lecturer and active pastor.
Smith is best known for Child Life and Sex Hygiene: A Remarkable Message, published in 1912. The book grew out of an address given to a section of the Women’s Club of Pierre, South Dakota, and it reflects an effort to discuss childhood development and sex education in direct, practical language for parents and community readers.
Although not much biographical detail was easy to confirm from reliable public sources during this search, his work stands out as an example of early 20th-century social and moral instruction writing. He died in 1934.