Joanna Carver Colcord

Joanna Carver Colcord (March 18, 1882 – April 8, 1960) was pioneering social worker, and author.[2] Born at sea, she was also notable for publishing texts on the language, work songs, and sea shanties of American seamen during the early 20th century.[3][4]

Joanna Carver Colcord
Born(1882-03-18)March 18, 1882
Southwest Pacific Ocean
DiedApril 8, 1960(1960-04-08) (aged 78)
Burial placeElmwood Cemetery, Searsport, Maine[1]
NationalityAmerican
Education
OccupationSocial worker
Spouse(s)Frank J. Bruno (married 1950)[2]
Parents
  • Lincoln Alden Colcord (father)
  • Jane Colcord (mother)

Early life

Both of Colcord's parents, Jane French (Sweetser) and Captain Lincoln Alden Colcord, came from Maine families with generations-long traditions of life on and around the sea.[2][3] Lincoln Colcord delivered his daughter Joanna on board his sailing ship, the Charlotte A. Littlefield, in the southwest Pacific near New Caledonia.[2][4] The ship left Newcastle, New South Wales and was sailing to Yokohama, Japan.[5]

Aside from time spent on shore at Penobscot Bay or in Searsport, Maine,[2] Joanna and her younger brother, Lincoln Ross Colcord, spent most of their childhood at sea.[3]

Education and early career

Jane Colcord tutored her children at sea,[2] and Joanna's high school education was by correspondence course.[3] She also became adept at geography and mathematics through first-hand experience aboard the ship. She would recall later that in addition to these subjects, she also learned concepts such as racial equality, self-control, orderliness, and a sense of duty.[6]

Beginning in 1902,[3] Joanna studied at the University of Maine, receiving her B.S. in chemistry in 1906 and M.S. in biological chemistry in 1909.[2]

Colcord was unsatisfied with the positions available to her in applied chemistry,[3] and a former teacher suggested she consider social service.[2] In 1910–1911, she studied social work at the New York School of Philanthropy,[2] later known as the New York School of Social Work.[7]

Career in social work

New York Charity Organization Society, American Red Cross, Minnesota Family Welfare Association, Russel Sage Foundation

Late life

Health problems, including circulatory problems and diabetes, forced Colcord to retire in 1944. In November 1950, she married longtime friend and colleague Frank J. Bruno, a professor of applied sociology at Washington University in St. Louis who had become a widower several months before. After Bruno's death in 1955, Colcord moved to Lebanon, Indiana to live with her stepson. She died there in 1960 from a stroke.[2]

Works

Colcord had a successful career as an author both on the subject of the culture of seafaring and social work. In 1924, she published a compilation of American sea songs, Roll and Go: Songs of American Sailormen (later reissued as Songs of American Sailormen).[8] This publication was followed by Sea Language Comes Ashore and The American Neptune.[8]

Social work

  • Colcord, Joanna C. (1919). Broken Homes: A Study of Family Desertion and its Social Treatment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 1347284 via Internet Archive.
  • ; Mann, Ruth Z.S., eds. (1930). The Long View: Papers and Addresses by Mary E. Richmond. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 954737057 via Internet Archive.
  • (1930). Community Planning in Unemployment Emergencies. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 981447781.
  • (1931). Setting Up a Program of Work Relief. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 2868553.
  • ; Johnston, Mary (1933). Community Programs for Subsistence Gardens. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 1720398.
  • (1936). Cash Relief. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 502857.
  • (1939). Your Community: Its Provisions for Health, Education, Safety, and Welfare. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. OCLC 718442590.

Life at sea

  • Colcord, Joanna C. (1924). Roll and Go: Songs of American Sailormen. Introduction by Lincoln Colcord. London: Heath Cranton Ltd. OCLC 21050785.
  • (1938) [1924]. Songs of American Sailormen. Introduction by Lincoln Colcord (enlarged and revised ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. OCLC 946498851.
  • (July 1942). "Domestic Life on American Sailing Ships". American Neptune. 2 (3): 193–202.
  • (1945). Sea Language Comes Ashore. New York: Cornell Maritime Press. OCLC 1034773.

References

  1. "Joanna Carver Colcord Bruno (18 Mar 1882–8 Apr 1960)". Find A Grave. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  2. Chambers, Clarke A. (1980). "Colcord, Joanna Carver". In Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd; Kantrov, Ilene; Walker, Harriette (eds.). Notable American Women: The Modern Period. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 155–157. ISBN 0-674-62733-4. OCLC 834112895 via Google Books.
  3. Gordon, Linda (2011). "Joanna Carver Colcord (March 18, 1882 – April 8, 1960) — Social work administrator and professional leader". Social Welfare History Project. Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  4. Malloy, Mary (2000). "Colcord, Joanna Carver". Searchable Sea Literature. Williams-Mystic: The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College & Mystic Seaport. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  5. Snow, Edward Rowe (2004). Women of the Sea. Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-933212-86-9.
  6. Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (1980). Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 155. ISBN 0-674-62732-6.
  7. "In Memoriam: Joanna Carver Colcord 1883-1960". Social Service Review. 34 (2): 233. June 1960. doi:10.1086/640855.
  8. Gidmark, Jill B.; Edwards, Mary K. Bercaw (2001). Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 84. ISBN 0-313-30148-4.

Further reading

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