Julia
Lathrop, the daughter of William Lathrop,
was born in Rockford, Illinois on 29th June, 1858. Julia's father
had helped establish the Republican Party
and served in the state legislature (1856-57) and Congress (1877-79).
Lathrop attended Rockford Seminary where she met Jane
Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. After
graduating from Vassar College in 1880 she worked in her father's
law office.
In 1890 Lathrop moved to Chicago where she joined Jane
Addams, Ellen Gates Starr, Alzina
Stevens, Edith Abbott, Grace
Abbott, Florence Kelley, Mary
McDowell, Alice Hamilton, Sophonisba
Breckinridge and other social reformers at Hull
House.
In 1893 Lathrop was appointed as the first ever woman member of the
Illinois State Board of Charities. Over the next few years she helped
introduce reforms such as the appointment of female doctors in state
hospitals and the removal of the insane from the state workhouses.
The women at Hull House were active
in the campaign to persuade Congress to pass legislation to protect
children. In 1912 President William Taft
appointed Lathrop as the first head of the newly created Children's
Bureau. Over the next nine years Lathrop directed research into
child labour, infant mortality, mother
mortality, juvenile delinquency, mothers' pensions and illegitimacy.
In 1925 Lathrop was appointed to the Child Welfare Committee established
by the League of Nations. Julia Lathrop
died in Rockford on 15th April, 1932.
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