contributed by reference archivist and mother – Lizette R. Barton
One of my favorite things about working with archival collections is that I get a glimpse into the personal lives of the psychologists whose papers we house. Everyday I see reminders of real life – personal notes and letters, journals, family photos and home videos.
Catharine Cox Miles (1890-1984) was a “supermom” well before that term even existed.
A student of Lewis Terman at Stanford, Catharine Cox earned her PhD in 1925 and her dissertation, focused on the assignment of IQ estimates of several hundred prominent figures who lived prior to IQ testing, was published in 1926 as the second volume in Terman’s Genetic Studies of Genius series. While working as Terman’s research assistant in 1927 she met Walter R. Miles (a widower). They were married that same year and Catharine Cox Miles became the stepmother of three teenagers.
Walter R. and Catharine Cox Miles papers, V57
In 1928 Catharine and Walter welcomed a daughter and a portrait of Catharine as a mother is preserved through a folder of personal letters between Walter and Catharine during their daughter Anna’s first year. Three cheers for (relatively) complete archival manuscript collections!
Tomorrow is her birthday, 7 months. Thank thee, dear husband, for making me so happy and giving me this precious little person. [WR & CC Miles papers, M1129.25, folder 1]
Walter R. and Catharine Cox Miles papers, M1123, folder 10
The Miles’s went back to Stanford but eventually returned to Yale in 1932 as Walter took a position at the Institute and Catharine accepted a professorship.
Walter R. and Catharine Cox Miles papers, M1104, folder 1
While at Yale, Catharine continued work on a Masculinity-Femininity scale she had started with Lewis Terman at Stanford and in 1936 they published “Sex and Personality.”
Walter R. and Catharine Cox Miles papers, M1104, folder 1
1936 was a good year! Walter R. and Catharine Cox Miles papers, V55, folder 15
Catharine and Walter both retired from Yale in 1953. They traveled to Istanbul where Walter taught for several years and later returned to the United States to settle in Connecticut. Catharine Cox Miles died on October 11, 1984.
Catharine Cox Miles was a clinical psychologist, a professor, and a researcher. She is known for her work in intelligence and aging and the assessment of femininity-masculinity. She traveled the world.
And she managed all that while being a mom to four children. Happy Mother’s Day Catharine Cox Miles. I salute you.
Walter and Catharine Cox Miles papers, V57
