Dorothy WalterBaruch
Psychologist Dorothy Walter Baruch championed a psychodynamic approach to child development that focused on the relationship between physical, emotional, and intellectual development and on rechanneling children’s feelings through play and art therapy. Baruch was the founding director of the Gramercy Cooperative Nursery School from 1924–1927, did experimental work on language at the Normandie Nursery School in 1929, and was a professor and director of the laboratory school of education at Whittier College from 1930–1940. She also organized and directed a parent education program for the National Council of Jewish Women. During WWII, she headed the National Commission on Mobilization of Volunteers for Young Children. In 1946, she opened a private practice, but continued to lecture widely on education and child psychology. Throughout her career, she wrote stories for children’s magazines, novels, and articles for academic journals. She also wrote eleven nonfiction books—mainly for parents—on play therapy, discipline, and sex education.
More on Dorothy Walter Baruch
San Francisco, CA
United States
How to cite this page
Jewish Women's Archive. "Dorothy Walter Baruch." (Viewed on January 23, 2021) <https://jwa.org/people/baruch-dorothy>.
Thank you for sharing about this amazing woman who was way ahead of her time. What she taught is actually still controversial today and she was so insightful about children and parents.