Rathbone, Josephine (M.S. 529)

Finding Aid | Digital Images and Documents

Josephine Langworthy Rathbone (1899-1989) was born in New York City on June 25, 1899 to Henry Bailey Rathbone and Floy Pearl Langworthy. Rathbone attended primary and secondary school in New Jersey before attending Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and receiving a BA in 1921. After a three-year stint as the Director of Health and Physical Education at the State Normal School in New Britain, Connecticut she accepted a position at her alma mater which lasted five years. Rathbone later accepted a position at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York where she held the position of Assistant Professor of Physical Education, and would gain a doctorate in psychology in 1936. Rathbone was very active in many professional organizations, including being a founding member of the American College of Sports Medicine and serving on its executive committee. Her pioneering efforts in corrective physical education, physical therapy, and relaxation have left an indelible imprint upon the profession to this day. She died on 3 July 1989.

This collection contains a memorial service program, portrait photographs, a newspaper clipping of her obituary, an article titled "Attitudes toward menstruation and dysmenorrheal an historical appraisal and a warning," a pamphlet titled "Oxford life guides – tobacco, alcohol, and narcotics," a floral vase and a stylized metal version of a Kashmiri kangri, or coal fueled warmer, from India, draft edits for her memoir “My Twentieth Century,” a final single sided copy, and a final double sided copy, and twenty-one Memorex Video recordings of class lectures on Relaxation given in the early 1970s at Springfield College.