Louise Merwin Young

Louise Merwin Young
Louise Merwin, from the 1926 yearbook of Ohio State University
Born
Louise Merwin

(1903-09-05)September 5, 1903
East Palestine, Ohio, U.S.
DiedAugust 9, 1992(1992-08-09) (aged 88)
Redlands, California, U.S.
OccupationsEducator, writer, lecturer
Known forWork with national and international women's organizations
Children3, including M. Crawford Young
RelativesLouise Young (granddaughter)
Rebecca Young (daughter-in-law)

Louise Merwin Young (September 5, 1903 – August 9, 1992) was an American writer and lecturer, active in international women's rights work and in the League of Women Voters (LWV). She wrote three books and taught at American University.

Early life and education

Merwin was born in East Palestine, Ohio, the daughter of Charles Lewis Merwin and Estella Dora Meek Merwin. Her father was a banker, a school superintendent, and a newspaper publisher.[1][2] She had five brothers, including Richard E. Merwin, a prominent computer engineer.[3][4]

She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1925, and earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Pennsylvania in 1929 and 1938, respectively, culminating her studies with a dissertation on Thomas Carlyle.[5]

Career

Young was vice president of the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters,[6] and attended the 1944 national convention of the LWV.[7] She began working for the national LWV after moving to Washington, D.C., organizing the league's files for preservation by the Library of Congress.[6][8] She was also an officer of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), the Foreign Policy Association, and the National PTA.[5][9]

From 1946 to 1948, Young was executive vice-chair of the National Committee on the Status of Women, and represented the International Alliance of Women at United Nations conferences in the 1940s. In 1947, she edited a special journal issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, on women's citizenship.[10] She taught English at American University,[7] and lectured nationally.[11][12][13] She was a delegate to the International Political Science Association Congress held at the Hague in 1952.[9]

Publications

  • Thomas Carlyle and the Art of History (1939)[14]
  • Understanding Politics: A Practical Guide for Women (1950)[15][6]
  • In the Public Interest: The League of Women Voters, 1920–1970 (1989)[16]

Personal life

Merwin married economist Ralph Aubrey Young in 1925.[17] He was director of the Division of Research at the Federal Reserve Board.[18] They had three children;[5] one was political scientist M. Crawford Young. One of her granddaughters is historian Louise Young.[19] Another granddaughter, Emily Young, is an executive at the Prebys Foundation, and married to environmentalist and politician Serge Dedina.[20]

Young died in 1992, at the age of 88, in Redlands, California. Her papers are in the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Charles Merwin Dies; E. Palestine Publisher". The Salem News. 1964-03-12. pp. 1, 10. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "C. L. Merwin, Palestine Newspaper Founder, Dies". The Evening Review. 1964-03-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "About Richard E. Merwin". IEEE Computer Society. 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  4. ^ "Richard E. Merwin, computer pioneer". Poughkeepsie Journal. 1981-09-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c "League of Women Voters Guest Day Tea Oct. 5". The Times. 1950-10-01. p. 23. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c Summers, Mrs Annie V. (1950-07-30). "Gide to Aid Woman Voter Now Available". Kingsport Times-News. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c Papers of Louise Merwin Young, 1910-1992, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University.
  8. ^ "My Dear!". The Oregon Daily Journal. 1951-04-13. p. 19. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Women's Role in American to be Discussed at YWCA". The Times. 1957-02-21. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Young, Louise Merwin, ed. Women's opportunities and responsibilities. Vol. 251. American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1947.
  11. ^ "Howard to Host Women Nov. 4-6". The Chicago Defender. 1955-11-05. p. 16. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Women Needed in Public Offices, Says Speaker". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 1952-01-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Women Voters to Hear Talk by Mrs. Young". The Ann Arbor News. 1950-10-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Scudder, Townsend (June 1940). "Thomas Carlyle and the Art of History . Louise Merwin Young". The Journal of Modern History. 12 (2): 271–272. doi:10.1086/236485. ISSN 0022-2801.
  15. ^ Young, Louise Merwin (1950). Understanding Politics: A Practical Guide for Women. Pellegrini & Cudahy.
  16. ^ Young, Louise M.; Young, Ralph A.; Lee, Percy Maxim (1989). In the public interest: the League of Women Voters; 1920 - 1970. Contributions in American studies (1. publ ed.). New York: Greenwood Pr. ISBN 978-0-313-25302-7.
  17. ^ "Dr. Young to Son's Wedding; Ralph A. Young to Wed Miss Louise Merwin, East Palestine, O." The Kansas City Times. 1925-09-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-04-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "An Evaluator of Credit; Ralph Aubrey Young Not a Protagonist Father Was a Minister". The New York Times. March 20, 1957. p. 24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-20.
  19. ^ "Longtime political scientist, scholar on African politics M. Crawford Young dies at 88". News. 2020-01-23. Retrieved 2026-04-20.
  20. ^ "Emily Young, Ph.D." Prebys Foundation. Retrieved 2026-04-20.
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