Ida Craven Merriam

Ida Craven Merriam (1904–1997)[1] was an American economist and statistician who became "one of the seminal figures in the early administration of the Social Security program"[2] and helped found the nonprofit National Academy of Social Insurance.[3][4]

Ida Craven graduated Phi Beta Kappa in English and history from Wellesley College in 1925,[2][5][4] where she was president of the Wellesley Forum.[6] She studied economics at the University of Chicago, and then earned a Ph.D. in 1928 from the Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government in Washington, DC.[2][5][4] While working towards her doctorate at Brookings, she also taught a summer economics class at the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry.[7] After completing her studies, she worked for the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and as an assistant professor at the Connecticut College for Women, and married Mylon Merriam in 1933.[5]

She left her position at Connecticut College in 1936 to work in the research and statistics bureau of the Social Security Administration,[2][8] soon after the creation of the SSA in 1935,[4] She became the head of that unit[2] and Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Research and Statistics in 1955.[5] As Assistant Commissioner, she published special reports on topics including housing, benefit levels, health insurance, disability, widows, work-life balance, prospects for future retirees, and related social welfare systems in Europe. Her unit also set the first poverty thresholds for the US.[3] She retired in 1972.[2]

In 1965 she was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association "for outstanding sustained accomplishments and contributions through statistical research to social insurance and social welfare."[9] The United States Civil Service Commission gave Merriam a Federal Woman's Award in 1966, and she also won the Distinguished Service Award of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.[5][4]

She died on April 8, 1997 in Cheverly, Maryland, near her home in Mitchellville, Maryland.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Birth date from Estes (2013); the listing in Social Security Pioneers gives her birthdate as 1905.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ida Craven Merriam", Social Security Pioneers, Social Security Administration, retrieved 2016-07-21.
  3. 1 2 "Ida C. Merriam", Social Insurance Update, National Academy of Social Insurance, 1 (2): 9–10, March 1996.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Estes, R. J. (April 2013), "Ida Craven Merriam (1904–1997): A leading figure in Social Security and quality of life research", Applied Research in Quality of Life, 8 (2): 275–276, doi:10.1007/s11482-013-9227-9.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ida Merriam Dies at 92", Washington Post, April 9, 1997.
  6. ↑ "Wellesley Politicians Ask Harvard Men To Speak", The Harvard Crimson, September 29, 1924.
  7. ↑ "College Notes", Wellesley College News, p. 5, September 29, 1927.
  8. ↑ "Mrs. Ida Merriam Takes Federal Post In Washington, D.C.", Connecticut College News, 21 (25), p. 4, May 30, 1936.
  9. ↑ "New ASA Fellows—1965", The American Statistician, 19 (4): 37–38, 1965, doi:10.1080/00031305.1965.10479746.
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