Simkhovitch, Mary Kingsbury

Simkhovitch, Mary Kingsbury (sĭmkō`vĭch), 1867–1951, American social worker, b. Chestnut Hill, Mass., grad. Boston Univ., 1890. After further study at Radcliffe, Columbia, and the Univ. of Berlin, she became active in settlement work and the study of social economy. In 1902 she and several others founded Greenwich House, in the Greenwich Village district of New York City. Greenwich House became famous for its activities in social service, music, and handicrafts (see settlement house). She was its director from 1902 until 1946, when she retired to become director emeritus. Her writings include Neighborhood (1938), Group Life (1940), Quicksand (with Elizabeth Ogg, 1942), and her autobiography, Here Is God's Plenty (1949).