Josephine Hemenway Kenyon Collection

Biography

Josephine Hemenway was born in Auburn, New York. She received an A. B. from Pritchett College in 1898. She pursued a year of graduate study at Bryn Mawr College before her acceptance to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from which she received a M.D. in 1904. After serving as a resident house officer for one year at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Hemenway trained at the Babies’ Hospital in New York City from 1905-1911. She married James Henry Kenyon, a neurosurgeon in 1911. Hemenway pursued a career in pediatrics and public health education. She contributed articles and advice on child care to the Good Housekeeping magazine for 30 years. In 1934, she wrote Healthy Babies are Happy Babies: A complete Handbook for Modern Mothers, which was published in 5 editions and 19 reprints. She continued her medical practice in New York City until 1950.

Scope and Content

The Josephine Hemenway Kenyon Collection consists of a single manuscript entitled, “Josephine Hemenway and James Henry Kenyon: The Doctors J.H.K. Early Writings”, a biography compiled from diaries and letters that were edited by granddaughter Elizabeth Herrick White. There are about 22 pages devoted to Hemenway’s student years at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The biography is particular strong in Hemenway’s description of daily life as a female medical student from 1900 to 1904 and her description of the Baltimore Great Fire of 1904.

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