A

LYND, Helen Merrell

Born 17 March 1896, La Grange, Illinois; died January 1982

Daughter of Edward T. and Mabel Waite Merrell; married Robert S. Lynd, 1921; children: two

Raised as a Congregationalist, Helen Merrell Lynd shifted her religious orientation while at Wellesley College (B.A., 1919) to an explanation of the world based on Hegelian dialectics. She earned an M.A. (1922) and a Ph.D. (1944) in history from Columbia University; her teaching career centered around Sarah Lawrence College, where she taught from 1929 to 1964. Lynd has shared with her husband a rich, full life as wife, mother of their two children, and professional colleague.

Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture (1929) and the companion volume, Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts (1935), written by Lynd and her husband, are well-documented studies outstanding in their comprehensiveness, accuracy, and interpretation of community life in the United States. In 1924 and 1925, the Lynds and their research staff lived in the Middletown community and collected information from a variety of sources, as anthropologists study primitive tribes. The study is organized by an analysis of the major activities for community survival: getting a living, making a home, training the young, and engaging in religious practices and community activities. Although ending their first study on a cautious note, recognizing the problems resulting from rapid social change, the prosperity and optimism of the community is evident.

The Lynds returned to Middletown during the Depression. Earning a living, staying healthy, and in general surviving the effects of financial collapse made life in 1935 starkly different from what it was in 1925. The ability of the city to recover and retain optimism is still striking, though. Class privileges and strain are more apparent in the later study, yet a sense of worker solidarity is lacking. Radical social change did not occur as a result of radical changes in economics. Rather, the community adhered to "the American way," hoping for a better future. These remarkable community studies provide a systematic view of an American city in times of stability and change. They also set a high standard of sociological expertise making them landmark studies of community development.

In Field Work in College Education (1945), Lynd studies student-teacher interaction and the application of social science principles in everyday life. England in the Eighteen-Eighties: Toward a Social Basis for Freedom (1945) is a sweeping and powerful study, beautifully written, of the interaction between ideas, material changes, and social movements during a period of social ferment. In On Shame and the Search for Identity (1958), Lynd analyzed more contemporary problems arising from the relationship between the individual and society. The 1965 collection, Toward Discovery, serves as a brief overview of Lynd's writings.

Lynd's interests and skills cover a wide range of topics and disciplines. Always dedicated to the holistic approach to human behavior, her work reflects her standards of excellence and consistent probing for new insights into the human experience.