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Margaret McFarland
Margaret Beall McFarland (July 3, 1905 – September 12, 1988) was an American child psychologist and a consultant to the television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She was the co-founder and director of the Arsenal Family and Children's Center in Pittsburgh, and much of her work focused on the meaning of the interactions between mothers and children. Fred Rogers referred to McFarland as his major professional influence.
A graduate of Goucher College and Columbia University, McFarland taught and conducted research with children in the United States and Australia. After earning a doctorate in childhood development, she taught at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts before returning to Pittsburgh. In 1953, with pediatrician Benjamin Spock and psychologist Erik Erikson, she co-founded the Arsenal Center as a nursery school and counseling center for children and their families. Professionals from various fields came to the center to learn about child development. McFarland remained the center's director until 1971. McFarland and Spock also established a child development department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
McFarland met Fred Rogers in the 1950s when she agreed to supervise his work with a child for a seminary counseling course, and she became a child development consultant to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1965. She met with Rogers on a nearly weekly basis and reviewed the content and wording of his scripts. She often influenced the presentation of material on the show, and McFarland and Rogers continued to meet until her death from myelofibrosis at the age of 83.
McFarland, the youngest of three daughters, was born to Robert and Gertrude (Messer) McFarland on July 3, 1905, in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. She was of Scottish and French-German ancestry. McFarland said she adored her father, but she knew that her sister, the middle child named Mary, was his favorite daughter. Her father died when she was five years old. McFarland remained unmarried and childless throughout her life, and she attributed that to her father's death. "And all of the subsequent phases of what it means to be loved by a male and loving to a male were lost to me. I wanted a kind of fathering," she said.
While her relationship with her father left her unfulfilled, McFarland described her mother as "natively invested in motherhood ... She gave me the sense the baby or the young child has great worth." Although she became interested in child development through babysitting jobs, she said that her mother's loving example significantly shaped her path to working with children as a career. "In the end I really wanted to be like my mother," she said. McFarland attended Goucher College, completing an undergraduate degree in 1927.
After McFarland earned a master's degree at Columbia University in 1928, she spent a few years teaching and conducting personality research at the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh and the Hubbard Woods Nursery School in Winnetka, Illinois. When McFarland taught at Hubbard Woods, she worked with the children enrolled in a study by Rose Haas Alschuler and La Berta Weiss Hattwick that resulted in their publication known as Painting and personality: A study of young children.
McFarland returned to Columbia to complete a Ph.D. in childhood development in 1938. She then went to Melbourne, where she was principal at the Kindergarten Training College. Returning to the United States in 1941, she taught at Mount Holyoke College as associate professor of Psychology and ran its children's school. During this time McFarland realized the importance of two concepts that defined much of her later work – the role of the woman in child development and the utility of creative play in childhood.
In 1951, McFarland returned to Pittsburgh and became an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. She co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center with Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson two years later. The center's goal was to teach physicians and other professionals about childhood development. Erikson spent one day a week at the center. "He spoke to me in a different way than any of the psychoanalytic literature," McFarland said of Erikson. Erikson was similarly complimentary of McFarland, saying that she "knew more than anyone in this world about families with young children." McFarland was the director of the Arsenal Center through 1971.
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Margaret McFarland
Margaret Beall McFarland (July 3, 1905 – September 12, 1988) was an American child psychologist and a consultant to the television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She was the co-founder and director of the Arsenal Family and Children's Center in Pittsburgh, and much of her work focused on the meaning of the interactions between mothers and children. Fred Rogers referred to McFarland as his major professional influence.
A graduate of Goucher College and Columbia University, McFarland taught and conducted research with children in the United States and Australia. After earning a doctorate in childhood development, she taught at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts before returning to Pittsburgh. In 1953, with pediatrician Benjamin Spock and psychologist Erik Erikson, she co-founded the Arsenal Center as a nursery school and counseling center for children and their families. Professionals from various fields came to the center to learn about child development. McFarland remained the center's director until 1971. McFarland and Spock also established a child development department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
McFarland met Fred Rogers in the 1950s when she agreed to supervise his work with a child for a seminary counseling course, and she became a child development consultant to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1965. She met with Rogers on a nearly weekly basis and reviewed the content and wording of his scripts. She often influenced the presentation of material on the show, and McFarland and Rogers continued to meet until her death from myelofibrosis at the age of 83.
McFarland, the youngest of three daughters, was born to Robert and Gertrude (Messer) McFarland on July 3, 1905, in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. She was of Scottish and French-German ancestry. McFarland said she adored her father, but she knew that her sister, the middle child named Mary, was his favorite daughter. Her father died when she was five years old. McFarland remained unmarried and childless throughout her life, and she attributed that to her father's death. "And all of the subsequent phases of what it means to be loved by a male and loving to a male were lost to me. I wanted a kind of fathering," she said.
While her relationship with her father left her unfulfilled, McFarland described her mother as "natively invested in motherhood ... She gave me the sense the baby or the young child has great worth." Although she became interested in child development through babysitting jobs, she said that her mother's loving example significantly shaped her path to working with children as a career. "In the end I really wanted to be like my mother," she said. McFarland attended Goucher College, completing an undergraduate degree in 1927.
After McFarland earned a master's degree at Columbia University in 1928, she spent a few years teaching and conducting personality research at the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh and the Hubbard Woods Nursery School in Winnetka, Illinois. When McFarland taught at Hubbard Woods, she worked with the children enrolled in a study by Rose Haas Alschuler and La Berta Weiss Hattwick that resulted in their publication known as Painting and personality: A study of young children.
McFarland returned to Columbia to complete a Ph.D. in childhood development in 1938. She then went to Melbourne, where she was principal at the Kindergarten Training College. Returning to the United States in 1941, she taught at Mount Holyoke College as associate professor of Psychology and ran its children's school. During this time McFarland realized the importance of two concepts that defined much of her later work – the role of the woman in child development and the utility of creative play in childhood.
In 1951, McFarland returned to Pittsburgh and became an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. She co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center with Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson two years later. The center's goal was to teach physicians and other professionals about childhood development. Erikson spent one day a week at the center. "He spoke to me in a different way than any of the psychoanalytic literature," McFarland said of Erikson. Erikson was similarly complimentary of McFarland, saying that she "knew more than anyone in this world about families with young children." McFarland was the director of the Arsenal Center through 1971.