Dates

• Existence: 1905 - 2004

Biography

Educator, therapist, speaker, author, Wanda Misbach Edgerton was born in Williamsburg, Iowa, 1905 to Jesse Davis and Emelia Sophie Misbach. Edgerton graduated from Coe College in 1929, and received her professional training at the Boston School of Occupational Therapy. After graduating in 1938 she worked as an occupational therapist in Massachussetts and in Caracas, Venezuela. Edgerton's position in Venezuela was part of a United States teaching and demonstration team of psychiatric nurses employed by the Venezuelan government to assist in reforming and modernizing the Caracas Hospital Municipal Psychiatrico. During her two year stay in Venezuela, Edgerton organized and directed an industrial therapy program.

In 1942 Edgerton returned to the United States where she applied for a newly created job as the chairman of the Occupational Therapy Department at Ohio State University. Once hired Edgerton organized a student training curriculum, which consisted of establishing a curriculum, policy and admission standards, as well as recruiting future students. In addition to her administrative and teaching obligations, Edgerton gave speeches and published articles on the status of the evolving field of occupational therapy.

During the formative stage of the Occupational Therapy Department, Edgerton sought assistance from the Psychology Department's vocational counselor, Harold Asahel Edgerton. After a courtship, the Misbach-Edgerton wedding took place in Columbus, Ohio on the 27 th of July 1945. Harold Edgerton worked at the Ohio State University's Department of Psychology as an associate professor and Director of Occupational Opportunities Services.

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