Muriel Gardiner
Encyclopedia
Muriel Morris Gardiner Buttinger (November 23, 1901 in Chicago
, Illinois – February 6, 1985 in Princeton, New Jersey
) was an American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist
.
(president of the Morris & Company
meat-packing business) and Helen Swift (a member of the family which owned Swift & Company
, another meat-packing firm), she was born into a family of wealth and privilege. During her childhood she became aware of the plight of the poor and disenfranchised and subsequently developed a life-long commitment to social and political reform.
After graduating from Wellesley College in 1922 she traveled to Europe where she lived until the outbreak of World War II
.
She attended the University of Oxford
and then, in 1926, went to Vienna, hoping to study psycho-analysis and be analyzed by Sigmund Freud
.
She received a degree in medicine from the University of Vienna
and married Joseph Buttinger
, leader of the Austrian Revolutionary Socialist movement. In 1934, she became involved in anti-Fascist activities. Using the code name Mary, she smuggled passports and money and offered her home as a safe house for anti-Fascist dissidents, activities which she
described in her memoir Code Name Mary: Memoirs of an American Woman in the Austrian Underground (1983). At the outbreak of World War II
in Autumn 1939, the couple and their daughter moved to the United States
.
Gardiner edited The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man, documents in the case history of a wealthy young Russian who went to Vienna in 1910 to be analyzed by Freud and who became the subject of Freud's History of an Infantile Neurosis. Gardiner met Freud only once, but she knew the Wolf-Man in Vienna, and Code Name Mary carries a foreword by Freud's daughter, Anna Freud
.
and Lillian Hellman
when she claimed that she was the character given the pseudonym Julia in Hellman's memoirs, Pentimento (1973). Hellman, who never met Gardiner, claimed that her Julia was somebody else. Many people believe otherwise, citing the vanishingly low probability that there were two millionaire American women who were medical students in Vienna in the late 1930s.
In the introduction to Code Name Mary , Dr. Gardiner says that, while she never met Hellman, she had often heard about her from her friend Wolf Schwabacher
, who was Hellman's lawyer. Schwabacher had visited Gardiner in Vienna and his family had later shared a house with the Gardiner-Buttingers for more than 10 years -- after Muriel Gardiner and Joseph Buttinger moved into their house at Brookdale Farm in Pennington, NJ, in 1940, the house was divided in two, Wolf and Ethel Schwabacher living in the other part of the house. Brookdale Farm was later donated by Gardiner to the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association. Between 1965 and 1984, Gardiner gave a total of 585 acres (2.4 km²) to the Association, including her own Brookdale Farm and two others she purchased.)
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois – February 6, 1985 in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
) was an American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
.
Early Life and career
The daughter of Edward MorrisEdward Morris
Edward Morris was President of Morris & Company, one of the three main meat-packing companies in Chicago. In 1890, he married Helen Swift a member of one of the other big three meat-packing families. Their daughter Muriel became a renowned psychiatrist.As president of Morris and Company, Edward...
(president of the Morris & Company
Morris & Company
Morris and Company, whose president was Edward Morris, was one of several meatpacking companies in Chicago, Illinois, and in South Omaha, Nebraska....
meat-packing business) and Helen Swift (a member of the family which owned Swift & Company
Swift & Company
Swift & Company is an American food procession company a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS S.A. , a Brazilian company that is the world's largest processor of fresh beef and pork, with more than US$30 billion in annual sales as of 2010. It is also the largest beef processor in Australia.Swift &...
, another meat-packing firm), she was born into a family of wealth and privilege. During her childhood she became aware of the plight of the poor and disenfranchised and subsequently developed a life-long commitment to social and political reform.
After graduating from Wellesley College in 1922 she traveled to Europe where she lived until the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
She attended the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and then, in 1926, went to Vienna, hoping to study psycho-analysis and be analyzed by Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
.
She received a degree in medicine from the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and married Joseph Buttinger
Joseph Buttinger
Joseph Buttinger was an Austrian politician and, after his immigration to the United States, an expert on East Asia....
, leader of the Austrian Revolutionary Socialist movement. In 1934, she became involved in anti-Fascist activities. Using the code name Mary, she smuggled passports and money and offered her home as a safe house for anti-Fascist dissidents, activities which she
described in her memoir Code Name Mary: Memoirs of an American Woman in the Austrian Underground (1983). At the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Autumn 1939, the couple and their daughter moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Gardiner edited The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man, documents in the case history of a wealthy young Russian who went to Vienna in 1910 to be analyzed by Freud and who became the subject of Freud's History of an Infantile Neurosis. Gardiner met Freud only once, but she knew the Wolf-Man in Vienna, and Code Name Mary carries a foreword by Freud's daughter, Anna Freud
Anna Freud
Anna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis...
.
Involvement in the McCarthy-Hellman controversy
Gardiner became involved in the controversy between Mary McCarthyMary McCarthy (author)
Mary Therese McCarthy was an American author, critic and political activist.- Early life :Born in Seattle, Washington, to Roy Winfield McCarthy and his wife, the former Therese Preston, McCarthy was orphaned at the age of six when both her parents died in the great flu epidemic of 1918...
and Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
when she claimed that she was the character given the pseudonym Julia in Hellman's memoirs, Pentimento (1973). Hellman, who never met Gardiner, claimed that her Julia was somebody else. Many people believe otherwise, citing the vanishingly low probability that there were two millionaire American women who were medical students in Vienna in the late 1930s.
In the introduction to Code Name Mary , Dr. Gardiner says that, while she never met Hellman, she had often heard about her from her friend Wolf Schwabacher
Wolf Schwabacher
Wolf Schwabacher was a prominent Jewish entertainment lawyer, a partner in the New York law firm of Hays, Wolf, Schwabacher, Sklar & Epstein, whose clients included the Marx Brothers, Lillian Hellman, and Erskine Caldwell....
, who was Hellman's lawyer. Schwabacher had visited Gardiner in Vienna and his family had later shared a house with the Gardiner-Buttingers for more than 10 years -- after Muriel Gardiner and Joseph Buttinger moved into their house at Brookdale Farm in Pennington, NJ, in 1940, the house was divided in two, Wolf and Ethel Schwabacher living in the other part of the house. Brookdale Farm was later donated by Gardiner to the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association. Between 1965 and 1984, Gardiner gave a total of 585 acres (2.4 km²) to the Association, including her own Brookdale Farm and two others she purchased.)