1. Myrtle McGraw collection, 1932-1939 183 film reels ; 16 mm
McGraw, Myrtle B. (Myrtle Byram), 1899-1988
Myrtle McGraw (1899-1988) was an American developmental psychologist who studied infants and children. Known for her twin studies of growth and motor development, McGraw is notable for being the first to demonstrate the swimming reflex in infants. She obtained her doctorate degree from Columbia University in 1930. That same year, she began work as associate director of the Normal Child Development Study at Babies Hospital, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, a position she held until the study was closed in 1940. Throughout the 1930's, many of McGraw's locomotor tests were filmed to document her research and share with other academics. In 1932, McGraw began an intensive long-term study of the motor development of identical twins Johnny and Jimmy Woods. In 1935, she published her findings in "Growth: A Study of Johnny and Jimmy," her most cited work.