Lander, Kathleen
Assistant Curator, October 1922-June 1923
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Assistant Curator, October 1922-June 1923
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Dr Mary Kathleen Forsaith Lander (married name: Kitchin) M.B. M.Sc. (London). Life dates: 21 May 1897 – 5 Feb 1945.
Medical doctor, psychologist and Jungian analyst. Assistant Curator at WHMM from October 1922 until June 1923.
Kathleen Lander was a qualified medical doctor who first appeared in WHMM correspondence in June 1922, discussing with CJS Thompson about the museum supplying illustrations for one of her lectures (15 June 1922 WA/HMM/CO/Chr/A.33).
Lander was appointed to the museum as Assistant Curator in October 1922, working with curator ‘in connection with scientific work’ (see letter of engagement 4 Oct 1922 in WA/HMM/ST/Ear/A.39). She negotiated her contract to include two half-days off for continuing to practice clinical medicine alongside museum work. (“Do you really think that you can expect any qualified person to tie themselves down wholly to museum work for the remuneration offered?” - KL, 25 Aug 1922, WA/HMM/ST/Ear/A.39)
Lander was Assistant Curator for a period of only 8 months, and her staff file does not give much detail of her museum work. Her letter of resignation (8 May 1923, WA/HMM/ST/Ear/A.39) asked that her last day should be 9 June 1923.
After leaving WHMM Lander continued to correspond with Thompson, in 1924 enquiring about hosting a reception from the Medical Women’s International Association at the museum. (The reception never happened in end, due to the group getting an invite to 10 Downing Street.) (undated letter May-June 1924, WA/MM/CO/Chr/A.33, ).
Attended Wimbledon High School and then the, receiving BSc and MSc degrees in Human Anatomy and Morphology in 1919. In 1921 she qualified as a medical doctor (M.B.) [Reference: ] She was also awarded a Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research in 1921 (see archives SA/BMF/A.2/272 at Wellcome), but apparently resigned it due to ill health.
After leaving WHMM she spent five years as a general practitioner in London, including a period with a child welfare clinic and antenatal clinics. She took up psychological work from 1923, including a post at the Tavistock Clinic and also the Maudsley and Bethlem hospitals. Studied with Carl Jung and became a Jungian analyst.
Headed notepaper c.1923 in her WHMM staff file indicates Dr Lander was at a correspondence address of 33 Camden Road, NW1, shared with a Dr Dorothy Fenwick. Letters indicate that her father was also a physician.
Her later medical work increasingly focused on psychology, and she was one of the founders of the Guild of Pastoral Therapy (now ) (Reference: Conrad Lammers 2016.)
Lander married , a barrister and journalist, in August 1925. She passed the legal bar under her married name and engaged in journalism on medical and legal topics, often together with her husband. They also translated medical texts together (eg. The Digestive Tract, by Alfred E. Barclay, 1936, 2nd ed)
Kathleen Kitchin died in 1945 at the age of 47. Obituaries appeared in The Times and the British Medical Journal.
WA/HMM/ST/Ear/A.39. Many handwritten letters in staff file 1922-23 (not digitised)
Publications in Wellcome Collection’s library
Ann Conrad Lammers. The Jung-Kirsch Letters: The Correspondence of C.G. Jung and James Kirsch. 2016. Routledge. pp 75-77, 80-81.
Obituary - The Times, London. 7 Feb 1945, page 7, col E.
Tags: museum staff; curatorial staff
- staff file. October 1922-June 1923
- correspondence ‘L’ 1922-24. Kathleen Lander correspondence, 1922-24, is on .
- correspondence ‘L’ 1925. Letters on (regarding a missing library book, found).
– correspondence ‘K’ 1930. Dr. K. F. Kitchin correspondence,
WA/HMM/CO/Chr/A.33, , with signature ‘KFL’
WA/HMM/CO/Chr/B.11, , one handwritten letter
– Lander, Mary Kathleen Forsaith 1922. Part of the archives
Kathleen Lander :
Kathleen Kitchin :
Family tree, Mary Kathleen Forsaith Lander:
‘A quiet wedding’, Friday 06 November 1925. , Warwickshire, England. page 10.
'Master of Science: Honours and Higher Degrees: Internal Students', in University of London: the Historical Record (1836-1926) (London, 1926), pp. 229-235. British History Online
Obituary – Kathleen Kitchin M.B. M.Sc.. British Medical Journal, vol 1, no 4389 (17 Feb 1945), page 238.
Obituary - Mary Kathleen Forsaith Kitchin (Lander). , page 12