Lathrop, Julia Clifford (1858–1932)

US social worker. In 1890 she joined Jane Addams at the newly founded Hull House in Chicago and stayed there until 1909; her main work was not at the Chicago house itself but in visiting social welfare institutions throughout Illinois and in promoting reforms in the treatment of people in public institutions for the insane, indigent, delinquent, and children. In this capacity, she pioneered a more humane treatment of the mentally ill, and in 1899 she helped establish the first juvenile court in the USA. Lathrop helped organize (1903–04) the courses in social work that led to the creation of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. She was appointed the first head of the federal Childrens' Bureau (1912–21) and she made major reforms in legislation and general treatment of children.

The daughter of affluent but reform-minded parents, Lathrop was born in Rockford, Illinois. She graduated from Vassar College with a BA in 1880 and then worked for ten years in her father's law office. Retiring to Rockford with her sister, she remained engaged as president of the Illinois League of Women Voters (1922–24) and served as US commissioner to the Child Welfare Committee of the League of Nations (1925–31).