Rhoda Sarnat

b. 1915). Social worker. Field Work Director, USC School of Social Work.

Interviewed by Frances Lomas Feldman. Date of interview: 10-20-98. 1 cassette tape (1duplicate tape). Length of interview: 1 hour and 3 minutes (approximately). Transcript of interview: 23 pp. CD containing interview and transcript.

Interview Topics

Early life and family background; undergraduate studies at UCLA in psychology; interest in social work stimulated by Helen Gruenberg; graduate school in social work at University of Chicago; work with Jewish social Service Bureau of Chicago; work under supervision of Esther Shouer; marriage to Bernard Sarnat; move to St. Louis with husband; birth of first child and reduced work; relationship with housekeeper; return to California in 1955; private practice with The Psychological Service Center of Los Angeles; role as student advisor at USC School of Social Work, beginning in 1962; Director of Field Work at USC; relationship with Dean Malcolm Stinson and Josephine di Paolo, Director of Field Work; work as Director of Field Work; work with Senior Health and Peer Counseling, after retirement; work with Older Persons in a Carin Atmosphere; docent at LA Zoo; Rhoda Sarnat Prize of the Mental Health Section of the Institute of the National Academy of Sciences; Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat Endowment in USC School of Social Work; Rhoda Sarnat Lectureship at School; work with National Association of Social Workers; lectureship at Los Angeles Home for the Jewish Aged; contributions to student loan fund at the University of Chicago; financial contributions to the Hamovitch Research Center; establishment of Sarnat Center at Brandeis University for the Study of Anti-Jewishness; reflections on career in social work.

Additional Materials

  • Curriculum Vitae.
  • 1 diskette of transcript of interview.
  • Autobiographical essay.
  • Photocopies of 2 articles on social work by Rhoda Sarnat.
  • CSWA oral history interview forms.
  • Brochure for "Rhoda G. and Bernard G. Sarnat Symposium for Geriatric Care."
  • Program for Sarnat Lecture, University of Southern California, School of Social Work. 13 April 2000.

Download the transcript: 
» Transcript