Clara Willard: february 23, 1893-may 28, 1943

Miss Clara Willard (retired librarian of St. Elizabeth's Hospital) died Tuesday morning, September 7, 1943. Because of her very flexible command of several languages, especially German, she has done an immense number of abstracts, translations and reviews (not counting the preparation of indexes) for the psychoanalytic review at a time, especially in its early years, when the psychoanalytic review was the only psychoanalytic journal in America that tried to give its readers, through abstracts and translations, as broad a view as possible of what was going on in the rapidly growing psychoanalytic field. The immense amount of work that she has done may truly be regarded as a milestone in the development of psychoanalysis. She knew as much about psychoanalysis as even the most competent psychoanalyst could be expected to know and she was frequently consulted on a variety of problems. Her versatility was almost unlimited and she had the reputation of knowing everything there was to be known in the field—a peripatetic encyclopedia of psychoanalysis. It was frequently said of her, “IF Miss Willard does not know it, then it is just not known.”

Withal, she was a most modest and unassuming person and in talking to her one would not suspect the wisdom and intelligence behind a very simple exterior. Additionally, she was an excellent grammarian and could correct a manuscript to the satisfaction of a most exacting editor.

Hers was indeed an unobtrusive, self-effacing kindliness and the many men and women who have been connected with St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the past twenty-five years will recall with gratitude the many times she has wholeheartedly help them out not only with final proof reading but even with the preparation of manuscripts proper. Through years of such service she had become a most indispensable member of the staff, one might say, a fixture of the institution. Her passing away is indeed a great loss to American psychoanalysis, and to many who have known her pe