Wilma L. West papers, 1935-1993

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Summary

Abstract:
This collection contains materials that highlight the educational and professional achievements of occupational therapist, government official, and USC alum, Wilma L. West, MA, OTR, FAOTA.
Extent:
1.94 Linear Feet 3 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], [Collection title], USC Chan Archive, USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Wilma L. West papers (1935-1993) primarily includes awards, degrees, and diplomas that highlight the educational and professional achievements of occupational therapist, government official, and USC alum, Wilma L. West, MA, OTR, FAOTA.

Biographical / historical:

Wilma L. West, MA, OTR, FAOTA (1916-1996) was a recognized visionary who valued community focused systems and interdisciplinary partnerships. "Willie" West achieved the highest occupational therapy honors, including the inaugural American Occupational Therapy (AOTA)- American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) President's Commendation Award named in her honor in 1990, for lifetime contributions. She was the benefactor of the AOTA-AOTF Wilma L. West Library. A competent administrator, she was the Executive Director of AOTA (1948-51), President AOTA (1961-1964), and founder and President of AOTF (1972-1982). Esteemed and nominated by her peers, she received the AOTA Award of Merit (1951), the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship (1967), and the AOTA Roster of Fellows (1973).

A Rochester, New York native, West graduated from Irondequoit High School. West received a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College (1939), a professional certificate in occupational therapy at the Boston School of Occupational Therapy (Tufts University) and sat next to classmate Carlotta Welles and knew Mary Reilly. Welles shared in oral history bringing Willie home to her parents in Connecticut on school breaks for home cooking. The lifelong friendship between the Boston School of Occupational Therapy classmates West, Welles, and Reilly continued to the University of Southern California years later. West earned the first master of arts in occupational therapy in the United States from the University of Southern California (1948) Her thesis entitled; "A Proposed Kinesiology Syllabus for Occupational Therapy."

West's interest in training and curriculum design emanated from her work during the Second World War. She was a Major in the Army Medical Specialist Corps. In her role she wrote the U.S. War 1 Dept manual on occupational therapy, she compiled a standard equipment and supply list for occupational therapy departments in the U.S. Army hospitals and served as Assistant Chief of Occupational Therapy in the Office of the Surgeon General (1944-46). As a Captain in the Medical Field Service School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas (1951-53) she established U.S. Army schools for training occupational therapists and technicians and directed an effectiveness study of occupational therapy education in clinical practice.

An advocate for occupational therapy autonomy, West took the AOTA Executive Director position at a time when occupational therapy had just surfaced from a precarious physical medicine dispute. She was a strategist who found money, and knew what needed to be done according to peer Florence Cromwell.

West continued her government affiliation when she was appointed to a newly established position of Occupational Therapy Consultant to the Children's Bureau, US Department of Health, Education and Welfare (June 15, 1964). This appointment was for a three- year term. It was in this position that she spearheaded community- based grant funded projects.

Having an illustrious career, Willie espoused a life of long friendships, with interests of golfing and travel and returning to one's roots, professionally and personally. This upstate New York native served her country and her profession with excellence.

Acquisition information:
Gift of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Wilma L. West Library and Archives, September 28, 2022.
Processing information:

This collection was processed by Lindsay Anderson in 2025.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to research by appointment only. To request an appointment, please contact us at libraryarchive@chan.usc.edu.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing and directed to libraryarchive@chan.usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Chan Archive as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], [Collection title], USC Chan Archive, USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
2653 South Hoover St.
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
libraryarchive@chan.usc.edu
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