Stone, Abraham, 1890-1959

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Abraham Stone (1890-1959), was Medical Director and later Director of the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau in New York City from 1941 to 1959. His research focused on marriage counseling and reproductive health issues including family planning, birth control, sterility, fertility, sexual relations, and global overpopulation. Stone was an urologist in private practice with his wife Hannah in New York City before becoming Medical Director at the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau, succeeding his wife Hannah after her death in 1941. Abraham and Hannah Stone published A Marriage Manual in 1935, one of the first publications devoted to the topic of marriage. Stone also served as vice-president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the International Planned Parenthood Federation during the 1950s, and was a founding member and president of the American Association of Marriage Counselors.

From the description of Personal and Professional Papers, 1916-1959. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 79456311

Abraham Stone (1890-1959) was Medical Director and later Director of the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau (MSRB) in New York City from 1941 to 1959. The MSRB was a facility closely aligned with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), of which Stone served as vice-president during the 1950s. Under Stone's leadership from 1941 to 1959, the MSRB further assisted with PPFA fund-raising, accommodated an increased number of PPFA board members on its board of trustees, expanded its programs to include marriage counseling and infertility research, and became the clinical research arm of the PPFA.

Abraham Stone was born in Russia on 30 October 1890 and emigrated to the United States in 1905 at age 12. He received the MD from New York University and Bellevue Medical College in 1912. In 1916, he received the BS from New York University, and in 1917, he married Hannah Mayer (1893-1941), who earned a pharmacy degree from Brooklyn College in 1912 and an MD from New York Medical College and Flower Hospital in 1920. After serving as a first lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps in World War I, Abraham and Hannah opened a joint private medical practice. Hannah was named Medical Director of the MSRB in 1925, and garnered recognition as the clinical expert on contraception. Due to their clinical experiences in private practice, Abraham and Hannah Stone recognized the need for preventive sex education and trained numerous physicians to offer birth control services, sex counseling, and treatment of infertility. The couple also established the first marriage counseling service under medical direction in the United States at the Community Church in New York in 1931. Due to their work at the MSRB, their promotion of group therapy for treatment of marital sexual dysfunction, and the publication of A Marriage Manual in 1935, the couple actively promoted women's reproductive autonomy during the 1930s.

After Hannah's death in 1941, Abraham replaced his wife as the Medical Director of the MSRB, and was later named Director of the facility by Margaret Sanger in 1950, a position he held until his death in 1959. The MSRB, formerly known as the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau, originally aligned itself with the American Birth Control League in 1939, creating the Birth Control Federation of America, later renamed the PPFA in 1942. Despite the merger, the MSRB maintained much of its independence, and renamed its clinic the Margaret Sanger Research Bureau in honor of its founder, Margaret Sanger, in 1940. During Stone's tenure, he increased the services of the facility to include fertility counseling and treatment.

Aside from Stone's responsibilities at the MSRB, he remained active in other professional organizations, including the PPFA and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF); Stone served as vice-president of both organizations during the 1950s. He traveled internationally as vice-president of the IPPF lecturing to family planning groups on the importance of contraception, fertility, and marriage counseling. Stone was a founder and president of the American Association of Marriage Counselors. Other organizations and committees to which Stone belonged included the American Society for the Study of Sterility, the Intraprofessional Commission on Marriage and Divorce Laws, and the American Soviet Medical Society; membership lists, bylaws, event programs, correspondence, notes, and reprints document Stone's activities within these organizations.

During his career, Stone published several articles on topics including sexual relations, family planning, contraception, sterility, and marriage counseling. In 1935, he authored A Marriage Manual with wife Hannah. This book was one of the first published on the subject of marriage and was reprinted in several editions. Stone also published The Premarital Consultation, the first manual on marital relations written for physicians, with physician Lena Levine in 1956. He also lectured frequently to academic and popular audiences on topics including women's reproductive rights, contraception, and marriage counseling.

Abraham Stone died on 3 July 1959 of a heart attack. He was 68.

From the guide to the Papers, 1916-1959., 1916-1959 (Inclusive), 1951-1959 (Bulk), (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Family Planning Oral History Project. Records, 1909-1984 (inclusive), 1973-1977 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Gamble, Clarence James, 1894-. Papers of Clarence J. Gamble, 1920-1966 (bulk). Harvard University, Medical School, Countway Library
creatorOf Stone, Abraham, 1890-1959. Personal and Professional Papers, 1916-1959. Harvard University, Medical School, Countway Library
referencedIn Margaret Sanger Research Bureau Records MS 320., 1873-1973, 1917-1969 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn Lord-Heinstein, Lucile, 1903-. Papers, 1891-1977 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts Records MS 359., 1859-2002, 1916-1960 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn Margaret Sanger Research Bureau. Margaret Sanger Research Bureau Records 1873-1973 (bulk 1917-1969) Smith College, Neilson Library
referencedIn Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966. Papers 1761-1995. Smith College, Neilson Library
referencedIn Papers, 1873-1990 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Papers, 1916-1959., 1916-1959 (Inclusive), 1951-1959 (Bulk) Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
referencedIn Interviews, 1973-1977 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Margaret Sanger Papers MS 138., 1761-1995, 1900-1966 Sophia Smith Collection
referencedIn Margaret Sanger Papers, 1900-1966, (bulk 1928-1940) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Mudd, Emily Hartshorne, 1898-. Papers: Series IV-VI, 1927-1990 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Association of Marriage Counselors. corporateBody
correspondedWith Community Church corporateBody
associatedWith Community Church (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Community Church of New York corporateBody
associatedWith Dickinson, Robert L. person
associatedWith Dickinson, Robert Latou, 1861-1950. person
associatedWith Edris Rice-Wray person
associatedWith Emily Borie (Hartshorne) Mudd person
associatedWith Family Planning Oral History Project family
associatedWith Family Planning Oral History Project. corporateBody
associatedWith Gamble, Clarence James, 1894- person
correspondedWith Hannah Stone person
associatedWith Hannah Stone's person
associatedWith Human Fertility corporateBody
associatedWith International Planned Parenthood Federation. corporateBody
associatedWith Levine, Lena person
associatedWith Levine, Lena, 1903- person
associatedWith Lord-Heinstein, Lucile, 1903- person
correspondedWith Margaret Sanger person
associatedWith Margaret Sanger Research Bureau corporateBody
associatedWith Margaret Sanger's person
associatedWith Matthews, J. B. (Joseph Brown), 1894-1966 person
associatedWith Mudd, Emily Hartshorne, 1898- person
associatedWith New School corporateBody
associatedWith New School for Social Research corporateBody
associatedWith New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Planned Parenthood corporateBody
associatedWith Planned Parenthood Federation of America. corporateBody
associatedWith Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts corporateBody
associatedWith Rice-Wray, Edris. person
associatedWith Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966 person
correspondedWith Stone, Abraham and three unidentified men and an unidentified woman person
associatedWith Stone, Hannah M. (Hannah Mayer), 1894-1941. person
associatedWith World Health Organization. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Puerto Rico
India
Subject
Birth control
Birth control clinics
Communication in family planning
Conception
Contraception
Contraceptive Devices
Contraceptives
Eugenics
Family Planning Policy
Family Planning Services
Fertility, Human
Fertilization
Marital Therapy
Marriage counseling
Overpopulation
Population policy
Sex counseling
Sexually transmitted diseases
Sterilization (Birth control)
Sterilization, Reproductive
Occupation
Marriage counselors
Urologists
Activity

Person

Birth 1890

Death 1959-07-03

Information

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