Martha Chickering

Martha Alexander Chickering (December 4, 1886 – November 13, 1988) was an American social work educator who served as director of the California State Department of Social Welfare from 1939 to 1943. She was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction for her work in establishing professional social work education in the state of California.

Career She was a member of the Chickering family of Massachusetts, later Oakland and Piedmont, California. She attended the NYC YWCA Training School from 1911 until 1913 after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 1910. YWCA's efforts on post-war reconstruction in newly-formed Poland under the Herbert Hoover-founded American Relief Administration. In the 1920s, she was an executive of the local American Red Cross for five years. In 1939, she was appointed director of the California State Department of Social Welfare.

Publications Into a Free Poland Via Germany published by Overseas Dept., National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations, New York City, N.Y., 1920 Why California Registers its Social Workers; California Conference of Social Welfare, May 26, 1948, Long Beach. Provided by California Board of Behavioral Services. The Founding of a Mojave Desert Community. California Historical Society Quarterly 1 June 1948; 27 (2): 113–122.