Marian Olden Papers

Proponent of compulsory sterilization for the unfit; born in Philadelphia in 1888; chaired the Social Hygiene Committee of the Princeton chapter of the League of Women Voters beginning in 1933 or 1934 (in which capacity she began her activism on behalf of eugenic sterilization); helped to found the Sterilization League of New Jersey in 1937 and served as its executive secretary until 1942; helped to found Birthright, Inc., a national organization advocating compulsory sterilization, in 194 3 and served as its executive secretary until 1948; died in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, in 1981. Olden conducted her professional activities under the name Marion S. Norton (sometimes Coleman-Norton) until about 1941 when, after marrying her fourth husband, she styled herself as Marian (sometimes Mariann) S. Olden. Her surname at birth was Stephenson.