Grace R. Greenbaum Epstein Scrapbook

Grace Rachel Greenbaum Epstein was born June 12, 1894 in New York City, one of four children. Epstein came from a family steeped in philanthropy and public service. Her mother, Selina Ullman Greenbaum, was a prominent advocate in the Jewish philanthropic community, helping to establish and assuming the presidency of the Jewish Working Girls’ Vocation Society in the 1890s; she also worked with the Young Women’s Hebrew Association and the National Council of Jewish Women, where she was an early member of the board of directors. Grace’s father, Samuel Greenbaum, was a lawyer and later a long serving judge on the New York State Supreme Court. Involved with a number of legal and professional organizations, he also sat on several boards, acting as trustee of the League for Political Education, the Jewish Welfare Board, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the New York Public Library, among others.

Epstein entered Barnard in the fall of 1911 as a member of the Class of 1915, with psychology and German as her major areas of study. In college Epstein participated in numerous clubs, including the Suffrage Club, the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, the German Club, the College Settlement Association, and the Athletic Association. She played on the Varsity and Class Hockey Teams, sat on various committees, and was the Junior Class Corresponding Secretary and Historian. On Class Day, at the end of her senior year, she presented gifts to the other classes, and was among those voted “Biggest Bluffer” and “Nerviest.”

In 1917, she married Barrett Epstein, an executive for General American Transportation; he died in 1962. They had two daughters and one son. According to Selina Greenbaum’s entry on the Jewish Women’s Archives website, Epstein followed in her mother’s philanthropic footsteps, founding a women’s job bureau during the Great Depression. In the Barnard alumnae directory of 1947, she is listed as being a research worker at the Women’s City Club in New York; a previous edition listed her as part owner of Children’s Book and Play Service, Inc. in New York, NY. In an alumna questionnaire from 1956, she mentions being involved with Camp Lehman, a summer camp for boys (especially from immigrant families) that was affiliated with the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. An interview with Epstein is cited in Sara Alpern’s biography of her close friend, fellow classmate and editor of The Nation, Freda Kirchwey.