2409:4042:2D1A:A283:BD60:E683:3F10:A760 at 09:43, 30 October 2021

2021-10-30T09:43:33Z

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{{Infobox person
| name = Kamala Nimbkar
| image = KamalaNimbkar1972.png
| alt = A middle-aged white woman with hair braided across her crown. She is wearing eyeglasses and a sari.
| caption = Kamala Nimbkar, from a 1972 publication.
| other_names =
| birth_name = Elizabeth Lundy
| birth_date = 5 January 1900
| birth_place = Mount Holly, New Jersey
| death_date = 29 August 1979
| death_place = India
| occupation = Occupational therapist, educator
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| children = [[B. V. Nimbkar]] (son)
| relatives = [[Nandini Nimbkar]] (granddaughter)
}}

'''Kamala Vishnu Nimbkar''' (January 5, 1900 – August 29, 1979), born '''Elizabeth Lundy''', was an American-born [[occupational therapist]] in India.

== Early life ==
Elizabeth Lundy was born in [[Mount Holly, New Jersey]] the daughter of Joseph Wilmer Lundy and Bessie Morris Roberts Lundy. Her father was a [[Quakers|Quaker]] businessman.<ref name=":0">[http://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/5095lund An Inventory of the J. Wilmer Lundy Family Papers, 1781-1964], Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.</ref> She attended the Quaker [[George School]], and earned a bachelor's degree in economics at [[Barnard College]] in 1926.<ref>''[http://www.alum.barnard.edu/s/1133/images/editor_documents/AlumBib2009.pdf?sessionid=9bb5723b-d88c-4cf9-9574-7d9ccd1fcfd7&cc=1 Barnard College Alumnae Bibliography]'' (2009): 90.</ref> She returned to the United States later in her forties, to study occupational therapy at the [[Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Occupational Therapy: An Indian Historical Perspective|url=https://www.aiota.org/otindia|access-date=2020-07-18|website=AIOTA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1947-10-23|title=PTA Hears Guest Speaker|pages=4|work=The Ithaca Journal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55614696/pta-hears-guest-speaker/|access-date=2020-07-18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
Before college, Lundy worked as a secretary on a statistical study of coal miners, for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mines.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1959-04-30|title=Honor Casteless School Innovator|pages=2|work=Barnard Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55645848/honor-casteless-school-innovator/|access-date=2020-07-19|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In India after she married, Nimbkar taught [[kindergarten]] by the [[Friedrich Fröbel|Froebel]] method, and started several schools in that tradition.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Skinner|first=Olivia|date=1972-09-25|title=Love Affair with India|pages=35|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55614805/love-affair-with-indiaolivia-skinner/|access-date=2020-07-18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She is credited as founding the first school for [[Occupational therapy in India|occupational therapy (OT) in India]] in 1948, when she started the OT department at [[King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College|KEM Hospital]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Occupational Therapy School and Center|url=https://www.kem.edu/occupational-therapy/|access-date=2020-07-18|website=King Edward Memorial Hospital}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1948-10-25|title=Muncie Girl to Aid in Opening School in India|pages=6|work=Muncie Evening Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55614550/muncie-girl-to-aid-in-opening-school-in/|access-date=2020-07-18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1958 she founded a second school for OT in [[Nagpur]]. She was also founder of the All India Occupational Therapists Association (AIOTA) in 1952, and served as the association's president until 1959.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy: About us|url=http://www.ijotonweb.org/aboutus.asp|access-date=2020-07-18|website=The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy}}</ref> In 1960 she founded the Indian Society for the Rehabilitation of the Handicapped, and was its secretary-general until the 1970s.<ref name=":2">Sullivan, Timy. [http://www.polioplace.org/sites/default/files/files/Rehabilitation_Gazette_1972_OCR.pdf "Mrs. Kamala V. Nimbkar: Editor, The Journal of Rehabilitation in Asia"] ''Rehabilitation Gazette'' 15(1972): 33.</ref>

In 1957 she represented India at an international conference on rehabilitation, held in Indonesia.<ref name=":2" /> She visited Baltimore therapy programs in 1959.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1959-04-17|title=Indian Therapist Makes Study Here|pages=9|work=The Baltimore Sun|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55622842/indian-therapist-makes-study-here/|access-date=2020-07-19|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1965, she attended a reunion of patients and therapists from the Toomey Pavilion, a respiratory clinic in [[Cleveland|Cleveland, Ohio]], hosted by [[Gini Laurie]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1966|title=Toomey Reunion... 1965|url=http://www.polioplace.org/sites/default/files/files/Toomey_J_Gazette_Vol._9_No._1_1966_OCR.pdf|journal=Toomey J. Gazette|volume=9|pages=93}}</ref> At a conference in Australia in 1972, she was honored with the [[Lasker Award]] by the International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Historical Awards|url=http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/show/historical-awards/|access-date=2020-07-18|website=The Lasker Foundation|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1972-08-27|title=3 Will Receive Lasker Prizes|pages=51|work=Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55622673/3-will-receive-lasker-prizes/|access-date=2020-07-19|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

She edited and published AIOTA's journal, ''[[List of Medknow Publications academic journals|Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy]]'' from 1955, and ''The Journal of Rehabilitation in Asia'' from 1959.<ref name=":2" /> She also wrote articles for other scholarly journals.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nimbkar|first=Kamala V.|date=1959-01-01|title=Training Of Occupational Therapists For Work In The Psychiatric Field|url=http://www.indianjpsychiatry.org/article.asp?issn=0019-5545;year=1959;volume=1;issue=2;spage=73;epage=75;aulast=Nimbkar;type=0|journal=Indian Journal of Psychiatry|language=en|volume=1|issue=2|pages=73|issn=0019-5545}}</ref> Her book, ''A New Life for the Handicapped: A History of Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy in India'', was published posthumously in 1980.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nimbkar|first=Kamala V.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfdsAAAAMAAJ|title=A New Life for the Handicapped: A History of Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy in India|date=1980|publisher=Nimbkar Rehabilitation Trust|language=en}}</ref>

She talked about her life and work in an oral interview given to University of Cambridge<ref>{{Cite web|title=Interview: Mrs. Kamala V. Nimbkar|url=https://www.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/audio/item/interview-mrs-kamala-v-nimbkar/|access-date=2020-07-18|website=Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Lundy met her husband Vishnu Nimbkar, an Indian businessman, in New York, converted to [[Hinduism]], and moved with him to India in 1930.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Interview: Mrs. Kamala V. Nimbkar|url=https://www.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/archive/audio/item/interview-mrs-kamala-v-nimbkar/|access-date=2020-07-18|website=Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge}}</ref> She lived at the [[Sabarmati Ashram]], the residence of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], for several months upon arrival. She died in 1979, aged 79 years, in India.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=Summer 1980|title=Class Notes|url=https://archive.org/details/barnardalumnae694barn/page/32/mode/2up?q=Nimbkar|journal=Barnard Alumnae Magazine|pages=33}}</ref> Some of her letters are in her father's papers at [[Swarthmore College]].<ref name=":0" /> Her son was [[B. V. Nimbkar]],<ref name=":3" /> and one of her granddaughters is [[Nandini Nimbkar]], both noted agricultural scientists. A secular, [[Marathi language|Marathi]] medium school in [[Phaltan]], Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan, is named after her.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan|url=https://pssphaltan.org/kamlanimbkar.php|access-date=2020-07-18|website=Pragat Shikshan Sanstha}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://letsot.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/indian-occupations-captured-a-tribute-to-mrs-kamala-nimbkar-a/ "Indian Occupations Captured: A tribute to Mrs Kamala Nimbkar"] ''Let's OT'' (July 11, 2011), a blog post about Nimbkar, with photographs.
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimbkar, Kamala}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:American occupational health practitioners]]
[[Category:People from Mount Holly, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Barnard College alumni]]
[[Category:American Quakers]]
[[Category:20th-century Quakers]]

Kamala Nimbkar - Revision history

2409:4042:2D1A:A283:BD60:E683:3F10:A760 at 09:43, 30 October 2021