Annie Marion MacLean (1869–1934) was a pioneering American sociologist of the women's Chicago School, and is sometimes referred to as the "mother of contemporary ethnography". She was one of the first women to pursue a professional career in sociology. Regarded today as a feminist pragmatist, MacLean is particularly remembered for her pioneering work in participant observation, and for her rigorous application of her sociological findings to immediate social problems. She is particularly known for her studies of working and immigrant women. MacLean's work was strongly informed by her association with social reformers such as Jane Addams, as well as founding scholars of sociology such as Albion Small, Charles Henderson, and George Herbert Mead. Early life and education MacLean was born in St. Peters Bay, Prince Edward Island, and raised in Nova Scotia. Her father was a Baptist minister, and she received her preparatory education at the Baptist Acadia Seminary in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She went on to study at Acadia University (then known as Acadia College), receiving her bachelor's degree in 1893 and her master's in 1894. She then emigrated to Illinois, hoping to study at the University of Chicago, which had recently been established. Her brother Haddon had moved to Chicago in 1892, and had described the city to her. However, due to the shortage of funds she first worked for two years at Shimer College (then known as the Mount Carroll Seminary). MacLean was the first woman to receive a master's degree in sociology (in 1897), and the second to receive a Ph.D. (in 1900), both from the University of Chicago. Her master's thesis was on "Factor Legislation for Women in the United States", laying the groundwork for a lifetime of work studying the conditions of working women. Her dissertation dealt with another lifelong theme, immigration, and was titled "The Acadian Element in the Population of Nova Scotia". A portion of the dissertation was published in 1900; the remainder appears to have been lost. Teaching and administrative career MacLean's teaching and administrative work began at Shimer College, then known as the Mount Carroll Seminary and located in Mount Carroll, Illinois. She worked at Shimer from 1894 to 1896, serving as instructor of Latin and lady principal, a position approximating the later role she served as Dean of Women. Her sister, Mildred, also worked at Shimer. The MacLean sisters remained in contact with the Shimer community into their retirement