The Shinn family came to California in 1856. Milicent grew up on her family’s fruit ranch and nursery. She received an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in 1880. She was the editor of the Overland Monthly publication from 1883-1894. Ruth Shinn, Milicent’s niece, was born in 1890 and was Milicent’s first baby study subject. Milicent returned to UC Berkeley and received her PhD basing her dissertation in part on her detailed observations of her niece’s development. In 1900 she published The Biography of a Baby, which remains an important early milestone in the study of child psychology. From the 1890s to 1910, Milicent created a US wide network of baby observers for the study of child development. The Shinn family homes are located at Shinn Historical Park & Arboretum in Fremont, California: their first cabin home and the Big House, a two story Victorian, built in 1876.