Ellen Swallow Richards

While Pam and I were in Jamaica Plain, we were able to meet the members of the JP Historical Society.  Charlie Rosenberg introduced us to Gretchen Grozier, the President of the JPHS and we were appreciative of the opportunity to meet people who are such great historians and have a great desire to preserve the heritage of their community.

While Pam Swallow and I were at MIT, we were assigned a wonderful tour guide, Sarah Levin.  She is  a Junior majoring in inorganic chemistry.  Ellen would have loved her. She is bright, articulate and passionate for her studies and for MIT.   She shared with us that she learned a lot about Ellen as she toured us to several of the “Ellen” sites on campus.

 Joyce and Pam in New Jersey

This past week was an exciting one as Pam Swallow, Ellen’s First Cousin, three times removed, and Joyce visited Boston and MIT.  They stayed at a lovely B&B just a block from 32 Eliot St, the Ellen Richards’ homestead.  They presented a program for a standing room only crowd at the Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain, sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society and the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. The next day they visited MIT Archives and Museum and had a delightful visit with MIT President, Susan Hockfield.  President Hockfield was nearly overcome with tears as she met one of Ellen’s relatives.  Joyce and Pam were treated like royalty all day with a personal tour guide throughout the campus.  President Hockfield assured them that they would be invited back again for another campus event to honor Ellen.  Joyce and Pam presented President Hockfield with a copy of the DVD of Ellen’s Life and Legacy.

 Pam and Joyce traveled back to New Jersey later in the week where again, they presented to a group of New Jersey Family and Consumer Sciences professionals.  Joyce presented the next day to a group of New Jersey Family and Consumer Sciences teachers.

It is nearing the end of April and I have been busy visiting the AAFCS Affiliates.  Each affiliate has unique ways of celebrating the launch of the centennial and it is so rewarding to be a part of each of the celebrations. Joyce and Susan Shockey in Ohio enjoyed all the educational sessions. In Florida, we met in this wonderful historical hotel, the Belleview Biltmore  in Clearwater.  This proud old hotel  which is over 100 years old is now on the National Register of Historic Places and will undergo a multimillion dollar rennovation over the next 4 years.   This historic place was so appropriate for Florida to launch their AAFCS Centennial Celebrations for the next year.

While I was at the Felker Leadership Conference at Purdue University, we were treated with a wonderful display of many of the items from the Archives from Clabber Girl Corporation in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Clabber Girl purchased Rumford Baking Company in 1950 and they currently maintain an excellent museum about the Clabber Girl history, and now they are adding the Rumford archives, too.  Their exhibit was a complement to my speech where I shared my experiences with the Rumford Kitchen at the Chicago World’s Fair. Many of the people in the audience did not know of the history of this company that is over 100 years old.

I have just returned home from my Spring Tour, visiting in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Ohio and Indiana.  In all these states, I visited with Family and Consumer Sciences professionals who are celebrating our 100th Anniversary this year and next.  They have so many activities planned and displays organized to honor each of their state histories.  There were college students at each location, too, and their excitement to hear of the past was contagious.  I heard many RICH CONVERSATIONS about why these professionals chose their life’s work, and what they had accomplished was amazing.  I listened with a keen ear as they talked about securing the future with their gifts to the AAFCS Centennial Challenge Campaign.  At Purdue University, I shared the stage with a professor, Fred Whitford, who had written a book about Virginia Meredith.  Virginia was a presenter at one of the Lake Placid Conferences.  Her remarkable career was highlighted by this very well-written book.  I am home for a few days to catch my breath before traveling off to Florida to meet with their affiliate.

This weekend I have been preparing for my Spring Tour.  I leave on Wednesday to go to Minneapolis where long time friend Kathy Norquist will pick me up and we will head to the AAFCS Midwest Regional in Okoboji, IA for the weekend.  We will be celebrating the AAFCS Centennial. There will be four affiliates there:  Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.  I know we will have a great time celebrating 100 years of contributing to improving the quality of life for families and individuals.

I am visiting this week with North Carolina FACS teachers as they plan for their 2008 Summer Conference for Inservice.  They are planning ways that all counties can celebrate the 100th Birthday of Home Economics/Family and Consumer Sciences with many Rich Conversations. They are discovering many opportunities for all communities across the state to focus on FCS history and accomplishments and to promote the profession.  They are determined to set the goals high and challenge other states to plan for these conversations in each of their counties.  If all states can accomplish this, there is no doubt that the entire country will know that this discipline has accomplished tremendous improvements for families, individuals and communities.

  We have a decent place to work in the lab here at MIT.  They are new, so there are still many things that need to be added to make this a wonderful place to work.  Mrs. Stinson is the lab assistant and it is nice to see another woman’s face amidst all the men who are in classes.  I have seen a Professor Richards often.  He stops by to see how I am progressing.  His specialty is mining and I have started to assist him in analyzing ore samples.  This isn’t exactly the chemistry I wanted to study, but I like the challenge and I seem to please Professor Richards.  We will see where this leads.

This is about the end of my first month at MIT.  Things are going as well as to be expected.  I am staying in a boarding house and helping with the chores to pay for my room and board.  I am more organized than the owner, so she appreciates how much I can accomplish before I even go to classes.  The men in my classes basically ignore me and that is OK.  I have to try not to seem like I know all the answers (even though I am really quite good).  I do not want to stand out among all the men.  They are talking about doing some water studies.  That sounds like I might like to assist with that.  We will see what they think I can do.  It is amazing how many people still think that women don’t have the fortitude to study hard and become well-educated. I knew I fought this at Vassar, but here at the Institute, I feel like they still think I will fail because I am a woman.  How will I ever accomplish anything of value if I can’t rise above this way of thinking?