They had prepared a great stage setting for us to perform and we were welcomed in true Texas fashion.  Many of the state AgriLIFE Extension staff  were there, so we were to pleased to share the history of home economics and Ellen Richards with them.

We spent the evening in a lovely setting, the Chandor Gardens.  These were designed in the 1930’s by an Englishman, Douglas Chandor. He had established himself as one of the great artists of the 20th Century.                             

 The gardens were truly lovely and so serene.  The many water features, including an extensive koi pond, would draw one into the quiet retreats.  The weather even cooled slightly and was actually comfortable to stroll throughout the gardens.  Light refreshments were served in the Chandor home.  Built in 1939, this palladian style home was designed primarily as his studio.

For over three years, Ellen and Joyce have been traveling the world telling the story of the founding of Home Economics over 100 years ago.  They have traveled nearly twice around the world with 50,000 miles, presented the DVD, along with a reenactment to over 5,000 people, and spoken in over 40 locations.  The DVD Sales, along with honoraria for the performances, have netted the Centennial Campaign nearly $40,000.  Ellen would have been proud that her story reached so many people, and that funds in her honor will help celebrate the centennial.

Just received an interesting query from a student in Washington State who is competing in a Women’s History Month project and Ellen Richards is her topic.  She has created an excellent review of Ellen’s accomplishments as well as found an extensive bibliography to accompany her project.  One of the sources she used was a March 1903 Edition of GoodHousekeeping Magazine with a great article about the scientific house that Mrs. Richards kept.  This is just one photo used in her paper.  The magazine is available online through the HEARTH collection at Cornell. As soon as the competition is over, I hope this student will allow me to post a link to her paper.

This meeting is well attended and the sessions are exhilarating. We have many first-timers and they, too, are excited. AAFCS President, Marilyn Swierk is here, along with Carolyn Jackson, AAFCS Executive Director.  We hear exciting news from our headquarters.  Stay tuned for an enormous announcement in coming months.

Joyce ( and Ellen) meet up with Lake Junaluska AAFCS 50 Year member, Betty Swarthout.

Joyce and Bob took a quick break during the afternoon to run over to Wilmington to see the Verandas Bed & Breakfast.  This house was built in 1853 by Benjamin W. Beery. The house was featured in Our State Magazine and since Joyce’s maiden name was Beery, we knew this had to be a relative.  We confirmed this and were given a first class tour by Dennis, one of the owners.  Joyce will enjoy spending time in her Beery History Book validating this relationship with this southern Beery who built one of the first houses in Wilmington.

Our evening event was a luau complete with leis, flower corsages and of course, the hula.  A highlight of the evening was the announcement of Paula Heidrick as the North Carolina Teacher of the Year.  Paula teaches as Holly Springs High School.  Her Apparel students have made garments for children in Haiti as well as for an orphanage in South Africa.  She participates in many community activities as well as sponsoring an FCCLA Chapter.

Paula was accompanied by her husband, Greg and her daughter, Sarah Cole, who is also a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher.

For the first time ever, Joyce and Ellen visited the California Coast.  As guests of the CAFCS (Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences), Joyce presented her one woman show portraying the life of founder, Ellen Swallow Richards.  This was a special time for CAFCS as they celebrated their 50th Anniversary.  Fifty years ago, administrators decided they needed their own group to address the needs of home economics programs at the many varied institutions of higher education.  Through out this past fifty year history, this group has seen many changes in their programs. Today, there are over 150 higher education institutions offering programs in human ecology, human sciences, family and consumer sciences, just to name a few of the program titles.  Regardless of how the programs are formatted or how they are titled, the purposes remain the same:  to support individuals and families and provide research, education and outreach to strengthen communities through their families.

Photo:  Bonnie Rader, Nina Dilbeck and Audrey Clark

Photo:  Bonnie Raderr, Mary Pritchard, Nina Dilbeck, Jan Murphy and Kitty Coffey.  All are Past Presidents of CAFCS

The lovely Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn and Suites was our location for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of CAFCS.

Since she was already scheduled to be in San Diego, Joyce contacted the AAFCS-SD Affiliate to see if they might also want to see a portrayal of founder, Ellen Richards.  They were agreeable and joined with HEHC-SD to meet for lunch featuring a program with our history and Joyce portraying Ellen.  Joyce also invited Purdue CFS Alumnae living in the greater San Diego area to join for lunch.  We had a great turn out and such rich conversations occurred during lunch.

Photo:  Barbara Vrabel Nobel, Joyce and Marilyn Dargis Ambrose, all Purdue CFS Alums.

Barbara’s Mother, Dorothy MrKelja-Vrabel was also a CFS graduate in ‘58.  She lives in Arizona.

Rich Conversations at lunch.

This photo was taken by Professor Richards at Marblehead, MA in 1899.  So far, the woman on the right has not been identified.

“The quality of life depends upon the ability of society to teach its members how to live in harmony with their environment–defined first as family, then the community, then the world and its resources."

Ellen was noted in President Obama’s Women’s History Month proclamation in March of 2009 as one of four women who have helped save the planet.  Over 100 years ago, Ellen was realizing that clean air and clean water were significant issues for healthy families.  Her life was spent pursuing this in an effort to contribute to the quality of life for individuals, families and their communities.

What would Ellen do today? 

Who can answer that question?

What could an Environmental Ambassador do?

Lucy M. Salmon, professor of history at Vassar—herself a renowned innovator—observed: “Mrs. Richards was among the very first to realize that the home affords an opportunity for scientific investigation and she became our first great pioneer home missionary… She discovered rich veins of interest where others had seen only prosaic humdrum duties, menial service, and uninspired, uninspiring household direction.”

Bringing science into the home, Richards hoped to “attain the best physical, mental, and moral development” for the family, which she believed was the basic unit of civilization.

Ken works for the Smithsonian in Budget and Management and his special tour for us, along with his insights into the total Smithsonian operation, were indeed a special treat. He actually works with the White House to advocate for the entire Smithsonian budget. We have visited numerous times, but this time, we learned so much more.  The Smithsonian actually encompasses 19 Museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo.

Ken and Diane have lived all over the world as Ken was career military before assuming his position with the Smithsonian. His love for his country as well as a fondness for the Smithsonian was evident throughout our special tour.

After our tour of the Castle ( the original Smithsonian building) we hurried across the Mall to the American History Museum where we met Amy Bartow-Melia, Director of Public Programs for this museum.  Amy has been with the Smithsonian for 12 years and her knowledge as well as her passion were quite evident. She was joined by Susan Walther, Senior Public Program Coordinator. (right below)

We were shown to the Salon where I left my costume to be used later for the performance. 

Before lunch, we were joined by FACS professionals from Virginia, long time friends Janet Phillips and Bev Card.

After lunch, it was time to dress as Ellen and proceed on to her exhibit in the West Wing. This was  a perfect place to stand and share with museum visitors a small part of the remarkable story of Ellen IN HER OWN WORDS.  I have performed these words countless times, but never have I felt more inspired than I did standing beside Ellen at the Smithsonian on her birthday.

These four young women were so enthralled in the message from Ellen. I wish so much that they had told me their names.

After the presentation, we were treated to yet another back stage tour which included Historic Costumes, Vintage Jewelry and finally, the Quilts. We were hosted by three more passionate, knowledgeable members of the museum staff.     

(L to R) Doris, Katherine, Susan.

Nancy Davis is a Curator for the Division of Home and Community Life.

(L) Nancy with a quinceanera dress-this is a dress for Latino girls coming-of-age party at age 15. This is a very difficult piece to acquire in the collection as most young women want to keep their dress. Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent to keep this Latino tradition for young girls.

Katherine Dirks is Associate Curator in the same Division with a special interest in WWI and WWII textiles. We were pleased to learn that Katherine is a former CFS Textiles grad from Purdue so we had fun sharing stores of our times back on campus. Kathy showed us all of the equipment that they utilize to date various textiles.

Doris Bowman is an Associate Curator in the same Division, but her expertise is with the antique quilts and antique needlework tools.  Each place we visited held more fascinating treasures than the one before, and at day’s end, we could no more tell you our favorite as they ALL were.  What a fabulous time we had with dedicated museum staff willing to share these national treasures with us.  Ellen would have loved every minute of it as we did.

Just two of the gorgeous old quilts that are stored in the Smithsonian collections.

The telescope nearly trumped the Ellen Richards’ exhibit which we found just inside the Science in American Life  exhibition.  However, we were excited to arrive in front of a nearly life sized display of Ellen.  Of all the displays that could have been featured in this recently opened museum, we were delighted to see that Ellen was deemed important enough to carry over from a previous display. In celebration of March as National Women’s History Month,  President Obama proclaimed Ellen as one of four women credited with saving our planet with her focus on the environment.

At 1:00 on Thursday, December 3, Joyce (in costume) will be standing near the Ellen exhibit on the Museum’s first floor, reading selected writings, diary entries and Ellen’s letters.  Our hope is that this little added extra to the exhibit on her birthday will remind museum visitors what a remarkable life this women led and how our lives today have been impacted by her work over 100 years ago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLEN

My goal was to print some Ellen photos on fabric and make them all a part of the quilt square and the theme.  Since I had never attempted this technique before, I engaged my good friend and “fabric guru”, Toni, to help me.  We worked in her studio all one afternoon selecting the right photos and then printing on special fabric designed just for this purpose. She had all the right fabrics to meet our blue theme as well as had the pigment ink printer to print the photos.  Once we selected the photos and printed them, we had to mount each with something that would attach with heat to the backing.  Once this was done, we were set—at least as to where each photo was positioned.  She then gave me carte blanche with her thread stash as I selected those I thought would look the best on the fabrics we selected.

I headed home to work with my machine as I outlined each of the photos.  More challenges with my machine and Toni ended up here at my house at her Birthday celebration helping me adjust my machine to make the decorative stitches work.  I added a few touches of lace to get the Victorian feel I wanted and was finished.

The photos are of Ellen at two different stages in her life.  The lower left is a much younger Ellen than the one on the right.  The upper left is a photo of some of the intricate stitches in a quilt that Ellen made well over 100 years ago.  The quilt is mounted and displayed at AAFCS headquarters in Alexandria.  The lower right is a photo of the medallion that was awarded in 1993 when Ellen was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca, New York.  The medallion also resides at AAFCS offices.

The one lonely square is ready to travel across the country to AAFCS Textiles Community member, LynDee Lombardo, Olympia, Washington, who will join my work with other squares contributed to fashion them into the lovely quilt that will be raffled in Cleveland next June 2010.

As always, my affair with Ellen had stretched my comfort zone and propelled me into areas that I probably wouldn’t  have ventured were it not for her influence and my desire to continue to tell her story via whatever means I can

This vignette is part of the fall decorations in my home.  You can see that Ellen is again front and center.  This photo comes from one in a Vassar site and looks quite elegant in this antique frame I found at a thrift store.