Ellen Swallow Richards - Founder of Home Economics

After stumbling across info about a woman I had never heard of - Ellen Swallow Richards - twice in two days I decided it was a sign of a blog post in the making. And since Ellen Swallow Richards spent quite a bit of time in Cambridge Mass I was particularly taken with her story.

I never had given much thought about the history of home ec though I did enjoy my classes the couple of years it was offered when I was in junior high. Not that it took - I'm no Martha Stewart and the pastry we made in 7th grade remains one of the fanciest things I've ever cooked. But reading about it - that's another story. I love vintage cookbooks and books about maintaining the house so couldn't resist the book at right when I found it online. It's a 1967 textbook for a home ec class.

Ellen Swallow Richards:

• Was born in 1842 in Dunstable Massachusetts
• Moved with her family to Westford and then to Littleton
• Graduated from Vassar College in 1870
• Was then the first woman to become a student at a scientific school in the US when she was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Was the first woman to graduate from MIT
• Was the first woman elected to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers
• Established a Woman's Laboratory at MIT
• Founded the study of home economics
• Taught at MIT until her death in 1911

I first heard of Ellen Swallow Richards yesterday when I stumbled upon a really wonderful blog maintained by Joyce Beery Miles an author, historian and historical reenactor who brings Richards to life in her blog and in character. I really enjoyed her site and encourage you to check it out and learn more about this remarkable woman.

Imagine my surprise when this morning I happened upon another online article about Richards just by chance. I was delighted to discover a site called Mass Moments that every day features an article about a moment in Massachusetts history that happened on that calendar day. The site is a creation of MassHumanities, the Massachusetts affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It's a remarkable site - the entries are incredibly thorough and well done.

I love learning about things that happened on a particular day in the past. When I was an archivist I would always get a special thrill when I came upon a letter or a diary entry that was written on my birthday - many, many years before I was born. It was just so interesting to think about that January 24th so many years ago - generations before I was born.

So what's the connection? Well, on this day in 1875 Ellen Swallow married married MIT Professor Robert Hallowell Richards. Happy anniversary Ellen Swallow Richards!