Helen Monsch

Helen Monsch
A white woman with dark hair parted center and dressed to the nape, wearing a dark top and a strand of dark beads
Helen Monsch, from the 1927 yearbook of Cornell University
BornJanuary 28, 1881
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedJuly 31, 1959 (age 78)
Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
Occupation(s)Home economist, college professor

Helen Monsch (January 28, 1881 – July 31, 1959) was an American home economist. Monsch was head of the food and nutrition department at Cornell University from 1925 to 1947.

Early life and education

Monsch was born in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the ten children of Henry J. Monsch and Mary Elizabeth Braymen Monsch. She trained as a teacher in Kentucky; in 1904, she graduated from Kansas Agricultural College with a degree in home economics.[1] She earned a second bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1909, and a master's degree in nutrition from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1916.[2]

Career

Faculty of the department of home economics at Cornell University about 1918–19; Helen Monsch is farthest right in the middle row. Other notable members of the faculty in this image include Claribel Nye, Flora Rose, Martha Van Rensselaer, Ruby Green Smith, Helen Binkerd Young, Alice Blinn, and Beulah Blackmore. (3856196872)

Monsch taught in nutrition programs at Simmons College, Iowa State College, and the public schools of Gary, Indiana.[3] She did research on infant feedings at Iowa University Children's Hospital, Rush Medical College, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and other programs.[4]

Monsch began working at Cornell University in 1918, first teaching in the summer extension program. She was head of the food and nutrition department at Cornell from 1925 to 1947.[5] She also directed health classes in the public schools of Ithaca,[6] wrote newspaper articles on cooking,[7] and gave public lectures on child nutrition.[4]

Monsch wrote and narrated a short educational film about nutrition, For Health and Happiness (1941).[8] After she retired from Cornell in 1947, she donated over 300 books to the university's home economics library.[2]

Publications

  • Feeding Babies and Their Families (1943, with Marguerite Kaechele Harper)[9]

Personal life

Monsch retired to Winter Park, Florida, where at least two of her sisters also lived.[10] She died there in 1959, at the age of 78.[2][11]

References

  1. ^ Monsch, Helen (1904). "Food adulteration". Senior Thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College. hdl:2097/37706 – via Morse Department of Special Collections, Kansas State University Libraries.
  2. ^ a b c Cornell University, Office of the Dean of the University Faculty, "Memorial Statement for Professor Helen Monsch" (1959).
  3. ^ "To Teach at Iowa State; Miss Helen Monsch Appointed Assoc. Professor of Home Economics". The Morning Chronicle. 1915-04-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Cornell Expert to Talk to Home Bureau on Friday". Democrat and Chronicle. 1933-02-26. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Faculty Biographies: Helen Monsch". Cornell University: What Was Home Economics?. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  6. ^ Van Rensselaer, Martha; Rose, Flora (September 1925). "Food and Health Education: Practical Work in Child Feeding at Cornell". The American Food Journal. 20: 438–439.
  7. ^ Monsch, Helen (1932-04-17). "Proper Cooking Methods Given". The Birmingham News. p. 55. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "For Health and Happiness". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  9. ^ Monsch, Helen; Harper, Marguerite Kaechele (1943). Feeding Babies and Their Families. J. Wiley and Sons, Incorporated.
  10. ^ "Miss Daisy Monsch". The Courier-Journal. 1951-03-20. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Obituary for Helen Monsch". The Orlando Sentinel. 1959-08-01. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-04-09 – via Newspapers.com.