Louise Stanley (home economist)

For the American actress of the same name, see Louise Stanley; for the American artist born in 1942, see M. Louise Stanley.
Louise Stanley
A middle-aged white woman with dark hair, wearing glasses and a dark top
Louise Stanley
BornJune 8, 1883
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJuly 15, 1954 (age 71)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation(s)Chemist, home economist, government official
Known forFirst head of the U.S. Bureau of Home Economics

Louise Ellen Stanley (June 8, 1883 – July 15, 1954) was an American chemist and home economist. After an academic career teaching at the University of Missouri from 1907 to 1923, she was the first head of the Bureau of Home Economics, a federal office within the United States Department of Agriculture, from 1923 to 1943. She was inducted into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Early life and education

Stanley was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the daughter of Gustavus A. Stanley and Eliza Monroe Winston Stanley. Her father was born in Maine, and was a judge in Florida and a Union Army veteran of the American Civil War.[1] He died in 1884, when Louise Stanley was still a baby.[2]

Stanley graduated from Peabody College in Nashville in 1903,[3] and earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Chicago in 1906. She earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1907.[4] She completed doctoral studies in biochemistry at Yale University in 1911, with Lafayette Mendel as her advisor.

Career

Stanley taught home economics at the University of Missouri from 1907 to 1923.[5] She was also chair of the Missouri Association of Household Arts and Science. She was a delegate to the International Congress for the Teaching of Household Economy, held in Belgium in 1913.[6]

Stanley was the first head of the Bureau of Home Economics, in office from 1923 to 1943.[4][7] She participated in a White House conference on child health and protection, convened by Herbert Hoover in 1930, and led efforts to advise American families on nutrition in the early years of the Great Depression.[8][9] She worked especially for product labeling and industrial standards for fabrics, foods, and other home goods.[10] In 1938, she was "the highest ranking woman scientist in the federal government", and she hired other women scientists for the bureau's work.[11][12] From 1943 to 1950 she worked in the Agricultural Research Administration,[13] studying diet, nutrition, and foods in Latin America.[3][5][6] After 1950, she serve as a consultant to the Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations.[14]

Stanley was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri, in 1940.[5] In 1953, the American Home Economics Association established the Louise Stanley Latin American Scholarship in her honor.[6]

Publications

Many of Stanley's publications were government reports and instructional booklets, but she also co-wrote a textbook, The Home and the Child (1931)[15] and published articles in a wide range of academic and professional journals, including Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry,[16] School Science and Mathematics,[17] Journal of Home Economics,[18][19] Agricultural Engineering,[20] The Woman Citizen,[21] Childhood Education,[22] The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,[23] The Scientific Monthly,[24] Extension Service Review,[25] US Egg and Poultry Magazine,[26] and Journal of Health and Physical Education.[27]

  • "Phosphorus in Flesh" (1910, with P. F. Trowbridge)[16]
  • The Preservation of Food in the Home (1914, booklet, with May C. McDonald)[28]
  • "Project Teaching in Home Economics Courses" (1915)[17]
  • A First-year Course in Home Economics for Southern Agricultural Schools (1917, booklet)[29]
  • "Plans for the Bureau of Home Economics" (1923)[18]
  • "The Development of Better Farm Homes" (1926)[20]
  • "Opening Doors" (1926)[21]
  • Canning Fruits and Vegetables at Home (1926, booklet)[30]
  • "The Place of Nutrition in Childhood Education" (1928)[22]
  • "Home-Making Education in the Colleges" (1929)[23]
  • Reindeer Recipes (1929, booklet, with Fanny Walker Yeatman)[31]
  • Ice Creams Frozen without Stirring (1930, booklet)[32]
  • The Home and the Child (1931, textbook, with Martha Van Rensselaer and Lita Bane)[15]
  • "Home Economics Research by the Federal Government" (1933)[24]
  • "The Bureau of Home Economics and the Extension Service" (1933)[25]
  • "The Bureau of Home Economics Studies Eggs and Poultry" (1934)[26]
  • "Home Economics and Rural Electrification" (1936)[19]
  • "Health Education Activities of the Government: Departments of Labor and Agriculture" (1942, with Muriel F. Bliss, Marjorie M. Heseltine, Nina B. Lamkin, Ethel Mealey, and Lucy Morgan)[27]
  • Home Canning of Fruits, Vegetables and Meats (1942, booklet, with Mabel C. Stienbarger and Dorothy E. Shank)[33]
  • "Soldiers of the Kitchen Front" (1942, New York Times)[34]

Personal life and legacy

Stanley adopted a daughter, Nancy, in 1929.[35][36][37] Stanley died from cancer in 1954, at the age of 71, in Washington, D.C.[14][38] The University of Missouri named a new home economics building for Stanley in 1963.[5] In 1984, she was inducted into the National Agricultural Hall of Fame.[39] There is a folder of materials related to Stanley in the State Historical Society of Missouri manuscript collection.[40]

References

  1. ^ "Stanley-Winston". Nashville Banner. 1882-08-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Death of Judge G. A. Stanley". The Weekly Floridian. 1884-01-22. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Parks, Norman L. (1943-03-07). "Former Nashville Woman Helps Make Freedom from Want Real". The Tennessean. p. 43. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Apron Strings and Kitchen Sinks: The USDA Bureau of Home Economics". USDA National Agricultural Library.
  5. ^ a b c d "Early Nutritionists at Mizzou: Food Revolutions: Science and Nutrition, 1700-1950". University of Missouri Library, Special Collections. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  6. ^ a b c United States Congress House Committee on Agriculture (1966). Men and Milestones in American Agriculture. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 38–39.
  7. ^ "Dr. Stanley Chief of New Bureau". The Illinois Agriculturist. 28 (1): 22. October 1923.
  8. ^ Stanley, Louise (1931), "Committee A--The family and parent education.", White House conference 1930: Addresses and abstracts of committee reports, White House conference on child health and protection called by President Hoover., The Century Co, pp. 133–151, doi:10.1037/11512-015, retrieved 2024-09-09
  9. ^ McKee, Oliver Jr. (March 8, 1931). "Menus by Uncle Sam List Food and Costs". The New York Times. p. 117. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  10. ^ Dutcher, Rodney (1934-12-22). "Canners Fight Quality Label; Dr. Louise Stanley of Economics Bureau Bearing Brunt of Attack". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Rossiter, Margaret W. (1982). Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. JHU Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-8018-2509-5.
  12. ^ Clarke, Ida Clyde Gallagher (1925). Women of Today. Women of Today Press. p. 61.
  13. ^ Goldstein, Carolyn M. (2012). Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-century America. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-8078-3553-1.
  14. ^ a b "Dr. Louise Stanley Dies; Headed Bureau of Home Economics". Evening star. 1954-07-15. p. 32. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b Van Rensselaer, Martha, Lita Bane, and Louise Stanley. The home and the child: Housing, furnishing, management, income, clothing. Vol. 1. Century Company, 1931.
  16. ^ a b Trowbridge, P. F.; Stanley, Louise (1910-05-01). "Phosphorus in Flesh". Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry. 2 (5): 212–215. doi:10.1021/ie50017a010. ISSN 0095-9014.
  17. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "Project Teaching in Home Economics Courses: As a Means of Extending the Laboratory Time and Relating the Work to the Home." School Science and Mathematics 15, no. 7 (1915): 585-589.
  18. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "Plans for the Bureau of Home Economics." Journal of Home Economics 15, no. 12 (1923): 679-683.
  19. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "Home Economics and Rural Electrification." Journal of Home Economics XXVIII (October, 1936): 560.
  20. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "The Development of Better Farm Homes." Agricultural Engineering 7 (1926): 129.
  21. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "Opening Doors" The Woman Citizen 10(7)(January 1926): 33.
  22. ^ a b Stanley, Louise (February 1928). "The Place of Nutrition in Childhood Education". Childhood Education. 4 (6): 269–273. doi:10.1080/00094056.1928.10723287. ISSN 0009-4056.
  23. ^ a b Stanley, Louise (May 1929). "Home-Making Education in the Colleges". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 143 (1): 361–367. doi:10.1177/000271622914300136. ISSN 0002-7162.
  24. ^ a b Stanley, Louise (1933). "Home Economics Research by the Federal Government". The Scientific Monthly. 37 (6): 531–534. Bibcode:1933SciMo..37..531S. ISSN 0096-3771. JSTOR 15542.
  25. ^ a b Stanley, Louise (May 1933). "The Bureau of Home Economics and the Extension Service". Extension Service Review. 4 (3): 35–36.
  26. ^ a b Stanley, Louise. "The Bureau of Home Economics Studies Eggs and Poultry." US Egg and Poultry Magazine, June (1934): 14.
  27. ^ a b Bliss, Muriel F.; Heseltine, Marjorie M.; Lamkin, Nina B.; Mealey, Ethel; Morgan, Lucy; Stanley, Louise (October 1942). "Health Education Activities of the Government: Departments of Labor and Agriculture". The Journal of Health and Physical Education. 13 (8): 466–489. doi:10.1080/23267240.1942.10623823. ISSN 2326-7240.
  28. ^ Stanley, Louise; McDonald, May C. (1914). The Preservation of Food in the Home. University of Missouri.
  29. ^ Stanley, Louise (1917). A First-year Course in Home Economics for Southern Agricultural Schools. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  30. ^ Stanley, Louise (1926). Canning Fruits and Vegetables at Home. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  31. ^ Stanley, Louise; Yeatman, Fanny Walker (1929). Reindeer Recipes. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  32. ^ Stanley, Louise (1930). Ice Creams Frozen Without Stirring. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  33. ^ Stanley, Louise; Stienbarger, Mabel C.; Shank, Dorothy E. (1942). Home Canning of Fruits, Vegetables and Meats. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  34. ^ Stanley, Louise. "Soldiers of the Kitchen Front." The New York Times (October 18, 1942): 181, 198.
  35. ^ "Dr. Stanley Gets Important Appointment from Government". Columbia Missourian. 1930-01-21. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ "Former Director of Home Ec Dies; Dr. Louise Stanley Appointed to Post by Calvin Coolidge". Columbia Missourian. 1954-07-15. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-09-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ Dreilinger, Danielle (2021-05-04). The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-1-324-00450-9.
  38. ^ "Louise Stanley, Home Economist; Authority on Nutrition and Chief of Federal Bureau in 1923-43 Dies in Capital". The New York Times. July 16, 1954. p. 21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  39. ^ "Agricultural Hall of Fame". National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  40. ^ "Louise Stanley Biographical Material". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved 2024-09-09.