TY - BOOK ID - 135391894 TI - Divided paths, common ground PY - 2011 SN - 128310198X 9786613101983 1612491928 9781612491929 9781612491936 1612491936 9781557535917 PB - West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue University Press DB - UniCat KW - Women deans (Education) KW - Home economics KW - Study and teaching (Higher) KW - History KW - Matthews, Mary Lockwood, KW - Gaddis, Lella. KW - Purdue University KW - Faculty UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:135391894 AB - "In the early 1900s, Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis forged trails for women at Purdue University and throughout Indiana. Mary was the first dean of the School of Home Economics. Lella was Indiana's first state leader of Home Demonstration. In 1914, Mary hired Lella to organize Purdue's new Home Economics Extension Service. According to those who knew them, Lella was a "sparkler" who traveled the state instructing rural women about nutrition, hygiene, safe water, childcare, and more. "Reserved" Mary established Purdue's School of Home Economics, created Indiana's first nursery school, and authored a popular textbook. Both women used their natural talents and connections to achieve their goals in spite of a male-dominated society. As a land grant institution, Purdue University has always been very connected to the American countryside. Based on extensive oral history and archival research, this book sheds new light on the important role female staff and faculty played in improving the quality of life for rural women during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a fascinating story, engagingly told, of two very different personalities united in a common goal"-- "The book is about the accomplishments for women achieved by Purdue University's first dean of the School of Home Economics, Mary Matthews, and the first state leader of Home Demonstration, Lella Gaddis"-- ER -