Over the past several years your curator of Economics in the Rear-view Mirror has tried to have about one-tenth of the posts dedicated to artifacts/information about the training and subsequent careers of women economists. This particular post began with me stumbling upon Lois E. Torrence’s A Survey and Analysis of Earned Doctorates, 1916-1966, at the American University, Washington, D.C. I did not notice at first that the monograph was limited to Ph.D. graduates of the American University and I randomly selected the 1928 economics Ph.D., Edith Louise Allen, for this post. All that I had to go on from the Torrence survey was that Allen received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, her masters degree from Columbia and that she was deceased as of the time of the survey (1966).
From Allen’s record that I have been able to piece together, we see how the field and departments of home economics served at least in part as sort of a women’s auxiliary for teaching and research of household and family economics.
Edith Louise Allen was born June 24, 1880 in Dillon township, Illinois and died August 18, 1949 in Delevan, Illinois.
Warning. There turns out to have been another woman with the name Edith Louise Allen who attended Barnard College around 1910 (but apparently who did not graduate, but instead[?] married Mr. Edwin C. Johnston). Her name comes up in internet searches, but she really is a different person. “Our” Edith received her master’s from Columbia about seven years after Barnard Edith was serving as the editor of the Barnard yearbook.
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University Education and Graduate Training
A.B. in Science. University of Illinois (1903)
Source: James Herbert Kelley, ed. The Alumni Record of the University of Illinois (1913), p. 290.
M.A., Faculty of Education and Practical Arts. Columbia University (1917).
Source: Columbia University. One Hundred and Sixty-third Annual Commencement June 6, 1917, p. 38.
Ph.D., American University (1928).
Source: Lois E. Torrence. A Survey and Analysis of Earned Doctorates, 1916-1966, at the American University, Washington, D.C. p. 52.
Ph.D. Dissertation: Edith Louise Allen. American housing: as affected by social and economic conditions. Peoria, Ill.: Manual Arts Press, 1930.
This book is the result of a study of the effects of social and economic changes on American housing made by the author in fulfilling the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy from American university.–Preface.
Summary of the dissertation.
A study of the historical development of houses in the United States, showing the effect of inventions, scientific discoveries, educational progress, financial conditions, political situations, immigration, and other factors in modifying the idea of what constitutes suitable housing. The purpose is to help in determining the features most desirable for certain conditions or types of family life, “so that, from the facts set forth, students of home economics and others will have a basis for further research, and for deciding what certain individuals need or can afford or attain in housing.”
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 31, no. 5 (November, 1930) p. 249.
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Publications identified
at time of this post
Edith Louise Allen. Mechanical Devices in the Home. Peoria, Illinois: The Manual Arts Press, 1922.
Note: author’s previous affiliations from the title page:
Home Economics in Kansas State Agricultural College, University of Texas, and Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College.
Edith Louise Allen. Rugmaking Craft. Peoria, Ill.: Manual Arts Press, 1946.
Edith Louise Allen. Weaving You Can Do. Peoria, Ill.: Manual Arts Press, 1947.
Congressional Information Service, CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents, 1910-1932: Guide to …, Part 5, (p. 126).
Allen, Edith Louise. How colored home demonstration agents attacked problems of health and sanitation in 1930; summary including abstracts from Negro agents’ reports [on home economics extension activities in Southern States] (1930) A43.5-2.3
Allen, Edith Louise. Illustrative material used in teaching of home economics, suggestions for teachers in elementary and secondary schools [on collection, storage, and use] A43.2-1.
Extension Service, Agriculture Department, Miscellaneous extension publication 49, by Edith Allen. Federal publications of interest to home-economics extension workers, partial list of references. February 1940, 7 pages.
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Obituary
Miss Edith L. Allen [1880-1949]
Delvan. — (PNS) Funeral services for Miss Edith Louise Allen 69, who died Thursday evening at her home in Delavan, were set for 2 p.m. (CDT) Saturday at the Hothton mortuary, with Dr. E. C. Pires, pastor of the Presbyterian church, officiating. Burial is to be in Prairie Rest cemetery.
Miss Allen was born June 24, 1880, in Dillon township, the daughter of Ralph and Ada Eaton Allen. She was a graduate of the Delavan school, and she taught home economics at several state colleges and universities. She also wrote three books on home economics and textiles. She was a member of the Peoria chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Miss Allen worked for the agriculture extension department in Washington, D.C. She returned to her home in Delavan seven years ago. She was active in the national Association of University Women, 10 women’s clubs, the Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Home Economics association, and the National Dietetic association.
Miss Allen had a doctor of philosophy degree from the American university in Washington, D.C. After her return to Delavan, she served as president of the Delavan Women’s club, was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and worked for the Presbyterian church.
She is survived by three brothers and two sisters: Paschal of Green Valley and Ralph and Theodore of Delavan; Mrs. Robert Hopkins and Mrs. J.R. Johns, both of Delavan.
Source: The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Indiana). August 20, 1949, p. 5.
Associated Press Obituary
Dr. Edith Allen Dies: Was Federal Scientist
Delavan, Ill., Aug. 19 (AP) Dr. Edith Allen, 69, retired research worker of the extension service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, died at her home today.
She retired from government service seven years ago after more than 20 years of employment in Washington. Previously she had taught at state universities is Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.
Source: Herald and Review, Decatur, Illinois. August 20, 1949, p. 9.
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Fun Fact:
Edith Louise Allen was a
Daughter of the American Revolution
MISS EDITH LOUISE ALLEN.
Born in Delaware, Ill.
Descendant of Ensign Timothy ClarkDaughter of Ralph Allen and Ada Mary Eaton, his wife.
Granddaughter of Lucius Eaton and Lucy Clevland, his wife.
Gr-granddaughter of David Eaton and Anna Amy Clark, his wife.
Gr-gr-grandaughter of Timothy Clark and Amy Woodworth, his wife.Timothy Clark (1745-1813) in 1775 served as a private in a companyfrom Rockingham, Vt., which marched to Ticonderoga; 1777 was in Col. William Williams’ company of militia and, 1780, was promoted ensign. He was born in Mansfield, Conn.: died in Hancock, Vt.
Source: Jenn Winslow Coltrane, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Lineage Book Vol. LXI (1907).