Charlotte Viall Wiser

Charlotte Melina Viall was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was educated at the University of Chicago. She was sent as a Presbyterian missionary to India in 1916.{{Cite journal |last=Hess |first=Gary R. |date=1968 |title=American Agricultural Missionaries and Efforts at Economic Improvement in India |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3740182 |journal=Agricultural History |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=23–34 |issn=0002-1482}} She married William H. Wiser, another Presbyterian missionary in India, at Allahabad in 1916. They had three sons – Arthur, Alfred, and Edward.{{cite web |url= http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=divinity:128&query=posters&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&filter=&hitPageStart=76 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20121215124034/http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=divinity:128&query=posters&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&filter=&hitPageStart=76 |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 15, 2012 |title= Yale University Divinity School Library – Historical Sketch |quote= JCharlotte Wiser also taught courses at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute – Charlotte Wiser received a M.S. degree in nutrition from Cornel |publisher= NY Times Co. |accessdate=May 2, 2012 }}

Her first term of missionary work was spent doing social work in Kanpur and teaching courses at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. During their second missionary term (1925–1930), they worked in Mainpuri, and lived in village Karimpur, near Agra, to get to know the village people and village life.{{cite book |last=Wadley |first= Susan Snow |author-link=Susan Snow Wadley |title= Struggling With Destiny in Karimpur, 1925–1984 |publisher= University of California Press |year= 1994 |page= xviii|url=https://archive.org/details/strugglingwithde00wadl |url-access=registration |quote=William wiser, Presbyterian Missionary, north india. |isbn=978-0-520-08407-0}}

She and her husband spent most of their time researching in North India villages. Initially, they did survey of a farming community to better understand the agriculture conditions. Later, they conducted extensive studies on the social, economic, and religious life of peasants between 1925 and 1930. Based on their survey, research, and experience in Indian Anthropology, Wister published several books, such as Behind Mud Walls, in collaboration with her husband William Wiser. Their research books have become influential sources about North Indian village life,{{Cite journal |last=Siegel |first=Benjamin |date=May 2016 |title=‘Self-Help which Ennobles a Nation’: Development, citizenship, and the obligations of eating in India's austerity years |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/abs/selfhelp-which-ennobles-a-nation-development-citizenship-and-the-obligations-of-eating-in-indias-austerity-years/5AC9CB7983AA9660ACED6897ED880882 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |language=en |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=975–1018 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X14000493 |issn=0026-749X|hdl=2144/39454 |hdl-access=free }} and were used to teach in colleges and universities across the United States, especially in Iowa. While in furlough, Wister completed her Master of Science degree in Nutrition from Cornell University, submitting the work The Foods of a Hindu Village of North India as her thesis.

Wister worked among Indian women and children from rural areas to help raise the standard of health. She ran baby shows like fairs demonstrating Western hygiene and childcare techniques. From 1945 to 1960, both Charlotte and her husband played pivotal and responsible role in the development and direction of Indian Village Service, a demonstration project for the improvement of village life. It later became a model for agencies involving in rural community development program—India's Block Development Program at Marehra, Etah district.

{{cite book |last= Chaudhuri |first= Nupur |title= Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance |publisher= Indiana University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jH6LEPVn80C&q=William+wiser%2C+Presbyterian+Missionary%2C+north+india&pg=PA205 |year= 1992 |page= 205 |isbn=978-0-253-20705-0}}

She returned to the United States in 1970 and died in December 1981, aged 89.

• For All of Life a Presbyterian Mission study book, in 1943.
• Four families of Karimpur, in 1978.
• Behind Mud Walls, in 1930–1960, 1970–1980.
• The Foods of a Hindu Village of North India, in 1936.{{cite web |url= http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/WISER,-WILLIAM-WITH-CHARLOTTE-WISER- |title= WISER, WILLIAM WITH CHARLOTTE WISER|publisher= abebooks.com |accessdate= May 1, 2012 }}{{cite web |url= http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-n88-205045 |title=Most widely held works by Charlotte Viall Wiser |publisher= orlabs.oclc.org |accessdate= May 2, 2012 }}

{{Reflist}}

• William Hendricks Wiser and Charlotte Viall Wiser Papers (RG 128), Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library.
• [http://library.wcsu.edu/cao/search.tkl?field_query1=dc.subject&query1=Presbyterian%20Church%20in%20the%20U.S.A.%20--Missions%20--India. William Henricks and Charlotte Melina (Viall) Wiser Papers]

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Category:1892 births

Category:1981 deaths

Category:American Presbyterian missionaries

Category:Female Christian missionaries

Category:Presbyterian missionaries in India

Category:Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal

Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni

Category:University of Chicago alumni

Category:American expatriates in India

Category:20th-century American anthropologists