Helen Monsch
{{short description|American home economist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helen Monsch
| image = HelenMonsch1927.png
| alt = A white woman with dark hair parted center and dressed to the nape, wearing a dark top and a strand of dark beads
| caption = Helen Monsch, from the 1927 yearbook of Cornell University
| birth_name =
| birth_date = January 28, 1881
| birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
| death_date = July 31, 1959 (age 78)
| death_place = Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = Home economist, college professor
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
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.{{Cite journal |last=Monsch |first=Helen |date=1904 |title=Food adulteration |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2097/37706 |journal=Senior Thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College |hdl=2097/37706 |language=en |via=Morse Department of Special Collections, Kansas State University Libraries}} 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.Cornell University, Office of the Dean of the University Faculty, [https://ecommons.cornell.edu/items/c2f5e348-b61e-42dd-b50c-5337bc0da5db "Memorial Statement for Professor Helen Monsch"] (1959).
Career
File:Faculty of the department of home economics about 1918-19. In the first row, from - (3856196872).jpg, 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.{{Cite news |date=1915-04-06 |title=To Teach at Iowa State; Miss Helen Monsch Appointed Assoc. Professor of Home Economics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-chronicle-to-teach-at-iowa-s/145050430/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Morning Chronicle |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} 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.{{Cite news |date=1933-02-26 |title=Cornell Expert to Talk to Home Bureau on Friday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-cornell-expert-to/145046688/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |pages=34 |via=Newspapers.com}}
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.{{Cite web |title= Faculty Biographies: Helen Monsch|url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/bios/helenmonsch.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Cornell University: What Was Home Economics?}} She also directed health classes in the public schools of Ithaca,{{Cite journal |last1=Van Rensselaer |first1=Martha |last2=Rose |first2=Flora |date=September 1925 |title=Food and Health Education: Practical Work in Child Feeding at Cornell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxrnAAAAMAAJ&dq=Helen+Monsch&pg=PA438 |journal=The American Food Journal |volume=20 |pages=438–439}} wrote newspaper articles on cooking,{{Cite news |last=Monsch |first=Helen |date=1932-04-17 |title=Proper Cooking Methods Given |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-proper-cooking-metho/145047728/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Birmingham News |pages=55 |via=Newspapers.com}} and gave public lectures on child nutrition.
Monsch wrote and narrated a short educational film about nutrition, For Health and Happiness (1941).{{Cite web |title=For Health and Happiness |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mbrs01840194/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} After she retired from Cornell in 1947, she donated over 300 books to the university's home economics library.
Publications
- Feeding Babies and Their Families (1943, with Marguerite Kaechele Harper){{Cite book |last1=Monsch |first1=Helen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeIfAAAAIAAJ |title=Feeding Babies and Their Families |last2=Harper |first2=Marguerite Kaechele |date=1943 |publisher=J. Wiley and Sons, Incorporated |language=en}}
Personal life
Monsch retired to Winter Park, Florida, where at least two of her sisters also lived.{{Cite news |date=1951-03-20 |title=Miss Daisy Monsch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal-great-grandma-payne/112979313/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Courier-Journal |via=Newspapers.com|pages=12}} She died there in 1959, at the age of 78.{{Cite news |date=1959-08-01 |title=Obituary for Helen Monsch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-orlando-sentinel-obituary-for-helen/145050659/ |access-date=2024-04-09 |work=The Orlando Sentinel |pages=19 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1560512}}
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Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky
Category:University of Chicago alumni
Category:Teachers College, Columbia University alumni