Emma Conley

Emma Conley
A white woman with short greying hair, wearing a collared dark top
Emma Conley, from the 1927 yearbook of Cornell University
Born
Emmalline Conley

September 1869
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedOctober 6, 1928(1928-10-06) (aged 59)
Waupaca, Wisconsin, U.S.
Other namesEmma Connelly
Occupation(s)Home economist, educator, state official

Emma Conley (September 1869[1] – October 6, 1928) was an American consumer educator. She taught at the University of Wisconsin and at Cornell University, and wrote two home economics textbooks, Nutrition and Diet (1913) and Principles of Cooking (1914).

Early life and education

Emmaline Conley was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the daughter of Dennis Conley and Johanna Conley. Both of her parents were Irish immigrants. She completed a bachelor's degree at West Virginia University in 1900, with a senior thesis titled "The Influence of Nineteenth Century Fiction on Social Reform".[2][3][4]

Career

Conley taught at the Marathon County Agricultural School in Wausau, and at the Stout Institute in Menomonie, early in her career.[5] In 1910 she caused a "near riot" by telling an audience of 600 farmers in La Crosse that high school graduates are "not fitted for any position of worth."[6]

Conley was director of domestic science at the Wisconsin State Normal School in Oshkosh. In 1913 she was appointed Wisconsin state inspector for domestic science.[7][8] While based in the Midwest, she was vice-chair of the Home Economics section of the Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers.[9] She was also chair of the Home Economics committee of the Wisconsin Education Association.[10] During World War I, she traveled the state giving presentations on wartime food conservation.[11][12] "Because there will always be some people who will not live up to the regulations," she said in 1918 at a bread-making demonstration, "some of the rest of us will have to do more than our share."[13]

Conley wrote two high school textbooks. The first, Nutrition and Diet (1913), began: "The medicine of the future is prevention. The time is coming when it will be considered as gross ignorance or carelessness to be sick as it now is to be unable to read and write."[7]

Conley moved to New York, where she was worked for the State Department of Education as a specialist in vocational education for girls.[14] She was also an acting professor of rural education at Cornell University in the 1920s.[15]

Publications

  • "A Course of Study in Domestic Science" (1905)[16]
  • "Cheese as a Food" (1906)[17]
  • "Why Girls Should Study Domestic Science" (1909)[18]
  • Nutrition and Diet: A Textbook for Secondary Schools (1913)[7]
  • Principles of Cooking: A Textbook in Domestic Science (1914)[19]
  • "School Credit for Home Work" (1915)[20]

Personal life

Conley died suddenly in 1928, at the age of 59, while vacationing with her brother in Waupaca, Wisconsin.[21][22]

References

  1. ^ "Emaline Conelly" appears as an 8-month-old child in the United States federal census taken in 1870, in her family's household in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, confirming a birthdate in autumn 1869; via Ancestry
  2. ^ Conley, Emma. "The Influence of Nineteenth Century Fiction on Social Reform." senior thesis, West Virginia University, 1900.
  3. ^ Alumni Record: West Virginia University. Alumni Association. 1903. p. 211.
  4. ^ "Appointment of Miss Conley". The Journal of Home Economics. 5: 5. December 1913 – via 478.
  5. ^ "The Home Makers Conference". The Watertown News. 1909-11-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Hundreds Attend Farmers' Course". The La Crosse Tribune. 1910-02-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c Conley, Emma (1913). Nutrition and Diet: A Textbook for Secondary Schools. American Book Company.
  8. ^ "Named as State Inspector". Kenosha News. 1913-09-13. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Home Economics Section of the Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers". The Journal of Home Economics. 7: 104. February 1915.
  10. ^ Wisconsin Education Association (1917). Annual Report (64 ed.). p. 367.
  11. ^ "Home Economics Defense Meetings; Miss Emma Conley Will Talk on Food Conservation June 11 and 12". Wausau Daily Herald. 1917-06-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Madison Speaker Addresses Class on Food Problem; Miss Emma Conley Gives Talk". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 1918-03-12. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Women Discuss Food Problems". The Capital Times. 1918-02-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Winchell, Cora M.; Stevenson, Grace; Meserve, Rachel; Patrick, Mabel (March 1923). "A Survey of Methods Used in Professional Courses in Home Economics". Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education. 24 (2): 1–13. doi:10.1177/016146812302400206. ISSN 0161-4681. S2CID 251481706.
  15. ^ Cornell University, The Cornellian (1927 yearbook): 44. via Hathi Trust
  16. ^ Conley, Emma (1905). "A Course of Study in Domestic Science". Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Session of the Wisconsin Teachers Association. 53: 72–73.
  17. ^ Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Association (1906). Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Association: Report. Democrat Printing Company, State Printer. pp. 131–136.
  18. ^ Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Association (1909). Annual Report of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Association (7 ed.). Democrat Print. Company, state printer. pp. 7–13.
  19. ^ Conley, Emma (1914). Principles of cooking; a textbook in domestic science. New York: American Book Co.
  20. ^ Conley, Emma (May 1915). "School Credit for Home Work". School Science and Mathematics. 15 (5): 413–416. doi:10.1111/j.1949-8594.1915.tb16335.x.
  21. ^ "Former Supervisor of Home Economics is Dead". Bulletin to the Schools. 15 (5): 78. November 15, 1928.
  22. ^ "Emma Conley, U. W. Teacher, Dies Suddenly; Drops Dead at Waupun Oil Station; Was Home Ec Expert". The Capital Times. 1928-10-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-29.