The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards: Pioneer in Science and Technology

Chapter 21

Launching a New Movement

“And I hope that you will all go away realizing that the future of America does mat lie in railroads or machines, but that the future of our republic is to be determined by the character of the American Home.”

~ Ellen Swallow Richards, 1906

Years after John D. Philbrick, the school superintendent of Boston, had stung Ellen with his words upon catching sight of her working in MIT’s chemistry lab during her first semester (“Young lady, what good, may I ask, do you expect this to do you in the kitchen?”), Ellen delivered her reply, and it was in the form of an entire educational movement and new field of study. John D. Philbrick wasn’t able to appreciate all that Ellen had accomplished, however, for he died in 1886. He must have known, however, that in 1885 she had been offered, and had declined, his former superintendent’s job.

By 1898. Ellen’s wide range of work in diverse fields had attracted the attention of social reformers, educators, and thinkers. Melvil Dewey was one of them. In 1895, Dewey and his wife, Annie, established the Lake Placid Club, an Adirondack Mountains resort with a focus upon cultural, recreational, spiritual, educational, and social enrichment. They invited Ellen to speak there. Impressed by what they heard, the Deweys followed up by offering her the use of their dub facilities for a conference. The central topic was the growing field of study known then by several names, among them domestic engineering, household science, ...