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If Flora Rose (1874 - 1959) had followed the expectations
of her well-to-do Denver family, she would have been a woman of
high society. By her mid-twenties, however, Rose found that lifestyle
unfulfilling and abandoned it for a career in the new field of
home economics. She borrowed money and enrolled in a household
arts program at Framingham (Massachusetts) Normal School. In 1904,
she earned a B.S. from Kansas State University, where she taught
food and nutrition classes. By 1907, Rose had received an M.A.
in Food and Nutrition from Columbia University.
In 1905, Rose wrote a letter to administrators at both Stanford
and Cornell University encouraging these forward-thinking, coeducational
universities to start programs in home economics. She later
explained: "Neither of them had home economics, and in
my reforming mood I decided that they should." Rose's letter
convinced the Cornell administration to invite her as a lecturer
in nutrition in 1907, which led to a full-time appointment in
the agriculture department in the hope that Rose would help
establish a home economics department.
With Martha Van Rensselaer, Rose began to co-direct the fledgling
department in 1908. Rose's specialized academic background complemented
Van Rensselaer's experience: Van Rensselaer took responsibility
for administration and extension; Rose taught and served, in
effect, as the dean of the student body. President Schurman
described the Van Rensselaer-Rose partnership as the "only successful
double-headed administration in the world." A colleague among
the early faculty always wrote to them as "Miss Van Rose." The
pair lived together as companions until Van Rensselaer's death
in 1932.
Rose and Van Rensselaer campaigned vigorously to improve the
resources of the Department of Home Economics. They fought with
the university administration for equitable budget allocations
and space on campus, as well as frequently appealing to Albany
for increased funding and recognition. In 1919, their hard work
paid off when the university made the department independent
from the agriculture school, creating a separate School of Home
Economics. This development gave Rose and Van Rensselaer autonomy
in running the home economics division. Six years later, they
achieved their goal when the School of Home Economics became
the New York State College of Home Economics.
Rose made important strides in the field of nutrition. Her
research at Cornell led to the development of Milkorno, one
of the first low-cost reinforced cereals. Throughout World War
I, she served as deputy director for the New York State division
of the United States Food Administration. In 1923, at the request
of King Albert, she traveled to Belgium to organize food relief
for malnourished Belgian school children. For her efforts, she
received the Order of the Crown. During the late 1920s, Rose
conducted a nutritional study of Cattaraugus County, New York,
which garnered national attention because it discovered a relationship
between good nutrition and decreasing incidence of tuberculosis
and infant mortality. During the Great Depression, the Federal
Relief Emergency Administration adopted emergency food budgets
devised by Rose. These budgets enabled poor families to eat
healthily on meager incomes.
After Van Rensselaer's death in 1932, Rose became the head
of the College of Home Economics. In 1940, at the age of sixty-six,
she retired and moved to Berkeley, California, where she shared
a home with Cornell colleague Claribel Nye. In retirement, Rose
conducted nutritional research for the California State Health
Department and led educational nutrition classes for Californian
women and senior citizens.
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