Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home

The Founders Series

by Angie Klink

In the early 1900s, Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis forged trails for women at Purdue University and throughout Indiana. Mary was the first dean of the School of Home Economics. Lella was Indiana's first state leader of Home Demonstration. In 1914, Mary hired Lella to organize Purdue's new Home Economics Extension Service. According to those who knew them, Lella was a "sparkler" who traveled the state instructing rural women about nutrition, hygiene, safe water, childcare, and more. "Reserved" Mary established Purdue's School of Home Economics, created Indiana's first nursery school, and authored a popular textbook. Both women used their natural talents and connections to achieve their goals in spite of a male-dominated society. As a land grant institution, Purdue University has always been very connected to the American countryside. Based on extensive oral history and archival research, this book sheds new light on the important role female staff and faculty played in improving the quality of life for rural women during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a fascinating story, engagingly told, of two very different personalities united in a common goal.

262 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2011

About the author

Angie Klink writes from the sleeping porch turned office of her circa 1900 home in Lafayette, Indiana. As she looks out onto the heart of the city’s downtown along the Wabash River with the Tippecanoe County Courthouse dome a beacon on the horizon, she writes about lives worth emulating. Her most recent book is "The Deans' Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality" published by Purdue University Press, March 2014. She also authored "Kirby’s Way, How Kirby and Caroline Risk Built their Company on Kitchen-Table Values," published by Purdue University Press, July 2012,
Angie is honored to bring to life two pioneering Purdue educators who improved the lives of American women in her book "Divided Paths, Common Ground." She authored the popular children’s books "Purdue Pete Finds His Hammer" and "I Found U." Angie is published in "Republican’s Soul," "The Gift of Christmas," "Chicken Soup for the Sisters Soul 2" and "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Just for Preteens."
Angie writes advertising copy, essays and profiles. She has won 52 American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards and an honorable mention in the 2007 Erma Bombeck Essay Contest. She has a BA from the Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University.

Reviews

[Julieann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for Purudue fans and alums.

[Ruth Kauffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed learning about the lives of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, and their place in the development of the educational program at Purdue. I would say that the writing lacks deep narrative interest and perhaps could have been tied more deeply into the history of land grant colleges and their role in the university system. I was left with some questions about the programs and their involvement of African American women in Indiana. There is absolutely no mention of one black person in the program, either at the university or in the extension education community programs. Perhaps the divisions between races were so programmed into the Indiana culture that the author did not think to mention it. But it is a lack and disappointing. I also wondered about how home management is being taught in public education today, and that is not addressed. Good topics for another author to follow up on!

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read! Fascinating to read the history of the "school" I graduated from within Purdue. Although it focused mainly on the two women, it was fun to read some stories of other influential people from its past - before they were just names on buildings. Who knew that the building I spent most of my last years of school in was named after a Purdue president who died falling off a mountain? Not me!