UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Interview #85
REYNOLDS, MAY S.
REYNOLDS, May S. (1891-1986)
Graduate Student; Professor of Home Economics
At UW: 1922-1961
Interviewed: 1977
Interviewer: Donna Taylor
Length: 3.25 hours
Undergraduate background; M.A.; Ph.D.; Department of Home Economics under
Abby Marlatt; Home Management House; Frances Zuill; Facilities; Subsequent
deans; School of Home Economics; Department of Foods and Nutrition in
College of Agriculture; School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences;
Student Life and Interest Committee; Service abroad; University Club; Federal
funds; WARF support; Visiting professorships; Combining motherhood and
career; Annual emeritus breakfast; Extension work.
Tape 1/Side 1
00:00:28
Background: Begins college at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa; transfers to
Iowa State, Ames, Iowa, to major in domestic science after one year; lost father at
an early age.
00:04:17
Does not plan on teaching home economics; does not take educational curriculum
for teachers.
00:05:23
Takes five semesters of chemistry (including organic, quantitative, and
physiological), zoology, botany, physics.
00:06:45
Meets her husband during her senior year; teaches for a year, and then is married.
00:07:50
Grows up in Wyoming, Iowa, and teaches in Missouri Valley, Iowa, for one year.
00:09:43
Married and comes to Lodi, Wisconsin, to live.
00:09:55
Husband dies in the flu epidemic of 1918, leaving her with small child.
00:13:35
Returns to her parents' home and teaches at the local high school for two years.
May S. Reynolds (#085)
00:14:00
Runs the school hot-lunch program, besides teaching.
00:17:37
Comes to the UW the following year, with her small child.
00:19:45
Lives close to and is assisted by Ruth Merlin, assistant to a dean.
00:20:00
Helen Parsons, professor of home economics, serves as her major professor.
00:20:55
After one semester of study, stops work on her master's degree to teach the food
and nutrition course at Wisconsin High School, on the university campus.
00:21:30
Returns to her studies the following semester and does her thesis with Elmer
Sevringhaus of the Medical School in physiological chemistry.
00:23:34
Goes to see Harry Steenbock, under the direction of Helen Parsons, to enter into
his graduate course in biochemistry.
00:24:23
Finishes her master's degree in 1924 and teaches for ten years, before returning
for her doctorate degree.
00:24:56
Follows Helen Parsons and May Cowles's examples in returning for her doctorate
degree.
00:25:37
Does her laboratory work for her doctoral degree in Steenbock's laboratory.
00:26:30
To earn a doctorate in nutrition, she must earn a minor degree in medical
physiology.
00:28:48
With master's degree, remains on the staff as an instructor.
00:30:51
While an instructor, begins doing cooperative research.
00:31:22
End of side.
Tape 1/Side 2
00:31:25
More on research.
00:32:48
When Helen Parsons moves to Yale, takes over some of her teaching.
00:33:14
Becomes interested in doing research into the amino acid requirements of women-especially on a cooperative basis.
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
00:34:33
While working towards her master's degree works with Helen Parsons on a
vitamin C project, which results in a Journal of Biological Chemistry article.
00:36:25
Works with Severinghaus attempting to develop a synthetic fat to be used by
diabetics in place of sugar as a calorie source.
00:38:49
Teaches a beginnings foods course, Home Ec III, and is in contact with Abby L.
Marlatt.
00:39:56
Marlatt is a misunderstood individual who is very instrumental in establishing the
School of Home Economics.
00:41:00
Dean Harry Russell of the College of Agriculture says he will accept the home
economics department from the School of Letters and Sciences if Abby L. Marlatt
is brought in as director.
00:41:37
Marlatt establishes a broad curriculum of courses for students majoring in home
economics.
00:42:32
To insure that home economics majors receive a broad education, Marlatt
establishes the forty credit rule--no student can take more than forty credits of
home economics in meeting her bachelor's degree requirements.
00:43:25
The School of Home Economics operates a "practice cottage," in which students
prepare foods.
00:45:05
Serves as faculty advisor to Omicron Nu, the home economics fraternity.
00:45:15
Omicron Nu operates a scholarship on funds donated by alumni, and when the
scholarship falls short of its goal to permit the awarding of a scholarship, Marlatt
makes up the needed amount out of her own pocket.
00:46:03
Marlatt also pays the medical expenses of a student who needs an eye operation.
00:46:36
AM offers Reynolds financial assistance to permit her to attend an American
Dietetic Association meeting.
00:47:20
However, because of her manner, AM is heavily criticized.
00:49:27
AM maintains a sensitivity for the dairy industry, and the use of its products in
food preparation.
00:50:40
AM objects to Reynolds’ name being listed in a Household Finance public
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
relations directory.
00:51:57
Serves for five years as an instructor at the home management house, while doing
Ph.D. work.
00:53:08
Lives for five years with students in the home management house, which stood
where the Children's Hospital now stands.
00:55:28
AM lunches daily at the home management house.
00:56:30
AM runs a strong home economics department, never missing an opportunity to
teach her instructors.
00:57:30
During these years, home economics has poor facilities, occupying only one wing
of what is now the Home Economics Building.
00:58:12
The west wing is added years after the east and central portions of the building.
00:58:30
AM establishes a good department within the College of Agriculture; Francis
Zuill obtains better facilities and pay scales for Home Economics.
01:00:33
AM died of cancer at the university hospital.
01:01:05
AM never drove a car; she used a cab to come and go from the UW.
01:02:20
Francis Zuill is not like AM; she comes from the University of Iowa.
01:02:40
End of side. End of tape.
Tape 2/Side 1
00:01:15
FZ is a two-year graduate of Stout Teacher College and gets teaching experience
before obtaining her bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University.
00:02:29
She became the chairman of the home economics department at the University of
Iowa.
00:06:12
In stature, she is the direct opposite of AM, not big and opposing but small; in
personality, not crusty but congenial.
00:08:03
FZ serves as president of the American Home Ec Association, but AM never
does.
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
00:09:05
MR, however, never has problems serving under AM, but does in serving under
FZ--although FZ chairs so-called democratic staff meetings, they never end until
the staff agrees to follow her directives.
00:11:22
AM does not hold staff meetings that include the entire home ec faculty.
00:12:38
Under FZ the department becomes the School of Home Economics.
00:13:40
FZ is somewhat less generous than AM--she does not make a large contribution to
Omicron Nu.
00:14:15
AM could face her instructors and praise them; FZ could not.
00:15:53
FZ does, however, encourage the home ec faculty to nominate, in writing, MR for
the Borden Award for nutrition research in 1958.
00:17:39
As the home ec department develops, its early emphasis is in pure science--AM is
a chemist whose interest lies in food and nutritional research; experimental station
funds exist for foods and nutritional research, but not for family economics,
clothes, and textiles.
00:20:28
FZ begins with the title director and then receives the title of dean when the
department became the School of Home Economics; but when the school is still
the department, Hazel Manning is chairman of clothing and textiles, Ellen
Hillstrom is chairman or related arts, and AM is chairman of foods and nutrition.
00:21:11
FZ assumes the departmental chairmanship; she shifts the departmental emphasis
from food and nutritional research to the social sciences. Julia Dalrymple serves
as chairman of home economics education.
00:23:20
MR's daughter, like her mother, becomes a professor of home ec.
00:24:35
Under FZ, students still have to obtain a liberal education along with their home
economics education; and most take at least one course in all areas of home
economics--related art, clothing construction, foods, nutrition, and child
development.
00:27:25
FZ rises to the dean's position minus a Ph.D.
00:28:55
FZ obtains a pay raise for MR through Rudolph K. Froker, Dean of the College of
Agriculture, after MR is past the age of 65, the age beyond which pay raises are
not to be awarded.
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
00:31:05
End of side.
Tape 2/Side 2
00:31:24
Extension occupied the center of the Extension and Home Economics Building;
home economics occupied the east wing. A west wing was then constructed for
home economics, and home economics finally gained control over the entire
building after extension moved to a new building. But the Home Economics
Building is still crowded.
00:33:06
There were few men in home economics. MR remembers when a male
biochemistry major enrolled in one of her classes. There were no men on the
faculty.
00:34:14
During the Depression, when many graduates could not find jobs, home
economics majors were able to find jobs. MR lists the types of positions they
held.
00:35:14
MR believes faculty in home economics were given higher salaries than most
other women on campus. Women were, however, paid less than male faculty
members doing similar work. MR liked what she was doing and did not worry a
lot about her salary.
00:36:55
MR explains that she came to UW to try graduate work as an experiment. She
was pleased when she was offered the opportunity to join the faculty. MR talks
about her decision to join the faculty rather than accept a position in Montana.
00:39:43
After MR earned her Masters degree, she began teaching and doing some
research. At the time, there was no pressure to earn a Ph.D. MR talks about a
course on nutrition taught by Professor Hart that she and other faculty members
took. She does not remember why she decided to earn her Ph.D. Helen Parsons
encouraged her to do the degree.
00:43:38
MR did her Ph.D. work in Harry Steenbock’s laboratory.
00:44:48
She was one of three pioneers in the joint major between nutrition and
biochemistry. Other people in Steenbock’s lab were Carl Baumann, Margaret
Irwin, and Evelyn Van Donk (later Steenbock).
00:46:16
MR took a long time to finish her Ph.D. because she continued to teach. She
explains that she lived in the home management house and taught students on a
half-time basis for a while, but Marlatt then hired her full-time again, which
slowed down the process of writing her thesis. MR thought she would never
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
finish her degree.
00:48:45
MR does not believe that earning a Ph.D. affected her work in the home
economics department. She might have been given a small raise.
00:50:00
MR refers to the current emphasis on having a Ph.D. as “foolish.” A Ph.D. is
meant to be a research degree, yet is often required for teaching positions that do
not involve research.
00:53:26
Abby Marlatt had a great deal of vision when she established the home economics
program. She limited the number of home economics courses students could take
to encourage them to obtain a good general education. Frances Zuill’s greatest
contribution to the school was obtaining improved physical facilities for it.
00:54:58
MR talks about the associate deans who followed Zuill, including Josephine
Staab, Rita Youmans, William Marshall, acting associate dean Rose Marie
Chioni, and Elizabeth Simpson. Simpson became the first dean of the school
when it was made a separate school, distinct from the College of Agricultural and
Life Sciences (CALS). During this period, the foods and nutrition department
was repositioned in CALS. MR gives some reasons why foods and nutrition was
pulled out of home economics, and explains why this shift weakened home
economics.
01:02:37
End of side. End of tape.
Tape 3/Side 1
00:00:00
MR continues to explain why she believes it was a mistake to reposition foods
and nutrition in CALS. She describes the current organization of the School of
Home Economics.
00:03:30
MR talks about the effect on home economics of the shift of foods and nutrition to
CALS. At first she believed the shift would have a disastrous effect, but the other
subject areas have been strengthened in recent years.
00:05:57
She would like to see a strong teaching unit on foods and nutrition in the School
of Home Economics, even if research remains in CALS. She does not know if
students in home economics are still required to take classes in foods and
nutrition. In her opinion, the school is not complete without some foods and
nutrition component. There is a good relationship between home economics and
foods and nutrition.
00:07:57
MR does not know why the school changed its name to Family Resources and
7
May S. Reynolds (#085)
Consumer Sciences. At the time, schools around the country were changing their
name to anything other than home economics. She comments on the name
changes that took place at other schools.
00:10:45
After two years in Pakistan, MR taught a course called “Food and People” for a
full year and a summer at Pennsylvania State University. The course dealt with
issues of distributing food to people around the world.
00:12:27
The interviewer asks how the other male associate deans in the College of
Agriculture viewed the associate deans of home economics. MR comments on
how students had to obtain approval from their dean to take certain courses.
00:16:07
MR talks about her experience serving on the Student Life and Interest
Committee, which tried to improve advising to students in the College of Letters
and Science by borrowing the advising model used in the College of Agriculture.
During the time she served on this committee, UW was invited to its first Rose
Bowl. The committee debated the amount of chaperoning students needed as they
traveled by train to the Rose Bowl. Students wanted to bring beer on the train, but
the committee objected on the grounds that they would pass through several
Prohibition states. MR recalls watching the Rose Bowl in Milwaukee, where the
television reception was more reliable than in Madison.
00:23:13
MR explains why she and Zuill decided to spend several years in Pakistan after
they retired as part of an educational program run by the University of Oklahoma.
MR stayed two years; Zuill stayed three. MR wanted to return to Pakistan, but
the Board of Regents at the University of Oklahoma decreed that the university
could not hire faculty members above a certain age. She gives other examples of
opportunities she has been denied because of her age.
00:28:25
After her retirement, MR also worked at the University of Delaware and Brigham
Young, neither of which had an age restriction.
00:29:27
MR belonged to the University Club (UC) at a time when women were not
permitted to enter the club by the front door. The UC was primarily a men’s club,
although some women ate their lunch there regularly.
00:31:20
End of side.
Tape 3/Side 2
00:31:22
The UC has declined in recent years. It is no longer necessary to be a member of
the UC in order to eat lunch there. MR remembers when the UC held dances for
the children of its members.
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
00:34:11
MR belongs to the Zonta Club, which is a service club.
00:34:57
She speculates on the future of the School of Home Economics, and notes that the
field’s emphasis is moving toward consumer science. Her daughter told her that
foods and nutrition research does not relate to the family, and therefore does not
need to be done in a home economics department. MR argues that female
researchers have been more successful in some types of nutrition research than
male researchers.
00:40:51
MR talks about Hellen Linkswiler, who was a subject for one of her research
projects on nutrition. MR recalls how time-consuming it was to conduct research
involving subjects. The subjects would come to the home economics buildings for
their meals.
00:43:01
MR’s research on the amino acid requirements of older women was funded by the
federal government. She describes this research. MR discovered that some
women with excellent diets were nevertheless losing more nitrogen than they
obtained from their food.
00:48:58
Some of MR’s research was also funded by WARF.
00:50:22
MR once believed she would be an instructor forever. A colleague told her that
the only way to get a promotion was to receive an offer from another school.
00:50:45
MR talks about her experiences as a visiting professor at Brigham Young.
00:54:01
When MR first graduated from home economics, she did not want to teach. But
at the time there were few other positions suitable for a home economics graduate.
Once she was widowed, it was very easy to return to teaching. When she came to
UW, she took opportunities as they came, rather than planning her future ahead of
time.
00:55:45
MR talks about combining her career with motherhood. She discusses the lessons
her daughter learned from her about women working outside the home, and talks
about her daughter’s decision to earn a Ph.D.
00:57:00
Most of MR’s friends in home economics were single women. She believes it
ought to be possible for women to combine a career and a family. Some
homemakers feel a sense of hostility toward career women, in MR’s view.
01:02:00
End of side. End of tape.
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May S. Reynolds (#085)
Tape 4/Side 1
00:00:20
MR talks about organizations that allow homemakers to contribute to their
communities.
00:03:15
MR discusses the idea that a woman cannot excel at her career without neglecting
her family.
00:06:16
She talks about how much she enjoyed her career at the UW. Every year she
attends a breakfast for emeritus faculty. One year she chaired the committee that
organizes the emeritus breakfasts.
00:11:40
MR was never officially on the extension staff, but she occasionally traveled
around the state to give talks. She also gave a series of radio talks on WHA.
Nellie Kedzie Jones cautioned MR not to instruct women to buy products they
could not afford.
00:15:27
MR believes it is a good idea for resident faculty to travel around the state in
order to keep in touch with the state’s citizens. Helen Parsons always had one or
two practical, applied research projects in addition to her more theoretical studies.
00:17:19
End of side. End of tape.
END
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