Adelaide Steele Baylor

Adelaide Steele Baylor (October 14, 1860 – December 18, 1935) was an American educator and school administrator. She was chief of the Home Economics Education Service in the United States Office of Education from 1923 to 1935.

Adelaide Steele Baylor
An older white woman with coiffed grey hair, wearing a dress or top with a low square neckline, and two strands of pearls
Adelaide Steele Baylor, from a 1935 publication of the US Department of the Interior
BornOctober 14, 1860
Wabash, Indiana
DiedDecember 18, 1935
Washington, D.C.
Occupation(s)Educator, writer, state and federal official

Early life and education

Baylor was born in Wabash, Indiana, the daughter of James Craig Baylor and Susannah Steele Baylor. She graduated from Wabash High School, attended the University of Michigan, earned bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1897, and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1917. She received an honorary doctorate from the Stout Institute in Wisconsin in 1928.[1][2]

Career

Baylor was a teacher and school principal as a young woman.[1] She was superintendent of schools for the city of Wabash, Indiana.[3] She became assistant state superintendent of public instruction in Indiana, and state supervisor for home economics education.[4][5] In 1913 she addressed the Tenth Conference of Superintendents and Principals of American Schools for the Deaf, when they met in Indianapolis.[6]

For twelve years, from 1923 to 1935, Baylor was chief of the Home Economics Education Service in the United States Office of Education in Washington.[7] She testified before congressional hearings on vocational education in 1928 and 1934.[8][9] Her work involved extensive travel and public speaking;[10][11] according to one account, "After 1923 she visited every state in the Union three or four times, Hawaii twice, and Puerto Rico once."[1] She retired in October 1935, a few weeks before her death,[12] and was succeeded by Florence Fallgatter as chief.[1]

Baylor was secretary of the National Council of Education,[13][14] vice-president of the National Education Association's Department of Elementary Education,[15] and the first woman to hold a life membership in the American Vocational Association.[16]

Publications

Baylor wrote articles for professional publications, including Journal of Education[17] and Journal of Home Economics.[18] She also wrote textbooks and children's books,[2] including Adventures of Miss Tabby Gray (1913) and Young America's First Book (1919).

  • "English as She is Taught" (1910)[17]
  • Natural One-Book Geography (1911, with George L. Roberts and Frederick J. Breeze)[19]
  • "Consolidation of Rural Schools" (1912)[20]
  • Adventures of Miss Tabby Gray (1913, illustrated by Josephine Bruce)
  • "Rural Education as an Element in the Strength of the Nation" (1917)[21]
  • Young America's First Book (1919, with Emma Colbert)[22]
  • "Training for the Vocation of Home Making" (1928)[23]
  • "Training Leaders for Education in Relation to Home and Family Life" (1931)[18]

Personal life and legacy

Baylor died in Washington, D.C. in 1935, aged 75 years.[2][24] One of her speeches is included in the anthology Speeches of American women, 1920-1960 (2003). In 2014, she was in the first class of inductees into the Wabash City Schools Hall of Distinction.[25]

References
  1. Sexton, Neva; Roloff, Irene (Spring 1958). "Adelaide Steele Baylor: Leader in Homemaking Education". The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: 30–37 – via Internet Archive.
  2. "Dr. Adelaide Baylor Dies in Washington". The Indianapolis Star. 1935-12-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Indiana Department of Public Instruction; Cotton, Fassett Allen (1904). Education in Indiana: An Outline of the Growth of the Common School System, Together with Statements Relating to the Condition of Secondary and Higher Education in the State and a Brief History of the Educational Exhibit. Prepared for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Held at Saint Louis, May 1 to November 30, 1904. W. B. Burford. p. 454.
  4. "Lectures Next Week". Pittsburgh Daily Post. 1913-07-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Gets Place in Office of Public Instruction". The Indianapolis News. 1917-05-19. p. 31. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Proceedings of the Tenth Conference". American Annals of the Deaf. 58: 311–313. September 1913.
  7. "Dr. Adelaide S. Baylor Dies; Department Head in Federal Office of Education". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1935-12-19. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. United States Congress Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (1928). Development of Vocational Education in the Several States: Hearing Before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Seventieth Congress, First Session, on H.R. 9201 (H.R. 12241), a Bill to Provide for the Further Development of Vocational Education in the Several States, February 7, March 20 and 21, 1928. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 27–30.
  9. United States Congress House Committee on Education (1934). Vocational Education: Hearings Before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Seventy-third Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 7059, to Provide for the Further Development of Vocational Education in the Several States and Territories, and for Other Purposes. February 8, 1934. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 21–25.
  10. "Recreation in U.S. Homes is Necessary, Says Expert; Budget System Explained". The Anaconda Standard. 1923-06-22. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Federal Chief to Address Home Economics Workers Meeting Here". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1924-03-30. p. 25. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "17 Years of Home Economics". School Life: 98–99. December 1935 – via Internet Archive.
  13. "Adelaide Steele Baylor Honored by Educators". Evansville Courier and Press. 1916-07-19. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Dr. Crabbe Is Named Member of National Educational Council". The Mirror. August 1, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved May 1, 2022 – via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
  15. States, National Education Association of the United (1908). Proceedings. p. 543.
  16. "A New Association is Born" (PDF). Techniques: 24. February 2002.
  17. Baylor, Adelaide Steele (July 1910). "English as she is Taught". Journal of Education. 72 (2): 38. doi:10.1177/002205741007200214. ISSN 0022-0574. S2CID 188113072.
  18. Baylor, Adelaide S. "Training Leaders for Education in Relation to Home and Family Life." Journal of Home Economics 23 (1931): 411-417.
  19. Roberts, George L.; Breeze, Frederick J.; Baylor, Adelaide S. (1911). Natural One-Book Geography. American Book Company. pp. 3 (title page) – via Ball State University, Digital Media Repository, Historic Textbooks collection.
  20. Baylor, Adelaide Steele (1912). "Consolidation of Rural Schools". Current Educational Topics. 15: 21.
  21. Baylor, Adelaide Steele (August 1917). "Rural Education as an Element in the Strength of the Nation". Journal of Education. 86 (6): 153. doi:10.1177/002205741708600617. ISSN 0022-0574. S2CID 188520343.
  22. Baylor, Adelaide Steele; Colbert, Emma (1919). Young America's First Book. Century Company.
  23. Baylor, Adelaide Steele (February 1928). "Training for the Vocation of Home Making". American Federationist. 35: 176–180 – via Internet Archive.
  24. "Baylor Funeral Services are Held in Washington". The Indianapolis Star. 1935-12-21. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-05-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. Armentrout, Emily (August 26, 2014). "Wabash City Schools inducts members into Hall of Distinction". The Paper. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
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