Elizabeth Eckhardt May

Elizabeth Eckhardt May (February 18, 1899 – October 24, 1996) was an American home economist, educator, and college administrator. She was dean of the School of Home Economics at the University of Connecticut from 1952 to 1964, and before that academic dean of Hood College in Maryland. Her research and writing involved rehabilitation and work supports for disabled women.

Elizabeth Eckhardt May
An older white woman wearing a floral jacket, photographed in profile
Elizabeth Eckhardt May, from a 1966 publication
Born
Elizabeth Marie Eckhardt

(1899-02-18)February 18, 1899
Folsom, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedOctober 24, 1996(1996-10-24) (aged 97)
Braddock Heights, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materColumbia University
Trenton State Normal School
Occupation(s)Home economist, college dean
Employer(s)Hood College
University of Connecticut

Early life and education

Elizabeth Marie Eckhardt was born in Folsom, New Jersey, one of the eleven children of Jacob Eckhardt and Rosa Measley Eckhardt.[1] She attended Folsom School and graduated from Hammonton High School.[2] She trained as a teacher at the Trenton State Normal School, as did three of her sisters.[3] She earned a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree in education (Ed.D.) from Columbia University.[4]

One of her sisters was Gertrude Eckhardt, an American public health nurse who worked in Germany with the US military government after World War II.[5][6] Their brother Jack L. Eckhardt was the longtime mayor of Folsom.[7][8]

Career

May was a demonstration agent and state specialist with the West Virginia University Agricultural Extension Service. She was executive secretary of the Oglebay Institute, and of the White House Conference on Children in Democracy. She taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan.[4][9]

In 1943, May became the academic dean at Hood College in Maryland.[10][11] She became dean of the School of Home Economics at the University of Connecticut in 1952, and retired from Connecticut in 1964.[4] She was a member of the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped.[12] Her research involved studies of physically disabled women's domestic work, including childcare, and rehabilitation approaches aimed at that group.[13] "It is not a matter of gadgets," she said in a 1962 conference paper. "It is a matter of management."[14]

Publications
  • "Whom to Train for Recreational Leadership" (1941)[15]
  • "College Women and National Service" (1952)[16]
  • "Rehabilitation Views and Previews" (1956)[17]
  • "Expanding the Services of the Home Economist in Rehabilitation" (1960)[18]
  • "Work Simplification in the Area of Child Care for Physically Handicapped Women" (1961)[19]
  • "Work Simplification in Child Care: Teaching Materials for the Rehabilitation of Physically Handicapped Homemakers" (1962)[20]
  • Homemaking for the Handicapped (1966, with Neva R. Waggoner and Eleanor Boettke Hotte, with photographs by Jerauld Manter)[21]
  • Independent Living for the Handicapped and Elderly (1974, with Neva R. Waggoner and Eleanor Boettke Hotte)[22]

Personal life

Elizabeth Eckhardt married architect and magazine editor Charles C. May. They had a daughter, Margaret Gertrude May Kessel.[23] Her husband died in 1937,[24] and she died in 1996, at the age of 97, in Braddock Heights, Maryland.[25] There is a large collection of her papers at the University of Connecticut Library.[4]

References
  1. "Elizabeth Eckhardt May (obituary)". Hartford Courant. 1996-10-29. p. 50. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Personals", Daily Journal, May 24, 1952. Accessed May 9, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Mrs. Elizabeth Eckhardt May. a graduate of Folsom School and Hammonton High School, will become dean of the School of Home Economics, University of Connecticut, on June 16."
  3. "Mrs. Kramer Honored". Courier-Post. 1947-05-23. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Collection: Elizabeth E. May Papers". UConn Archives & Special Collections ArchivesSpace. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  5. "Gertrude Eckhardt (obituary)". Press of Atlantic City. 1990-04-24. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Setzler, Lorraine (1945). "Nursing and Nursing Education in Germany". The American Journal of Nursing. 45 (12): 993–995. doi:10.2307/3416997. ISSN 0002-936X. JSTOR 3416997. PMID 21006542.
  7. Carroll, Maurice (1975-12-07). "Native of Folsom Recalls A Quiet Place With a Past". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  8. Donio, Gabriel (2020-12-11). "Decorated homes make Christmas memories". Hammonton Gazette. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  9. "Former West Virginian Speaker for Service Club 'Get-Together'". The Charleston Daily Mail. 1952-01-24. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Class Hears Dean May". The Washington Post. May 22, 1947. p. 3. Retrieved May 2, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  11. "Hood Groups Hold Picnic and Banquet". The News. 1950-05-17. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Annual Meeting Highlights". Performance: The Story of the Handicapped. 17 (1–2): 3. July–August 1966.
  13. Puaca, Laura Micheletti (2016-12-20). "The Largest Occupational Group of all the Disabled: Homemakers with Disabilities and Vocational Rehabilitation in Postwar America". In Rembis, Michael (ed.). Disabling Domesticity. Springer. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-137-48769-8.
  14. Tolchin, Martin (1962-08-25). "Study Can Aid The Housewife With Handicap". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  15. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt (1941-09-01). "Whom to Train for Recreational Leadership". The Journal of Health and Physical Education. 12 (7): 397–440. doi:10.1080/23267240.1941.10622842.
  16. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt (1952-01-01). "College Women and National Service". The Journal of Higher Education. 23 (1): 13–17. doi:10.1080/00221546.1952.11777920. ISSN 0022-1546.
  17. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt (1956-11-01). "Rehabilitation Views and Previews1". Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 32 (11): 1049–1053. doi:10.1016/S0002-8223(21)16353-9. ISSN 0002-8223. PMID 13366597. S2CID 44413925.
  18. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt. "Expanding the Services of the Home Economist in Rehabilitation." Journal of Home Economics 52, no. 9 (1960): 732-733.
  19. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt (1961). Work Simplification in the Area of Child Care for Physically Handicapped Women: Final Report, June 15,1955-December 31, 1960 ; Special Project No. 37, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. School of Home Economics, University of Connecticut.
  20. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt (1962). Work Simplification in Child Care: Teaching Materials for the Rehabilitation of Physically Handicapped Homemakers. University of Connecticut, School of Home Economics.
  21. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt; Waggoner, Neva R.; Hotte, Eleanor Boettke (1966). Homemaking for the Handicapped: A Resource Book in Home Management for the Physically Handicapped and Their Families and for Professional Personnel Concerned with Rehabilitation. Dodd, Mead.
  22. May, Elizabeth Eckhardt; Waggoner, Neva R.; Hotte, Eleanor Boettke (1974). Independent Living for the Handicapped and the Elderly. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-18108-9.
  23. "Miss Margaret May Wed to Q. C. Kessel". The New York Times. 1960-06-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  24. "Charles C. May, 55, Architect, is Dead; Designer of Many Homes in the Metropolitan Area; Was Active in Town Planning". The New York Times. 1937-09-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  25. "Elizabeth May; was UConn dean". Hartford Courant. 1996-10-28. p. 42. Retrieved 2023-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
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