Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/252

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Chair of Household Economy Elstablished. The chair of Household Economy was established at the Oregon Agricultural College in the year 1 889. Doctor Margaret Snell, of Oakland, California, was appointed to fill the position. This and the departments of agriculture and mechanical engineering were for a number of years the three principal departments offering scientific courses available for the student. The college catalogue stated that only one-third of the students were to be women. This ruling, however, "was not maintained, and the numerical restriction was removed. DOCTOR MARGARET SNELL There Were Forty-four Women Students in the only course offered to them at that time. Four hundred dollars was set aside by the board of regents to equip and maintain the department. As most of the women were from the small towns and rural districts, it was directed that everything in the department should be of the simplest nature, in order that there might be no dissatisfaction by contrast when the students returned to their homes. By a strategic movement of the head of the department, plated knives, forks and spoons took the place of iron ones and colored napery and dishtowels were replaced by white.

The Euipment Wa,s Limited, but there was abundance of spirit and interest, and there came to be a growing respect in the minds of the students for the quiet hearthstone. The subjects taught were cooking, sewing, general and special