IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
HARRIET ADELINE STEVENS
(1909 - )
PAPERS, 1928 – 1994
5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 520) were donated
by Harriet A. Stevens in 1998. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Bridgett
Williams-Searle, 1999. |
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Biography
Harriet Adeline Stevens had a long and
distinguished career in the field of nutrition education and dietetics. The
daughter of Guy and Adeline Stevens, she was born in Iowa City, Iowa on October
25, 1909. She graduated from University High School, Iowa City, in 1928.
Stevens received a B.A. in Home Economics and a certificate of education with
high distinction from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa)
in 1932. She also received an M.A. in Nutrition from the State University of
Iowa in January 1934.
After teaching one term at Emporia
State Teacher’s College in Emporia, Kansas, Stevens moved to Chicago. She held
a variety of supervisory positions in the dietary department of the University
of Chicago Clinics between July 1934 and November 1938. Seeking a change of
pace, she took charge of the main kitchen of the Medical College of Virginia
(MCV) in Richmond, Virginia. With the outbreak of war in late 1941, her best
workers “soon found out they could get paid more by the Army than they were
paid by MCV!” Once she heard from other dieticians that “working conditions [in
the Army] were a snap,” she enlisted immediately.
Stevens joined the United States
Army as a 2d Lieutenant and served as a Medical Hospital Dietician at Camp
Gordon, Georgia from March 1942 to February 1945. In October 1943, she was
promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant- Head Medical Hospital Dietician. She
served overseas between March 1945 and December 1945, working at a camp
hospital in Great Britain for a time. She received an honorable discharge in
January 1946.
On return to civilian life, she
spent the summer of 1946 taking dietetics coursework at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York. She then accepted the post of Senior Nutritionist with the
New York Department of Health, a job she held from 1946 to 1951. She returned
to the University of Iowa in 1951 and taught in the Home Economics Department
from 1951 to 1974. During that time, she taught or assisted in the teaching of
a wide range of nutrition and child-care courses. Her approach to teaching was pragmatic
and applied, in keeping with her considerable practical experience. She
continued her education at the University of Iowa, working closely with Dr.
Margaret Ohlson of the Dietetics Department of the University Hospital. Stevens
also produced a number of distinguished publications. In 1961, she won
honorable mention in the Lydia J. Roberts Essay Award Competition, one of the
highest honors bestowed by the American Dietetics Association. Her final major
publication, Fixing and Eating
(1974), showed children how to prepare easy, nutritious recipes. She was a
member of the American Dietetic Association, the American Home Economics
Association, and Phi Beta Kappa.
Although she retired in 1974,
Stevens continued to take an active interest in the University. She actively
opposed the targeting of “historically female” departments by the University
Steering Committee in 1991. She also endowed the Stevens Memorial Scholarship,
awarded annually by Phi Beta Kappa in memory of her parents, thereby
encouraging academic excellence.
Scope and Content Note
The Harriet A. Stevens
papers date from 1928 to 1994
and measure 5 linear inches. They are arranged in six series: Biographical
Materials; Department of Home Economics, University of Iowa; World War II Army
Service; Press Releases; Publications and Presentations; and Phi Beta Kappa.
Her papers consist of academic and professional records, Army service records,
publications and press releases pertaining to her work as a nutrition
researcher and educator, and materials relating to her tenure in the Home
Economics Department of the University of Iowa and the Home Economics
Department in general. Records concerning the University of Iowa Alpha of Phi
Beta Kappa, as well as information regarding the Stevens scholarship, are
contained herein. A small folder of biographical material on fellow nutrition
researcher Dr. Margaret Ohlson is included in this collection, as is a small
folder on Stevens’ efforts to combat the elimination of “historically female” departments
at the University of Iowa.
This
collection provides little information on Stevens’ career prior to her Army
service. Her personal recollections of Army life at Camp Gordon provide a
fascinating, if brief, look at the stateside war. Stevens’ academic and
professional records, first as a student and later as a faculty member with the
University of Iowa, invite researchers to examine the changing structure and
philosophy of home economics education. A collection of press releases relating
to Home Economics Department activities in the 1950s and 1960s offers a
sometimes humorous look at changing gender ideologies during that period.
Box no. Description
Box 1
Biographical
Materials
Academic records
Professional records and awards
Certificates
Department of
Home Economics, University of Iowa
Summaries of University of Iowa Breakfast Studies, 1940s
Materials Pertaining to 50th Anniversary Celebration, 1963
Dr. Margaret Ohlson, biographical materials and photo
Gradual Phase-Out of Historically Female Departments
World War II
Army Service
Personal reminiscences
Camp Gordon, Georgia
Overseas duty (2 folders)
Discharge records; records of rank promotion
Press Releases
Child care and nutrition
Economical food preparation and nutrition advice
Home economics department activities
Publications
and Presentations
“Twenty-Four Hour Recall Diets and Dietary
Patterns for Five Groups of Subjects Enrolled in a Series of Laboratory
Studies,” American Dietetics Association, Miami, Florida, 1962
“Dietary Intakes of Five Groups of Subjects,” Journal of the American Dietetic
Association (May 1963)
“Wider Worlds For Women,” Iowa Alumni Review (February 1963)
“Characteristics of Home Economics Graduates,
1953-1964,” Journal of Home Economics
(December 1965)
“Nutritive Value of the Diets of Medically
Indigent Pregnant Women,” Journal of the
American Dietetic Association (April 1967)
“Characteristics of Graduates Holding
Advanced Degrees with Majors in Home Economics and Nutrition, 1924-1966,” Journal of Home Economics (December
1968)
Fixing and
Eating: Food Activities for Young Children (1974)
Photos from Fixing and Eating
“Senior Citizen Friends,” Benton County Heritage Agency on
Aging (1994)
Phi Beta Kappa
Materials relating to Stevens Memorial Scholarship (2 folders)
Minutes, 1969, 1985, 1987; duties of officers, invitations
Press releases