While attending Rose Café on Wednesday, I had the opportunity to learn about Flora Rose, whom our house is named after. Nel de Muelenaere shared Flora Rose’s story with us. Flora Rose was an inspiring woman, and I never before knew of all the impact she had. She was a pioneer in her field and really worked to support women and had a vision for the future. Flora Rose greatly influenced the home economics program here at Cornell, and also had wide influence on the world. During World War I, she did nutritional studies and later traveled to Belgium to continue her work.

I think it is inspiring to see a woman such as Flora Rose have such a passion in her work, and not be afraid to carry it out. She was not deterred by obstacles, and was determined to achieve her goals and be a pioneer in her field. It is important to have role models like this in our community, to remind everyone to not be afraid to try. As her example shows, it is important to continue persevering even when faced with challenges. We are lucky to learn from such role models here at Cornell. As part of the community that is Flora Rose’s namesake, I am proud to remember her as a passionate and determined women!

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Nel de Muelenaere present some of her research on the namesake Rose House, Flora Rose, and (among other things) her role in the development of the College of Home Economics, now Human Ecology, at Cornell. As a student here, it is all too easy to take Cornell for granted. Despite living here, most of us hadn’t heard of Cornell more than eight years ago, when we started high school, and almost certainly didn’t know anything about it beyond it’s Ivy League reputation until we applied. As such, (in my opinion) it can seem that Cornell is just the way it always has been, that the labors of Ezra Cornell and A.D. White simply birthed onto Ithaca a a fully fledged twenty-first century university, all the way back in 1865, with newer buildings just being built to catch up. I exaggerate of course, but the fact is that we as students do not often think about how much our university has changed, and is changing, throughout history. Dr. Muelenaere’s talk was an excellent wake-up call to that fact. The life of Flora Rose was indeed an exceptional one, but above all it was a life of change. Not, perhaps, in her own situation or perspective, but rather in the change she inspired and effected in the world, and in her university, is this made clear. Despite the relative (for its day) liberalism of its founding ideals, the early twentieth century saw much to be desired in Cornell’s treatment of women and women faculty, a fact which we as modern students may be prone to forget. Yet, it was due to the efforts of exceptional Cornellians Flora Rose and Martha van Rensselear that the University did progress in this respect, and began to more fully live up to the high ideas expressed by its founders. The story of Flora Rose does not just serve as a reminder of a distant past, however; it reminds present Cornellians that they too are shaping the history of Cornell. From the classes we take to the clubs we join, we are helping to further the mission and story of Cornell ever onward into the twenty first century. One can only hope we give future Cornellians as much to be proud of as Flora Rose has given to us.

   Upon being  given the opportunity to learn more about Flora Rose and her endeavors here at Cornell, I’d vaguely had an idea of who she was. I knew she had made numerable efforts towards gearing women out of the domesticated sphere and into more integrated fields of work/positions within society, but was unsure of how she did this, nor to what extent did her actions and  those that worked closely with her impact the socio-demographic aspect of Cornell education, forever. Guest speaker, Nel de Muelenaere, was able to beautifully detail Flora Rose’s initiative to provide women with the necessary skillset to not only flourish within their household/familial lives, as mothers and daughters, but as well as in their individual pursuits towards academic success. What truly interested me, was the way in which Flora Rose was able to analyze living situations within  impoverished regions within Belgium, via census data, and create programs within Belgium geared towards improving the health of children within the area. As well as how she applied this knowledge towards improving child-rearing development within local regions. I truly admire how Nel, presented us with several artifacts and relics that allowed us to visualize Flora’s vision towards providing women with a plethora of opportunities to develop themselves, specifically and most importantly on an intellectual level. I also admired the way in which Nel, quickly juxtaposed between french and English dialect, it made her connection to the works of Flora Rose much stronger.

Before attending this Rose Café event, I haven’t carefully thought about Flora Rose. When looking at the names of various dorms on campus, I just thought that the names must have been given after someone influential to the university in the past. After attending this event, I learned about various accomplishments that Flora Rose made ranging from women’s rights and creating a course for women on campus along with Martha Van Rensselaer. I enjoyed this event in that I was able to learn about the amazing histories behind these wonderful women. Now, when I pass by and enter Flora Rose house, I get to view this dorm differently.

Flora Rose was a human too ahead of her time.

From her intellectual power and academic achievements to her works as a humanitarian and a social commentator, Rose was an underappreciated hero of her lifetime. Within the academic realm, her contributions to the home economics studies were undoubtedly life-changing, especially for young housewives and mothers in the early 1900s. As a pioneer of the home economics movement, not only did she create a completely new class and department here at Cornell, but she also founded the institution that later became the College of Human Ecology. Despite future conservative changes to the concept of home economics, Rose’s initial purpose was to create a safe and academic environment to educate women who decided to pursue the role of housewives on how to live a better and healthier life.

After the First World War, Flora Rose utilized her extensive knowledge in nutrition to serve communities affected by the war in Belgium. She conducted research across the nation targeting children and their physical and mental health. Her works as a researcher were pioneering at the time, given that her methodology of long-term qualitative and quantitative surveys was not common at the time. Her work helped the United States government contribute as much aid as it was necessary to save Belgium from extreme poverty and starvation. During that time, she proved herself to be both an outstanding researcher and humanitarian.

Flora Rose was also a key personality in several social movements. She openly expressed her opinions on society’s misconceptions about gender roles. Alongside her partner, Martha Van Rensselaer, she was a feminist leader and defeated societal expectations about women. Not only did she pursue a higher-level education when it was not common for women to do so, but she became a pioneer of her field.

Before attending this event, I had no background on the life and works of Flora Rose. Now, I understand why our house so proudly carries the name of a leader worthy of our admiration.

Frankly, before this event, I hadn’t really given a thought to who Flora Rose was. After this event she has become an inspiration. Her dedication to women’s rights and to helping people in need (most specfically in Belgium) through the development of home economics and through nurtritional advancements. What I found even more interesting was her relationship with Martha Van Rensselaer. I hadn’t been aware that these two outstanding women had known each other and that together they created the predecessor to the College of Human Ecology. This presentation made me appreciate the name Flora Rose a lot more, but it also made me dream bigger in what I would want my future accomplishments to be. These two women accomplished so much in a society that wasn’t necessarily in their favor and they did it with dedication and in a humble manner. I will remeber this presentation because this was the time that Flora Rose went from being the house I was a part of to a woman I admire.

Going into this talk, I truthfully had no idea who Flora Rose was. In fact, only about an hour prior to our meeting did I begin to consider the topic seriously, since the theme of our house dinner was “Recipes of Flora Rose.” I was surprised at what I learned, and I have a new-found appreciation for the woman behind Rose House’s name.

It was striking just how ahead of her time Flora Rose was. It seems only natural that Home Economics is a widespread subject today, but I was surprised to learn just how recently it became a staple of academia. Flora Rose wasn’t just an important figure in the development of the field; she was a pioneer in it, and her efforts in advancing nutrition did far more than just transform Cornell. Her role in the war effort was particularly fascinating, especially the time she spent in Belgium. One can tell quite a bit of one’s notoriety from who they’re associated with, so the fact that Flora Rose had relationships with Herbert Hoover and Eleanor Roosevelt shows just how important of a figure she was. For her to do all of this while being one of Cornell’s first female professors makes her accomplishments all the more impressive.

Lastly, while one can pour over one’s accomplishments all day long, it was interesting to get a flavor of who Flora Rose was as a person. Looking back upon her life, she certainly seemed to possess a unique personality. Although she demonstrated a more serious side, we paid particular attention to pictures of her and Martha Van Rensselaer, in which one could clearly see the bond between the two women. Her journal entries from her time in Belgium showed that she wasn’t all business all the time; her lament over the layout of a Belgian city made me chuckle. While Flora Rose’s story may not be as prolific as that of Martha Van Rensselaer’s or those of some of her other peers, it’s still one well worth learning about.

This week’s Rose Cafe was a pleasure, as we got acquainted with Ms. Nel de Mûelenaere who is from Belgium. She is a historian whose interest is with those who came to Belgium shortly after the first World War. One of those who came to Belgium around this time was Ms. Flora Rose, and she taught us a lot about Rose’s life and the impact that she made. Flora Rose was born in the 1870s, and she was quite a progressive thinker during her time. She along with Ms. Martha Van Rensselear became co-heads of the Department of Home Economics within the School of Agriculture. In addition to this, they were partners that lived together, and also went overseas and helped children in Belgium. They gathered the extent of the devastation after the War, as Rose was one of the first to take a combination of qualitative and quantitative data.  They worked with Herbert Hoover to help fight against the starvation that was going on in Belgium at this time. Because of this, I now have a deeper appreciation of the house that I’m apart of, and I understand why Flora Rose has had a house named after her, as she was a feminist, a pioneer, and an expert in nutrition!

When Nel de Mûelenaere, historian and Flora Rose expert extraordinaire, mentioned that she’d first gotten acquainted with our building’s namesake while procrastinating in Brussels, my thought was, ‘Wow. This Flora Rose really got around.’

I’ve been living in Rose House for a couple months now, so I’ve gotten pretty used to throwing around Flora Rose’s name. I’d assumed that she was a Cornell graduate or faculty member with a history of academic and philanthropic achievements. But I’d hardly expected her name to turn up in a record in Brussels.

It turns out that’s not the only place she turned up. She was born on what was at the time the Western frontier– Denver Colorado– and moved all by herself to go to school at Columbia. She also was a frequent guest of Eleanor Roosevelt’s at the White House. The amount of things she did in her life was also mind-blowing. She was a pioneer of home economics, a nutrition expert who provided aid in a decimated post-World War I Belgium, and the first person to officially issue a mixed quantitative-qualitative survey, which comprehensively summed up the health lives of Belgian children.

It seems like history can’t quite keep up with her. Despite all her achievements, she’s not very well known. The “first” qualitative-quantitative survey on record occurs fifteen years after Ms. Rose was issuing hers. And it’s quite easy to forget, looking back, exactly how progressive she was. As a pioneer of “home economics,” which in the modern mind is associated with the consuming and conservative housewife mold of the 50s, she may not get all the respect she deserves. At the time of its debut in colleges, home economics was about listening to the voices of mothers and wives and making their lives easier. Flora Rose legitimately valued these homemakers while recognizing through her own actions that a homemaker wasn’t the only thing a woman had to be. She never married, preferring to live with her educational and life partner, Martha Van Rensselaer.

Despite her achievements and character, all I knew Flora Rose for was a name on a building. I found tonight’s Rose Cafe to be incredibly valuable. It’s an honor and a great commemorative gesture to name a building after someone. But that can only go so far in preserving the memory of a great woman. Nel de Mûelenaere’s heartfelt discussion of Flora Rose’s life opened my eyes both to how worthy this woman was of a building, but also how time can cause people’s stories to slowly fade away. The study of history is a guard against this erasure, which is why I really appreciate Nel de Mûelenaere’s dedication to studying– and remembering– this wonderful woman.

Earlier this evening, I attended a talk by Dr. Muelenaere on a brief history of Flora Rose, whom our building was named after. She was pivotal towards the development of home economic studies which enriched the lives of many women and families during the early part of the 20th century, where health, environment, and interactions at home weren’t how they are today. I found her work on saving Belgium from the brink of collapse after being invaded by Germany simply remarkable – to have an woman travelling across a war-devastated country, and on foreign soil, alone, and ensuring that the children and women were supported and fed.

I found it interesting that Flora Rose actually utilized quantitative and qualitative assessments during her scientific analyses, and as mentioned by Dr. Muelenaere, she was 15 years ahead of the scientific community in doing so. Despite her contributions, it is unfortunate that she isn’t as well known across the country, but it’s awesome that we have an entire house named after her.