The first Rose Café of the semester focused on the history of the College of Human Ecology and two of its most notable faculty members, Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose. During the discussion, I learned about Farm and Home Week, an annual event at Cornell during the middle of last century.

Following the discussion, I called my grandma and grandpa to get their take on Farm and Field Week. My grandma said that the event was discontinued after her sophomore year. She said that as a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences the event was memorable. On the other hand, my grandpa was a student in the College of Arts and Sciences and said that he never became involved in the Farm and Home Week. I enjoyed hearing my grandparent’s memory of some of the events discussed at the Rose Café.

I was also interested to hear about how the home economics classes were free for women in New York State. My grandma also didn’t pay tuition, but paid $62.50 (about $530 in 2017 dollars) in fees. I would assume that the home economics students also incurred some fees, but it is commendable that the state could offer high quality education to its citizens at such an affordable price.

Lastly, I was interest to learn about the connection between Flora Rose and Elenor Roosevelt. I had been unaware of this portion of Cornell history. I thought it was particularly interesting that Elenor Roosevelt served Flora Rose’s nutritionally enriched cereals at The White House. I was made aware of the nutritionally enriched cereals from the sign outside of Rose House, but I did not realize that the cereal was served by Elenor Roosevelt at The White House.

Overall, I enjoyed learning more about Cornell history mostly because I enjoy talking with my grandparents about the history and hearing them reminisce about their time at Cornell.