Last Wednesday at Rose Cafe, Eileen Keating, University Records Manager, spoke to us about Cornell’s history: in particular, the origins of the College of Human Ecology from Eleanor Roosevelt’s campaign for home economics education for women, resulting in Cornell as an emerging leader of the movement and in the construction MVR hall as we know today.

Despite being in my third year at Cornell, I admittedly do not know too much about Cornell’s history, or how certain colleges came into being. It was fascinating to hear stories about correspondences between Martha Van Rensselaer, Flora Rose, and Eleanor Roosevelt, women who played prominent roles in increasing the empowerment of women through education in home economics. Their activism and passion would change the lives and opportunities available to women across America. It is mind boggling to think that not too many years ago, the social order was completely different, of the little opportunities available to women and the rarity of education.

In addition, it was nice to put put a face to the names spoken by West Campus residents everyday as Keating passed around pictures of Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose together at Cornell, the benefactors/names of our residential buildings. I was also not fully aware of our rare manuscripts library, housing treasured artifacts from all across the nation. As Cornell students, we ought to learn more about the rich history of our school, stemming from a visionary leader during a period of social change and reform for women. Keating’s talk has inspired me to further explore the collection this semester.