Eileen Keeting caused me to closely examine the lens through which I’ve learned history. I had not heard the name Martha van Rensselaer before the talk, but I left wondering why I had not. This woman had changed the lives of numerous farmers’ wives, been in social circles with Eleanor Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony, and revolutionized the education of women, especially those not well-off. History is not as simple as learning about the past and how the present has come to be. History is created and people decide what information is relevant to be passed on and whose accomplishments are great enough to be mentioned. Countless men and women are left out of the textbooks. Unwritten, their names vanish.

In a way, Cornell’s home-economics program has performed a similar vanishing act. I love how a prestigious institution like Cornell had a home-economics department. The pamphlet sent to farmers’ wives included tips and tricks that hint at studies in scientific management, efficiency, and psychology–telling women how best to perform in task with regards to steps and their husbands thoughts. Though I realize a home economics department is much less necessary in this day and age, I wish that Cornell retained some of those classes. It seems as though all we have left of the home economics department is its history.