Henrietta W. Calvin papers

(Frances) Henrietta (Willard) Calvin was born August 11, 1865, in Jonesboro, Illinois, to Elizabeth Alice (Conlon) and Henry Webb Willard. She finished her junior year at Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from the Science Course at Kansas State Agricultural College with her Bachelor of Science degree in 1886.

Following graduation, she married John Henry Calvin (1860-1898)in Manhattan, Kansas, on June 16, 1886. They had several children: John Willard (b. Mar. 24, 1887); Paul Henry (b. June 3, 1889); Ruth Elizabeth (b. Nov. 28, 1890); David (b. Oct. 18, 1882); Catherine (b. Jan. 30, 1894 (deceased)); Benjamin Willis (b. Feb. 20, 1896); George Fairchild (b. June 3, 1898).

Calvin joined the staff at the Kansas State Agricultural College as a librarian (1901-1903), at which time she became a Professor and Head of the Domestic Science Deptartment at Kansas Agricultural State College (1903-1908). Calvin then became Professor of Home Economics at Purdue University (1908-1912). At that time she assumed the role of Dean of the School of Home Economics and Professor of Domestic Science at Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis, Oregon.

Calvin later moved to Washington, D.C., to become the specialist in Home Economics for the Federal Bureau of Education. She served as the director of all home economic instruction in Philadelphia, PA, until her retirement in 1937. She was presented with the degree of Doctorate of Laws from Purdue University in 1938.

In addition, Calvin served as a lecturer to women's clubs, mothers' congresses, extension schools, national meetings, and Chautauqua and farmers' institutes in Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Ohio. Her hobbies included country tramps, the study of birds and flowers, and amateur photography. She attended Baptist churches, favored women's suffrage, and was a Democrat. She also served as President of the Civic Improvement Society of West Lafayette, Indiana.

Calvin died in May 1947 in Oakland, California.