Mary Louise Foster papers, circa 1900-2010 | Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections

This collection documents the work of Mary Louise Foster during her time at Purdue as a faculty member and counselor in the Consumer and Family Sciences Department.  It contains correspondence; biographical information on other faculty members in the School of Home Economics; teaching materials and student work pertaining to Home Management courses; instruction guides, recipe booklets, Extension leaflets and other publications; clippings; and photographs.

Foster, Mary Louise

Mary Louise Foster (1921-2012), a native of Harrisburg, Indiana, studied Home Economics at Purdue, earning a Bachelor’s degree in 1939 and a Master’s degree in 1950. After teaching Home Economics in local public high schools, including the first home economics class for boys at Harrisburg High School, she returned to Purdue in 1955 as a professor in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, where she served as an instructor of the Home Management House course. Foster helped to develop the first program in Home Economics at the University of Vicosa in Brazil, working there from 1960 until 1965. She officially retired from Purdue in 1987, but continued on as an Academic Advisor in the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing. Marie Louise Foster served a total of almost sixty years at Purdue. She received the Helen B. Schleman Gold Medallion award in 2000 and the Special Boilermaker Award from the Purdue Alumni Association in 2005. A scholarship in her name has been established by the former Consumer and Family Sciences Student Council (now the Health and Human Sciences Student Council).

Home economics
Purdue University--Faculty
Women's Archives at Purdue University