Rua Van Horn (July 17, 1892 – March 8, 1978) was an American educator and home economist with the United States Office of Education from 1934 to 1963.

Rua Van Horn
A white woman with dark wavy hair parted and dressed to the nape, wearing dark beads and a dark top with a scooped neckline
Rua Van Horn, from a 1935 publication of the US Department of the Interior
BornJuly 17, 1892
North Loup, Nebraska
DiedMarch 8, 1978
Alexandria, Virginia
Occupation(s)Educator, home economist, federal official

Early life and education

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Rua Rae Van Horn was born on her family's ranch in North Loup, Nebraska, the daughter of Orel Van Horn and Carrie Elnora Babcock Van Horn.[1] She graduated from high school in 1911,[2] then from the Lewis Institute in Chicago, and earned a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.[3]

Career

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Van Horn taught school for ten years as a young woman, and was Montana state supervisor of home economics while she was teaching at Montana State University. She also taught in Oakland, California, and in a summer program at Colorado State College.[4] She joined the United States Office of Education as a program specialist in home economics education in 1934.[5]

In 1938, Van Horn testified before a House hearing on funding for federal funding for home economics programs.[6] She served on the Future Homemakers of America advisory board for its first seven years.[3][7][8] From 1948 to 1949, she was president of the D.C. Home Economics Association. In 1951, she was honored by the Nevada Home Economics Association.[9] In 1949, she attended the Seventh International Congress on Home Economics, held in Stockholm.[10] In 1953, she attended the Eighth International Congress on Home Economics, held in Edinburgh. In 1958, she resigned from the Office of Education to serve as chief advisor on a Ford Foundation and Oklahoma State University project to develop college curricula for home economics for schools and universities in Pakistan.[11][12] She returned to the Office of Education from 1961 to 1963, as a specialist in women's employment and vocational training.[2][13][14] In 1965, she consulted with the University of Nebraska's school of home economics.[15]

Publications

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  • Homemaking Education Program for Adults (1938, with Mary Stuart Lyle)[16]
  • The teaching of certain aspects of child development in the homemaking program in the secondary school: a compilation of materials from states (1938, compiler)[17]
  • The teaching of certain aspects of child development in the homemaking program in the secondary school: a complilation of materials from states (1939, compiler)[18]
  • Household Employment Problems: A Handbook for Round-table Discussions Among Household Employers (1939)[19]

Personal life

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Van Horn was active in Seventh Day Baptist activities in Chicago. In 1920, she was president of the Christian Endeavor class at the Chicago Seventh Day Baptist Sabbath School.[20] In 1922, Van Horn was a delegate to the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference.[21] Rua Van Horn was listed as "partner" of her colleague Lucille Reynolds[22] in the 1940 United States Census; they lived together in Washington, D.C.[23] She died in 1978, aged 85 years, at her home in Alexandria, Virginia.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Rua Van Horn Gets Pakistan Position". The Ord Quiz. 1958-06-19. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Leonard, Betty (1962-08-02). "Rua Van Horn's Successes Featured by JFK's Paper". The Ord Quiz. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Rua Van Horn, Was Home Economist For Federal Office of Education". Washington Post. March 19, 1978. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  4. ^ "News Notes: Montana". The Journal of Home Economics. 23: 113. January 1931 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ "Vocational Summary: Personnel Changes". School Life. 20: 186. April 1935.
  6. ^ United States Congress House Committee on Appropriations (1938). Interior Department Appropriation Bill for 1939: Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Seventy-fifth Congress, Third Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 712–713.
  7. ^ "Homemakers to Convene". Argus-Leader. 1946-01-17. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Powers, Dorothy Rochon (1950-11-12). "Teen-Agers Learn Homemaking at School". The Spokesman-Review. p. 134. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Miss Rua Van Horn Honored at Recent Dinner Party". Nevada State Journal. 1951-05-17. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Going to Stockholm". The Ord Quiz. 1949-06-02. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "From the U.S. Office". American Vocational Journal. 33: 26. November 1958 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ "Retiring Chief of OSU's Pakistan Program Honored". Stillwater News-Press. 1961-12-03. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Nordahl, June (1962-07-08). "Her job: get women back to work by retraining in needed skills". Johnson City Press. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Horan, Nelle (1963-08-08). "High School Students Face Changes in Jobs". The Daily Oklahoman. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Consultant Aids Home Economists". Fremont Tribune. 1965-03-23. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-03-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Lyle, Mary Stewart; Horn, Rua Van (1938). Homemaking Education Program for Adults. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  17. ^ Van Horn, Rua; United States (1938). The teaching of certain aspects of child development in the homemaking program in the secondary school: a compilation of materials from states. Home economics education. September, 1938. Child development in the homemaking program. Washington: United States Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Vocational Division.
  18. ^ Van Horn, Rua (1939). The teaching of certain aspects of child development in the homemaking program in the secondary school: a complilation of materials from states. Home economics education. United States. Office of education. Misc.2126. Washington: U. S. Office of education, Vocational division.
  19. ^ Horn, Rua Van (1939). Household Employment Problems: A Handbook for Round-table Discussions Among Household Employers. U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Vocational Division.
  20. ^ "Report of the Christian Endeavor Class of the Chicago Seventh Day Baptist Sabbath School". The Sabbath Recorder. 88: 597. May 10, 1920.
  21. ^ Seventh Day Baptist Yearbook. Seventh Day Baptist Publishing House. 1922. p. 85.
  22. ^ "Home Economics in Montana". The Journal of Home Economics. 28: 166. March 1936 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ "Rua Van Horn in the 1940 Census". Ancestry. Retrieved 2022-03-13.