In the early 1900s, Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis forged trails for women at Purdue University and throughout Indiana. Mary was the first dean of the School of Home Economics. Lella was Indiana's first state leader of Home Demonstration. In 1914, Mary hired Lella to organize Purdue's new Home Economics Extension Service. According to those who knew them, Lella was a sparkler who traveled the state instructing rural women about nutrition, hygiene, safe water, childcare, and more. Reserved Mary established Purdue's School of Home Economics, created Indiana's first nursery school, and authored a popular textbook. Both women used their natural talents and connections to achieve their goals in spite of a male-dominated society. As a land grant institution, Purdue University has always been very connected to the American countryside. Based on extensive oral history and archival research, this book sheds new light on the important role female staff and faculty played in improving the quality of life for rural women during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a fascinating story, engagingly told, of two very different personalities united in a common goal.
Angie Klink is the author of eight books. She is a historian, advertising copywriter, and scriptwriter. Angie writes biographies, histories, documentaries, children's books, essays, and copy for a variety of advertising media.
Angie authored three books published by Purdue University Press: The Deans' Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their quest for Equality, released March 2014; Kirby's Way: How Kirby and Caroline Risk Built their Company on Kitchen-Table Values, published 2012; and Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home, published 2011.
Angie authored the children's books Purdue Pete Finds His Hammer and I Found U and is published in four titles for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.
Angie was the scriptwriter for the public education documentary Rise Above the Mark, narrated by Peter Coyote. Rise Above the Mark was named an Official Selection in the 2014 Gutsy Gals Film Award competition. Deborah Hutchison, President and Founder of Gutsy Gals Inspire Me said, "Your film has helped to support our mission of promoting talented women writers and directors of film, and putting women's creative vision front-and-center in today's contemporary media."
She has won fifty-seven American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards and an honorable mention in the 2007 Erma Bombeck Writers' Competition. Angie has attended the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop at the University of Dayton on five occasions.
Angie holds a BA from the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University. Learn more at angieklink.com
