Ava Milam Clark Papers, 1856-1972

The Ava Milam Clark Papers are comprised of materials representing the professional and personal life of home economist Ava Milam Clark. The collection includes correspondence, historical documents related to the administration of home economics programs at Oregon Agricultural College and Oregon State College, materials related to her work overseas, sources used in the preparation of her autobiography, and personal materials. These materials represent Clark's role in shaping home economics as a field of study in Oregon, the United States, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Syria, and document her lifelong emphasis on a research-based approach to home economics. These materials broadly reflect her belief in the power of a scientific mindset applied to the home, and her advocacy for home economic courses that emphasized applied elements of biochemistry, physics, chemistry, psychology, and sociology.

Correspondence in Series 1 is dense and varied in content, and demonstrates the reach of her influence and impact on the field through many letters with notable figures over a forty-year period. The materials in Series 2: Home Economics at Oregon State show her efforts to bring an international element to the program, and are rich in documents showing the evolution of the curriculum. The largest and most diverse series, Series 3: Home Economics Abroad, show her work to establish and reform home economics as a field in Asia, the Middle East, and the Philippines. Materials in Series 4: Adventures of a Home Economist, include source materials used in the preparation of her autobiography, and multiple drafts of nearly every chapter. Series 5: Personal Materials reflect Clark's family life, religious beliefs, and long-time friends.

The collection is particularly strong in sources related to her work abroad. Evidence of the impact of these travels on her life appears in each series. A notable gap in the collection occurs between the years of 1940-1948, when correspondence and other types of documents are limited.

Items from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Reference access scans of the contents of box-folders 8.9-10, 8.12, and 9.1 are available upon request.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Ava Milam Clark was the Dean of the School of Home Economics for over 30 years, and through her frequent visits abroad, was instrumental to the development of home economics in multiple countries. After serving in many high-profile leadership roles in multiple organizations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, she married J.C. Clark late in life and died in 1976.

Ava Milam and her twin sister, Ada, were born November 27, 1884 in Macon County, Missouri to Mary Louisa McGinnis Milam and Ancil Milam. Ava graduated from Century Academy in Macon County in June 1903. She was then employed at Blees Military Academy in Macon, Missouri for a short time before entering the University of Chicago in 1906. At the University of Chicago, she studied under a number of faculty who were pioneers in home economics and domestic science in the U.S., including Marion Talbot and Sophonsiba Breckenridge, who would become lifelong friends to Ava. She graduated from the University of Chicago in June 1910 and went on for graduate study, leaving with a Master of Arts in 1911. She came to Oregon Agricultural College in 1911 to be a faculty member in the burgeoning Home Economics department. She assumed the deanship of this school in 1917, and oversaw the school until her retirement in 1950.

A central focus of Ava Milam's career was the development of home economics in other countries. In 1922 she made her first trip to China, visiting towns and villages all over the country to observe homes and schools, and to learn from Chinese teachers and homemakers. She conducted a survey of Chinese students and citizens on this trip, including questions about the type and size of family, family customs and social life, housing and sanitary standards, the mother's and father's responsibilities in the home, the care and feeding of children, and industries in the home. She later published the results of this questionnaire in 1930 in a book titled A Study of the Student Homes of China. With the cultural background gleaned from this survey and her own observations, she introduced a program of home economics at Yenching University that was adapted to the particular needs and concerns of Chinese homes. The first college-level course in home economics in China was given in the fall of 1923 using her curriculum. She also visited Korea, Japan, and the Philippines on this trip, visiting schools and homes to observe the home life of citizens and discover trends in home and industrial life.

In 1931 she travelled again to China, Korea, and Japan on sabbatical to establish a scholarship program for home economics students in these countries in her work for the American Home Economics Association, and to work as a consultant for home economics programs in Asia. She was also able to visit the Philippines, Singapore, Burma, India, Egypt, Palestine, Italy, and London on this trip. In 1932, she was made Director of Home Economics for the Oregon State System of Higher Education, and coordinated the work in home economics at University of Oregon, Oregon State College, and other schools in the state. Ava Milam led a home economics study tour for OSC students, graduates, and faculty with Alma Fritchoff in the summer of 1937, visiting China, Japan, and Korea to observe homes and visit tourist attractions. This tour was held up in China by the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, and the tourists escaped from battle areas just before major destruction occurred.

In 1938-1939, Ava Milam continued work towards her Ph.D at Columbia University. During World War II, she chaired a large statewide committee responsible for the Nutrition for Defense Program. In 1948 she conducted a survey of the Christian colleges in the Philippines for the Foreign Missions Conference of North America. This resulted in a report recommending the establishment of independent departments of home economics within Philippine colleges to teach dietitians, nutritionists, hotel and restaurant managers, and home demonstration agents to recover the country from widespread destruction occurring during WWII.

In 1950, Ava Milam retired from Oregon State College and was made Dean Emeritus. In 1951 and 1952, she served as a home economics advisor to the governments of Syria and Iraq for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, pioneering improvements to home economics education for women in these countries, surveying vocational education opportunities, and setting up teaching-training programs. She also visited Lebanon and Egypt in this role, attending the World's Young Women's Christian Associations Council Meeting, and the World Council of Churches Conference on the Middle East Refugee Problem.

In 1952 she was reacquainted with Jesse Claude (J. C.) Clark, whom she had met in China in 1922 while he was heading the Young Men's Christian Association in China. After a brief courtship, J.C. and Ava were married on November 1, 1952. J.C. and Ava traveled extensively during their short marriage, visiting many countries that she had traveled to throughout her career, and spent time at Ava's beloved summer home on the McKenzie River, Grayling. J.C. died after a brief illness on August 29, 1956. Ava Milam received the Distinguished Service Award from OSU in 1966 and the same award from Yonsei University in 1968. She published her memoirs, Adventures of a Home Economist, in 1969, with assistance from J. Kenneth Munford. Ava Milam Clark died on August 14, 1976.

Author: Anne Bahde

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 455 photographs; 18 boxes

Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The bulk of the collection was donated by Clark's estate in 1975. Additional materials were transferred from College of Home Economics in 1994. Correspondence from Alice Ravenhill to Ava Milam Clark was transferred into the collection from the College of Home Economics Records (RG 141) in 1994.

Separated Materials: The J. C. Clark Papers were separated from this collection in 2016 and described separately.

Related Materials:

An oral history interview and a lecture delivered by Clark are held in the History of Oregon State University Oral Histories and Sound Recordings (OH 003). An additional lecture by Clark is held in the College of Home Economics Oral Histories (OH 011). Digitized copies of Camp Cookery and Adventure of a Home Economist are available in OSU's ScholarsArchive.

Other materials pertaining to Clark and home economics are available in the College of Home Economics and Education Records (RG 141), the College of Home Economics Photograph Collection (P 044), the Betty E. Hawthorne Papers, the OSU Home Economics Alumni Association Records, the Home Economics Extension Photographs, and the Home Management House Photograph Collection. The J. Kenneth Munford Papers document the career of the co-writer of her autobiography. The J. C. Clark Papers document the life of Ava Milam's husband. Several images from the collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital here.

Other OSU faculty who participated in international post-WWII reconstruction efforts include Elvin Duerst, Wallace Kadderly, and Eugene Starr. Edna Amidon, a fellow home economist and acquaintance of Ava Milam Clark, also participated in post-war organizations.

Preferred Citation: Ava Milam Clark Papers (MSS ClarkAvaM), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information:

The collection was fully processed in April 2016, and the Jesse C. and Ava Milam Clark Photographic Collection (P 152) was formally dissolved and integrated with this collection at that time.

The collection was updated in March 2024 to reflect anti-racist description practices.

Ava Milam Clark Papers, 1856-1972

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