High school students sitting around a table set for tea

High school students sitting in a semicircle and holding teacups

Home Economics students posing for a group photograph

Head and shoulders image of Helen G. Wilmot, School of Household Science, 1930-1954.

Bio/Historical Note: Helen Gertrude Chapman Wilmot was born 21 September 1892 in Salisbury, New Brunswick.. She earned an MA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1931, and an MA (Chicago). Wilmot was on staff with the College of Household Science from 1930-1954. Helen Wilmot died in December 1969 in Beaconsville, Ontario, and is buried in Coverdale, New Brunswick.

Head and shoulders image of Kathleen (Taggart) Ferguson, College of Home Economics, 1954-1959.

Bio/Historical Note: Kathleen M. (Taggart) Ferguson was born at Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 1923 and lived on the Experimental Farm for first 11 years of her life. The family moved to Regina where she attended Lakeview School and then Central Collegiate. She received a BHSc from the University of Saskatchewan and an MA in Interior Design from Cornell University, Syracuse, New York. Ferguson was a member of the WRENS during World War II and helped with harvest chores on farms. She was both assistant professor and associate professor of Home Economics at the U of S between 1954-1959. Kay Ferguson died 27 March 2001 in Regina after a struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Image of the Household Science class photo page from the 1932-1933 Greystone.

Miss Bertha Oxner (centre back, shortest figure) conducting clothing class in the multipurpose laboratory in the basement of the College Building.

Ethel B. Rutter, instructor in Household Science, standing at far left at a lab station with ten students in the Household Science lab, located in the northwest corner of the College Building. Kitchen equipment in foreground; blackboard, clock and a set of doors in background. Students (l to r): Lula Mabel Barr, Bessie Mary Lakken, Lillian Ivanella Crum, Mary Elizabeth Jeanetta (Jean) Moore, Ethel Falkner, Rhea Walker, Mable Jane Pollock, Beulah Ferne Bannerman Bridgeman, Hilda Gruchy, Mildred Smith.

Bio/Historical Note: Formal instruction in Home Economics began at the University of Saskatchewan in 1916. Ethel B. Rutter came to campus to teach household science to Normal School (Education) students and students in the College of Arts and Science. Her first laboratory was in the College Building, with lectures given in Emmanuel College. Rutter described the equipment in the original foods laboratory as being two New Perfection coal oil stoves, one sink, a small ice refrigerator, two large cupboards and Bunsen burners under metal screening for top of the stove cookery. The Household Science department became a school in 1928, a college in 1942, and in 1952 was renamed the College of Home Economics. The college was disestablished in 1990, with the Home Economics teaching area continuing in the College of Education. The Nutrition program continued in the College of Pharmacy, which was renamed the College of Pharmacy & Nutrition in 1995.