Rua Van Horn (July 17, 1892 – March 8, 1978) was an American educator and

home economist Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

with the

United States Office of Education The Office of Education, at times known as the Department of Education and the Bureau of Education, was a small unit in the Federal government of the United States, Federal Government of the United States within the United States Department of the ...

from 1934 to 1963.

Early life and education

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. She graduated from high school in 1911, then from the Lewis Institute in Chicago, and earned a master's degree from

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...

Career

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 Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and in a summer program at Colorado State College. She joined the United States Office of Education as a program specialist in home economics education in 1934. In 1938, Van Horn testified before a House hearing on funding for federal funding for home economics programs. She served on the

Future Homemakers of America Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA, formerly known as Future Homemakers of America) is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public ...

advisory board for its first seven years. 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. In 1949, she attended the Seventh International Congress on Home Economics, held in Stockholm. 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 The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

and

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

project to develop college curricula for home economics for schools and universities in Pakistan. She returned to the Office of Education from 1961 to 1963, as a specialist in women's employment and vocational training. In 1965, she consulted with the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

's school of home economics.

Publications

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

Personal life

Van Horn was active in

Seventh Day Baptist Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to God. They adopt a covenant Baptist theology, based on the concept of regenerated society, conscious baptism of believers by immers ...

activities in Chicago. In 1920, she was president of the Christian Endeavor class at the Chicago Seventh Day Baptist

Sabbath School Sabbath School is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh Day Baptist, Church of God (Seventh-Day), some other sabbatarian denominations, usually comprising a song service and Bible study lesson on the Sabbath. It is usually held b ...

. In 1922, Van Horn was a delegate to the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference. Rua Van Horn was listed as "partner" of her colleague Lucille Reynolds in the

1940 United States Census The United States census of 1940, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record w ...

; they lived together in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She died in 1978, aged 85 years, at her home in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Horn, Rua 1892 births 1978 deaths People from Nebraska Teachers College, Columbia University alumni American educators Home economists Illinois Institute of Technology alumni