Sophronia Maria Elliott

Sophronia Maria Elliott
Elliott, from the 1913 yearbook of Simmons College
Born(1854-02-18)February 18, 1854
Baldwinsville, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 14, 1942(1942-03-14) (aged 88)
OccupationsHome economist, textbook writer

Sophronia Maria Elliott (February 18, 1854 – March 14, 1942), known as S. Maria Elliott, was an American home economist, educator and writer. Her 1907 textbook Household Bacteriology is considered a notable early text in the field.[1] She was a professor at Simmons College in Boston.

Early life and education

Elliott was born in Baldwinsville, Massachusetts, the daughter of Moses Elliott and Sarah Tenney Elliott. Her mother died in 1857, when Elliott was a small child.[2]

Career

Elliott was an educator and home economist who taught at the Boston School of Housekeeping[3][4] and at Simmons College,[5][6] and wrote about hygiene and bacteriology in the home.[7][8] In 1905 she taught in Cornell University's free winter course for farm women.[9] In 1914 she received an honorary master's degree from Brown University.[2] In 1924 she spoke at Massachusetts Agricultural College's Farm and Home Week.[10]

Publications

  • Household Bacteriology (1904)[5][11]
  • Household Hygiene (1907)[12]
  • "The Teaching of Methods of Housewifery in Secondary Schools" (1910)[13]
  • The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning (1910, with Ellen Swallow Richards)[14][15]
  • "How Rough Places Are Made Smooth" (1911)[16]
  • Handbook of Housekeeping (1912, with Bertha M. Terrill and Isabel Bevier)[17]
  • The Business of the Household (1918, with Clarence Wilbur Taber, William A. Durgin, Ninian H. Welch, and Mary B. Stocking)[18]

Personal life

Elliott died in 1942, at the age of 88. There is a collection of her papers at Virginia Tech's Newman Library.[2]

References

  1. ↑ McClung, L. S.; Leikind, Morris L. (June 1944). "Early American Publications Relating to Bacteriology: I. Textbooks, Monographs, Addresses, Etc". Bacteriological Reviews. 8 (2): 119–160. doi:10.1128/br.8.2.119-160.1944. ISSN 0005-3678. PMC 440876. PMID 16350092.
  2. 1 2 3 "Collection: S. Maria Elliott Family Collection". ArchivesSpace. Retrieved 2026-06-24.
  3. ↑ "Uses and Abuses of the Laundry; Miss S. Maria Elliott Discusses This Subject at the School of Housekeeping". Boston Evening Transcript. 1898-12-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "On the Chemistry of Stains; Practical Suggestions in a Lecture by Miss Elliott". Boston Evening Transcript. 1898-04-04. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 Oakley, Ann (2024-07-25). The Science of Housework: The Home and Public Health, 1880-1940. Policy Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-1-4473-6962-2.
  6. ↑ "How Incomes Are Divided Up; Miss Elliott Lectures About Expenses". The Boston Globe. 1907-03-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Parry, Alexander I. (2023-06-01). "Delivering Bacteriology to the American Homemaker: Correspondence Education, Kitchen Experiments, and Public Health, 1890–1930". Isis. 114 (2): 317–340. doi:10.1086/725048. ISSN 0021-1753.
  8. ↑ Parry, Alexander (2020-05-07). "Gardens of Dust". Lady Science. Retrieved 2026-06-24.
  9. ↑ "Winter Course for Farm Women; Cornell University's College of Agriculture Supplies it Free". The Buffalo News. 1905-12-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Farm and Home Week Observed This Month; Many Interesting Subjects to be Discussed". The Springfield Daily Republican. 1924-07-01. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Elliott, S. Maria (1904). Household bacteriology; lesson paper. Chicago: Amer. School of Household Economics.
  12. ↑ Elliott, S. Maria (1907). Household hygiene. Library of home economics. Chicago: American school of home economics.
  13. ↑ Elliott, S. Maria (October 1910). "The Teaching of Methods of Housewifery in Secondary Schools". The Journal of Home Economics. 2 (4): 379–383.
  14. ↑ Richards, Ellen H.; Elliott, S. Maria (1910). The chemistry of cooking and cleaning. Boston: Whitcomb and Barrows.
  15. ↑ Hunt, Caroline Louisa (1912). The Life of Ellen H. Richards. Whitcomb & Barrows. p. 283.
  16. ↑ Elliott, S. Maria (1911-10-15). "How Rough Places Are Made Smooth". Buffalo Courier Express. p. 19. Retrieved 2026-06-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ American School of Home Economics.; Terrill, Bertha M.; Elliott, S. Maria; Bevier, Isabel (1912). Handbook of housekeeping; a complete "house" course, comprising; The house; its plan, decoration and care. Chicago: American school of home economics.
  18. ↑ Taber, Clarence Wilbur; Durgin, William A.; Welch, Ninian H.; Stocking, Mary B.; Elliott, S. Maria (1918). The business of the household. Lippincott's home manuals. Philadelphia, & London: J. B. Lippincott company.
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