RU History Mary Ledger "M'Ledge" Moffett Director of Home Economics Dean of Women |
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 M'Ledge at 3 |
M'Ledge Moffett was born in 1892, the only
child of William Ledgerwood Moffett and Mary Stoops Moffett. The name M'Ledge
was formed from shortened versions of her parents names, Mary and Ledgerwood.
M'Ledge seems to have inherited
little else from her father beyond using a shortened version of his middle
name as the second syllable of the name by which she was generally
known. However, her mother, Mary S. Moffett, was very influential in
M'Ledge's life by virtue of raising M'Ledge in a school environment. Prior to
M'Ledge's birth, Mary Moffett taught at a school in Riverside,
Ohio. Due to William's ill health, the Moffetts moved to Virginia in 1893 where
during M'Ledge's early and adolescent years, Mary Moffett taught
at the Midway School, and at the
Ruffner School in Manassas, Virginia. Mary Moffett served as school principal at the Manassas Institute
where her daughter was a student. She was a pioneer in home economics education and
was credited for recognizing that home economics was worthy of consideration at a
professional state meeting. M'Ledge followed in her mother's path, attending the newly-opened State Normal School in Harrisonburg, Virginia (now James Madison University), graduating in 1910 with a Full Degree in Household Arts. Harrisonburg was the first school to offer such a degree in Virginia and Moffett was one of the first two graduates. From Harrisonburg, Moffett went to Columbia University's Teachers College in New York City. While working towards her Bachelor of Science degree in 1913 from Columbia, M'Ledge spent her summers as a Household Arts instructor at a Summer Normal School in Covington, Virginia. |
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John Preston |
Around this time that M'Ledge was at Harrisonburg Normal School and then at Columbia University, the Virginia Legislature established the "State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Radford" and John Preston McConnell, a professor/dean at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia, was appointed as president of the new school. One of his first tasks was the appointment of a faculty. There are no records available to document how McConnell recruited instructors to staff the normal school but it seems reasonable to assume the following in Moffett's case: | |||
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McConnell, a native Virginian, like Moffett
had grown up in a family that emphasized education. As a Dean at Emory and Henry and
someone who was deeply interested in the education of women, McConnell was probably
familiar with the work of Mary Stoops Moffett. And he was probably cognizant of the fact
that M'Ledge Moffett was eminently qualified to serve as the school's sole instructor in
Household Arts. One wonders if the younger Moffett applied for the job or McConnell heard of her
from her mother or from Julian Burruss, president of the Harrisonburg Normal School
during the time when M'Ledge was a student. Unfortunately, there is no record of the first
meeting/interview between McConnell and Moffett. In any event, Moffett's name
was on the list of instructors approved by the school's Board of Trustees in June, 1913.
Moffett arrived in Radford on September 11, 1913, as the youngest faculty member and the only member of the Household Arts Department, a month after the school's formal dedication in August, 1913, and only a few days before classes began. She apparently quickly proved her ability to handle herself under pressure because McConnell almost immediately put her in charge of the school's sole dormitory. In Moffett's History of the State Teachers College at Radford, Virginia, 1910-1930, McConnell wrote in the third person of Moffett that, "in the judgment of the president, she was the most suitable person for this trying position, this she filled with great satisfaction to all concerned. This was the beginning of her official duties in the college." President McConnell assigned Miss Moffett several other duties. Since she had had previous experience as a charter member of the Lee Literary Society at Harrisonburg Normal School, Moffett and two others were appointed to a committee to establish the college's first two campus organizations--the Ingles and Pocahontas Literary Societies. In addition to literary pursuits, the two societies emphasized dramatic performances, social gatherings, and debates. Moffett served as faculty adviser to the Ingles Literary Society which was named in honor of Mary Draper Ingles, famous for escaping from Indian captivity in the late 18th century. While interest in the literary societies had waned by the 1930s, the Ingles and Pocahontas names are on two of Radford University's residence halls |
Moffett |
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Moffett also participated in the formation of the Student Government Association (1914) and the Grapurchat student newspaper (1921). The Student Government Association and the Tartan (the Grapurchat's successor) remain integral parts of campus life. For the first several years after the college opened, Moffett taught all of the Household Arts courses (Elementary Sewing, Elementary Cooking and Household Management) which met five times a week. In 1918, the Department doubled in size with the hiring of Myrtle Burnette. Moffett was one of six founding members of the Virginia Home Economics Association and president of the organization during the years 1915-1916 and 1925-1926. During the summers of 1916 through 1920, Moffett took courses at Columbia University’s Teachers College and received a Masters degree in 1921. She received her doctorate from Columbia in 1929, writing her dissertation on "The social background and activities of teachers college students". The dissertation, later published as a book, was the first of many publications. In 1920, the Radford Normal School was reorganized and McConnell appointed Moffett as the new Dean of Women, a year before she received her Master of Arts degree. She was the first person to hold that post at any of the Virginia institutions of higher education. She held the Dean's post until her retirement in 1962. In the preface to Moffett's history of the school, McConnell praised Moffett for having, "an inquisitive mind, great energy, and a keen sense of the worth of historical facts." McConnell went on to say that her duties, "have so expanded in the last two decades that she [has] an intimate personal knowledge and contact with every phase of the institutional life and its development. Her association with the president and the administrative officers has given her a knowledge of the personality of the President, members of the faculty, and other officials of the institution that is absolutely unique." McConnell's statement would hold true for at least 30 years through the administrations of Presidents Peters and Martin and several thousand students. Moffett retired from Radford in 1962 but never relinquished her love of the institution. She died in 1969. In her will, Moffett left much of her estate in a scholarship fund originally established by her mother. Moffett wrote "I now pass the inheritance of the fruit of her labor, as manifest through me to other women that they may catch a part of the vision she had." View the official portrait of Dr. Moffett that hangs in the Circulation Hall of McConnell Library above the Circulation Desk. Read the article about the unveiling of the Dr. Moffett's official portrait that appeared in the June 1, 1934 issue of the Grapurchat (v. 13, #15, p. 1). Click the "Back" button on your browser to return to this page. |
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