Helen Woodard Atwater was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, Home Economics

Home Economics

Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...

 specialist and the first full-time editor of the Journal of Home Economics.

Atwater was born in Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...

, and graduated from Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 in 1897. For the next ten years she helped her father, Wilbur Olin Atwater

Wilbur Olin Atwater

Wilbur Olin Atwater was an American chemist known for his studies of human nutrition and metabolism....

 with his nutrition and colorimetry research. During this time she made extensive contacts in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...

. Her father died in 1907. After she wound up his estate, she was hired by the USDA in the scientific division of the Bureau of Home Economics.

Atwater served at the USDA for fourteen years until 1923. There she developed techniques of food preparation that retained nutritional values. She wrote pamphlets and books to help, primarily rural, women learn about nutrition and modified methods of food preparation. In the 1920s she served with the Women’s Joint Congressional Committee, which developed information resources for Congress on women’s issues.

In 1923, the American Home Economics Association decided to hire the first full-time editor for their flagship publication the Journal of Home Economics. Atwater was chosen and she remained there for eighteen years until she retired in 1941. While there, she served on the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection in 1930 and the President’s Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership in 1931. She was an active member of the American Public Health Association

American Public Health Association

The American Public Health Association is Washington, D.C.-based professional organization for public health professionals in the United States. Founded in 1872 by Dr. Stephen Smith, APHA has more than 30,000 members worldwide...

 and chaired its committee on housing hygiene in 1942.

Honors

Atwater was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

 and was honored with honorary membership in both Phi Upsilon Omicron (honor society in family and consumer science

Family and consumer science

Family and consumer sciences is an academic discipline that combines aspects of social and natural science. Family and consumer sciences deals with the relationship between individuals, families, and communities, and the environment in which they live...

) and Omicron Nu (honor society now part of Kappa Omicron Nu). In 1943, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 from Smith College.
The American Home Economics Association established an International fellowship in her name in 1947. Mrs. Francine Van de Putte Gillies of Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

was the first recipient.

Selected published works

Atwater's published works include:

• (1900) Bread and the Principles of Bread Making Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
• (1903) Poultry as food Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
• (1929) Home Economics: The art and science of homemaking American Library Association, Chicago

with Caroline Louisa Hunt

• (1917) How to Select Foods ... Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.