Abby Lillian Marlatt

Abby Lillian Marlatt (born March 7, 1869, Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.—died June 23, 1943, Madison, Wis.) was an American educator who brought a strong academic base to the university programs in home economics that she established.

Marlatt graduated from Manhattan’s Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science) in 1888 and remained there as a teacher while studying chemistry (M.S., 1890). Invited to organize a department of domestic economy at Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) in Logan, she taught there until 1894. In that year she joined the faculty of the Manual Training (later Technical) High School in Providence, Rhode Island, where she organized a department of home economics. During her years in Providence, Marlatt continued her own studies at Brown University and in summer sessions at Clark University. She also took part in the work of the Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics, serving as chairman in 1903 and vice president in 1907 under Ellen H. Richards.

In 1909 Marlatt was asked by the University of Wisconsin to organize a home economics department. Under her leadership the department rapidly outgrew its basement quarters, and after a statewide campaign to gain legislative support, the department moved into its own building in 1914. In Marlatt’s 30 years as director of home economics, the staff of the department grew from 2 to 25, the enrollment from 47 to 512, and the number of courses from 12 to 67. Marlatt established high academic standards for her students, requiring basic courses in English, foreign language, and science and technical courses such as bacteriology and journalism. Her department at Wisconsin set standards that were emulated by institutions across the country. Marlatt retired in 1939.