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Preliminary Guide to the Florence Clark Meredith Papers
UArch FacP 41
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Title: Florence Clark Meredith Papers
Dates: 1891-1979
Collection number: UArch FacP 41
Creator:
Meredith, Florence Clark
Extent:
.5 linear feet
(1 document box and 2 audiotapes)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Abstract: The collection contains photographs, notes, diplomas, certificates, clippings, tapes and transcripts relating to Florence
Clark Meredith's schooling and teaching years, primarily at what would become the University of California Santa Barbara.
Physical location: Del Sur, University Archives; Annex 2 (audio).
Language:
English.
None. Audio stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Florence Clark Meredith Papers. UArch FacP 41. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Gift of Florence Clark Meredith, ca. 1979.
The following biographical sketch is taken from the 1986
University of California: In Memoriam.
Florence Clark Meredith
(1891-1986)
Professor Emerita
Home Economics: Santa Barbara
(1891-1986)
Professor Emerita
Home Economics: Santa Barbara
Florence Clark Meredith died on July 16, 1986 at a medical center near her home in Worland, Wyoming at the age of 95. She
believed in and exercised that unique quality of doing for others as exemplified by her lifelong service to the University
and the community.
Born on a farm near Elgin, Nebraska, on February 4, 1891, she learned early of the rigors of rural living. Her grandparents,
with whom she lived for a few years, resided in a sod house (unique for being the only two-story sod house in the area), and
she rode a pony the one and a half miles to school. Her high school training was at Gates Academy, a boarding school in the
town of Neligh, Nebraska.
After graduating in 1913 from Pomona College in Claremont, California with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, she continued
her education, receiving her teaching credential from the former Santa Barbara State Normal School of Manual Arts and Home
Economics. She did her student teaching under the late Miss Pearl Chase, who, even then, was very active in Santa Barbara
civic affairs. This relationship blossomed into a career-long association in continuing community service.
In the fall of 1914 Mrs. Meredith accepted the position of teacher of Home Economics in Claremont High School, Claremont,
California. She continued in this position for eight years before attending Columbia University in New York. There she earned
her master's degree in June, 1923.
She returned to Santa Barbara to teach home economics at the former Normal School which by then was known as Santa Barbara
State College. In 1942 the College became a campus of the University of California. Meredith attained the rank of full professor
at that time and was the chairman of the department from 1954 until retiring in 1956, when she became professor emeritus.
She had the distinction of being a student or teacher on three main campuses of what is now the University of California,
Santa Barbara. Mrs. Meredith moved to the Riviera Campus in 1913 as a student with her class of 39 women and 11 men from the
original building located at the corner of Victoria and Chapala streets. The college remained on the Riviera until moving
to its present location in 1954.
In keeping with her philosophy of service she was a busy and working member of many organizations and activities in the community:
In 1936 Meredith was a founding member of the Altrusa Club of Santa Barbara which was the first city women's service club
in Santa Barbara. She was a member of the ET Chapter of PEO Sisterhood, the American Home Economics Association, and the American
Association of University Professors. In addition to being a volunteer with the Santa Barbara City Recreation Department,
she was also a sponsor and legal advisor for student sororities and an honorary fraternity on campus. She served on many faculty
and administrative committees and then, in World War II, added the duty of being an Army airplane spotter. She also worked
with the late Miss Chase to develop the Santa Barbara Better Homes Program.
On December 22, 1945, she married Harlan Meredith. They had become acquainted when both were members of the Congregational
Church choir. Friends remember Harlan and Florence as music lovers who faithfully attended performances on campus and in town,
usually in front row seats in deference to Harlan's hearing. He died here in 1971.
Some time after his death she decided to move to Worland, Wyoming to be near her remaining family. In the fall of 1979 a former
student, Vera Ricci, arranged with the University of California Alumni Association and the Special Collections Department
of the UCSB Library to have Meredith record her personal history from 1914 to 1956 and to donate this oral history to the
Special Collections Department.
In the fall of 1980 Meredith was honored at a banquet given by the UCSB Alumni Association. She was presented with the first
Annual Pearl Chase Award. This is an award now being given each year to a person associated with the University and with at
least 15 years of service to the local community. The $250 honorarium accompanying the award was donated by Meredith to the
UCSB Student and Community Affairs Organization, which, in turn, presented the funds to the Tay Sach Foundation. This foundation
tests for the disease (Tay Sachs) among descendants of eastern European Jews.
Colleagues remember Florence Meredith as tough-minded, friendly, and tolerant of the differences in opinion which characterized
the earliest years of the transition from the State College system to the University of California. As a member of a wide
range of organizations she tackled their problems judiciously with successful determination.
Mrs. Meredith was a dedicated teacher who gave 33 years of service to the University and more than 50 years of service to
the Santa Barbara community. She stands tall in the pioneer group of noted teachers from that era.
Elmer Noble
Gladys Van Fossen
Lucille A. Woolsey
Gladys Van Fossen
Lucille A. Woolsey
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains photographs, notes, diplomas, certificates, clippings, tapes and transcripts relating to Florence
Clark Meredith's schooling and teaching years, primarily at what would become the University of California Santa Barbara.
Further biographical information on Florence Clark Meredith may be found in the UCSB University Archives, Public Information
Office, Biographical Files.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Meredith, Florence Clark