Esther H. Stocks

Esther Stocks was born in Massachusetts (probably Lowell) on January 21, 1902.¹ She was the third child born to Henriette ("Etta") M. (Ramsdell) Stocks and Harry Stocks. Esther's siblings were Carl Winslow Stocks (1884-1959) and Violet (Stocks) Proctor (1885-1966). Esther never married.²

Esther Stocks was a graduate of Smith College in Massachusetts and received a master's degree from the Merrill-Palmer Institute of Child and Family Development, an interdisciplinary school founded in 1920 and now part of Wayne State University, which is dedicated to the improvement of family life and human development.³

Esther spent most of her professional career at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. From 1933 through 1964, she was Director of Placement in the College of Home Economics, which became the College of Human Ecology in 1969. Esther Stocks held the rank of Assistant Professor of Home Economics (1943-1947) and Associate Professor of Home Economics (1947-1954). In 1954, she became Professor Emerita in Home Economics.

A sample of publications that were authored or co-authored by Esther Stocks includes:

Vocations in Home Economics, 1939 ⁴

The Job Is Yours, 1947 ⁵

Trends in Home Economics Placement, 1952 ⁶

A Growing College: Home Economics at Cornell University, 1969 ⁷

Esther H. Stocks died in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, on September 3, 1988.⁸

¹ Massachusetts Death Index (1970-2003), Department of Health Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2005.
² Conversation between Franklyn L. Delaney and Robert F. Delaney, December 26, 1999.
³ Transcript by Dolores Greenburg of interview conducted with Esther Stocks, November 14, 1963, New York State College of Home Economics Project, Ithaca, NY. Cornell University archives (Kroch Library; 47-2-O.H. 60).
⁴ Esther Stocks, Vocations in Home Economics, University of the State of New York, State Education Department, Albany, NY, 1939. Kroch Library, Cornell University (Harris CUF St6.1)
⁵ Esther Stocks and Alice Ross, The Job Is Yours, booklet produced by the Placement Office, New York State College of Home Economics, 1947.
⁶ Esther H. Stocks, Trends in Home Economics, Journal of Home Economics, Volume 44, Number 3 (March 1952), American Home Economics Association.
⁷ Flora Rose and Esther Stocks, A Growing College: Home Economics at Cornell University, New York State College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1969. Mann Library, Cornell University (TX285.N56.R79G).
⁸ Massachusetts Death Index (1970-2003), Department of Health Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2005.

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