By Mary Giorgio
Dubbed the “Queen of American Agriculture,” Virginia Claypool Meredith is recognized as a pioneer in the development of agricultural education. The famed Hoosier spent decades working to professionalize women’s roles on the farm during a time when it was uncommon for women to run farms or manage most agricultural processes. Meredith’s influence eventually extended internationally and led to her appointment as the first female Trustee of Purdue University in 1921.
Born on November 5, 1848, Virginia Claypool Meredith grew up on a farm near Connersville, Indiana. Her father, Austin Claypool, served as an early trustee of Purdue University. At her father’s encouragement, Meredith enrolled in a 4-year course of study at the Glendale Female College near Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 15. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1866, at a time when few women had the means or opportunity to attend a program of higher education.
After returning to Indiana, Virginia became engaged to Henry Clay Meredith, a livestock breeder who ran a nationally recognized breeding program on his Cambridge City farm. Oakland Farm, as it was nicknamed, was famous for its shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep. After marrying in 1868, Meredith immersed herself in learning about her husband’s business. She especially enjoyed coordinating the farm’s large public livestock sales, events that drew farmers from across the United States.
At the age of 33, Meredith was unexpectedly widowed when her husband died from pneumonia. Faced with a choice to manage the farm herself or sell the business, she made an unconventional decision for the time. Meredith decided to run the farm herself. Over the next decade, she grew her husband’s business and eventually became known as one of the best stockbreeders in the country. At livestock exhibitions, Meredith showed her own animals, even though there was no precedent for a woman’s participation in these events.
As her renown as a livestock breeder grew, Meredith began to receive requests to speak at breeders’ conventions across the country. In 1889, the State of Indiana developed a speaker’s bureau to travel across the state and lecture at Farmer’s Institutes (the predecessor to today’s Agricultural Extension Program managed by Purdue University). Meredith was one of the first people – and the first woman – asked to join the staff. For the next 25 years, she educated Hoosier farmers on a variety of important topics.
An engaging and personable speaker, Meredith soon became one of the most requested speakers on the circuit. One of her most popular presentations, titled “Privileges and Possibilities of Farm Life,” encouraged rural youth to pursue careers as farmers. Her words describing the important and meaningful work undertaken by farmers were so moving that the speech was eventually published and distributed widely in all 50 states and internationally.
In addition to her lectures on agriculture, Meredith also became a contributor to the Breeder’s Gazette, a national livestock journal. After contributing occasional articles for several years, she was promoted to editor of the magazine’s home department. The appointment gave Meredith a wider platform for an issue of great importance to her – championing the professionalization of rural homemaking.
Meredith believed that the domestic skills required of a modern homemaker required a scientific approach that could best be learned by attending a collegiate institution. Meredith pitched the idea to Purdue University but was turned down. Still, she continued to advocate for her plan.
World’s Fair Congress of Women (VCM second from bottom, full right)
