The Life of the Traveling Nutritionist, the Rest of the Story!

In A Life Re-Routed Thanks to the 1918 Pandemic, I was telling the remarkable story of my grandmother Marion  Evans Dakin who after she lost her husband, mother and youngest son in the 1918 flu pandemic, had to re-invent her life.   She went on the become the first Extension Nutritionist for the State of Connecticut from 1921 to 1946.
Marion lived and worked on the Storrs campus of Connecticut Agricultural College (later U Conn).  As part of her job, she was traveling around the state, giving talks and workshops.  She was also writing the Bulletins that the Extension Service distributed on nutrition and food preparation.

Bulletin No. 38, July 1924
The Connecticut Agricultural College, Extension Service,
Storrs Connecticut

I did some searching online and found the following articles:
• 1920, September, short book review of “Meats, Poultry and Game; How to Buy, Cook and Carve,” by “Marion Evans Dakin, Pratt Institute,” in The Journal of Home Economics, vol.12, p 426.
• 1921, January, “What your Child Should Eat” The Connecticut Agricultural College Extension Service, Bulletin no. 47, January 1921
• 1924, July, “Pickles: Chow Chow, Chili Sauce, Sauerkraut, etc.” Bulletin No. 38
• 1925, July, “Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables,” by Marion Evans Dakin & Elsie Trabue, Bulletin no. 90
• 12 April 1931, “Old Connecticut Treats” article on famous New England recipes in The Charleston Daily Mail, (Charleston, West VA)
• 1933, “4-H food club, “What we can do with milk” Bulletin
• 1936, October, “Vegetables in Various Ways,” Unit 9 of the 4-H food program, Bulletin no. 234
• 1938, September, “Winter Salads”
• 1941, July, “Milk in Many Modes,”  Bulletin no. 311
• 1942, “Cakes and Cookies that save sugar,”   Bulletin no. 332, September 1942
• 1942, October, “Meat Replace”  Extension Bulletin
• 1942, “Home Canning,” Extension Bulletin
• 1943, author, "Fats for Table Use and Cooking
• 1984 & 1985, Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, 1984 &1985: Cookery: Science, Lore,” edited by Tom Jaine, talks about the history of Election Day Cake and on page 59 includes her recipe for a yeast-based election day cake

My initial thought was: that was a lot of articles, something to be proud of.  Then I remembered a box I have from when I cleaned out her house as her executrix in 1974. Looks like there might be a few more articles here.

The collection of Extension Bulletins that Marion authored and saved from
her 25 years as the first Extension Nutritionist for the State of Connecticut.

Undated, Bulletins in a Green Cover with two rings holding together a set of 4-page documents, from Marion’s collection.  All titled The Spotlight” by Marion Evans Dakin, Storrs, Conn., Vol. (Probably starting about 1934-35)
Introduction(Vol.1, no.1):
“With this issue we are starting a new leaflet
on its way.  As so much experimental work is being done
in nutrition and foods we want to focus our Spotlight
on the information which will help us in the better
feeding of our families - especially the children.  So
the plan for this leaflet is to present nutrition facts,
timely food preparation articles, helps in food purchas-
ing, and short-cuts.  If you have found something
which helps you in your job of feeding the family, will
you not send it in so it can be shared with others?”
• no.1, November,  “School Lunch,” “Suggested Thanksgiving Dinner Menus,” “Market Lore”
• no. 2, December, “Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen and Farm,” “Children’s Teeth,” some recipes, “Market Lore”
• no. 3, January,  “Fit the Apple to the Job,
• no. 4, February, instead of titled articles there is a two page discussion of winter planning for spring planting  and thinking herbs, time to stock up on canned good, learning to read the label (price per pound and government grade), shelving one’s supply of canned fruits and meats by the month you’ll use it, and ending with an article on vitamins.
• no. 5, March, there is a list of mixed greens to plant  in your garden, a “vegetable budget” by the day or week, a discussion of the cost of food up 6% since September (during 1934-35, the average food cost per person was $.33, going to .35 or $7.30 per person per year)  with one suggestion to keep this down of planting a garden.
• no. 6, April, “To Make a Bouquet of Herbs,” “Amounts for 50 People,” “Grainola,” “Escarole,” “A Box and Cox Garden,” “Marketing Information”
• no. 7, May, The issue is devoted to eggs
• no. 8, June, The issue is devoted to canning and includes a recipe for Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie since Rhubarb is the fruit of the month.
• no.9, July-August, Picnics (6 pages instead of 4)
• no. 10, September, “September and Schools Open,” “A Fall Jelly,” “How to Get The Blue Ribbon,” “A Christmas Suggestion,” “Youth Learns Cooperation Rather than Competition”
• no. 11, October, The issue is devoted to the school lunch with a note to can chicken meat (non-layers are culled then), the importance of calcium and vitamin A in a Child’s diet, and materials you can send away for from the extension office.
Volume II
• no.1, November, “School Lunch Box,” “Some Suggestions for Lunch Box Menus,” Thanksgiving menus suggestions from 1911, “Market Lore,” “Consumer Protected in Potato Buying”
Note: in Vol.3, no.1, “Two years ago we started Volume 2 of the
Spotlight but the one number issued turned out to be 
Hail and Farewell instead of the first of a series.”
Volume 3
• no. 1, November, The issue is devoted to good nutrition for safe driving and Thanksgiving.
• no. 2, December, “Five-Point Children,” answering a question about Vitamin A for Five-Point Children, and recipes for “Raisin Chocolate,” “Date Sweets,” Peanut Paste,” to replace some of the Christmas candy.
• no. 3, January, “Our Daily Bread,” answering a question about Calcium for Five-Point Children
• no. 4, February, “Month of Holidays,” answering a question about Iron for Five-Point Children
• no. 5, March, “First Aid to a Good Diet- A Good Food Garden,” answering a question about Vitamin C for Five-Point Children, and “St. Patrick’s Day Refreshments”
[number 6 missing]
• no. 7, May, “Five-Point Children,” “Friends School Menu” from a school in England from 1740 (read to parents so they couldn’t complain about food) [Marion got this from Clarice, who got it when she was in England 1928-1930 and visited the Friends School, Clarice mentioned it in a letter to Marion dated 11 February 1930], “May Breakfast”

Uncovered and undated Bulletins from the Cooperative Extension Work in Agricultural and Home Economics State of Connecticut from her collection [most are 8 pages long]:
• “Winter Salads” [ink note:  Sept 1938]
• “Yeast Breads”
• “Sweet Rolls and Coffee Cake”
• “Meals for 100% Health”  [pencil note:  “Revised April 1941”]
• “ABC of Food Preparation”
• “ABC of Cooking”
• “Preparing Some Common Vegetables”
• “Pickles and Relishes”
• “Christmas Cookies”  [pencil note:  “there is a revision”]
• “Guides in Food Buying: Meats”  [there are corrections in Marion’s hand writing on the sample]
• “The ABCs of Canning”
• “Yeast Breads”  [pencil note:  “1932-3, Revised 1938”]
• “Sweet Rolls and Coffee Cake”  [pencil note: “1933”]
• “Yeast Rolls”  [pencil note: “1933”]
• “Stretching the Food Dollar”  [pencil note: 1933]
• “Soufflés”
• “Rhubarb”
• “Thanksgiving” [note: includes menu from 1887]
• “Doughnuts”
• “ABC of Food Preparation: Batters and Doughs”  [pencil note:  “1933-4”]
• “ABC of Food Preparation: Batters and Doughs II”
• “Coffee” [pencil note:  “1933-4”]
• “ABC of Food Preparation: Pastry and Salad Dressing”
• “ABC of Food Preparation: Pastry”
• “Afternoon Tea”
• “Holiday Dinner”  [pencil note:  Fairfield Co Annual Meeting 1932”]
• “Suggestions for Sunday Night Suppers”
• “Junior Short Course 1937, Lunch Box Suggestions”  [pencil note:  “July 1937”]
• “ABC of Food Preparation: Pastry”
• “Uses for Sour Cream”  [pen note:  “Aug ’33”]
• “Summer Beverages”  [pencil note:  “Out of print — has been revised 1933”]
• “Camp Cookery”  [pencil note:  “Revised 1939 — N. London Co Camp 1933”]
• “Foods for the Lunch Box”  [pencil note:  “1933”]
• “Recipes for Community Meals (Amounts for 25 Servings)”
• “Standards for Some Foods Found in the Breakfast Menu”
• “ABC of Cooking: Basic Methods of Cookery”
• “Guides in Food Buying”
• “Trays for the Sick: Unit 20 of the 4-H Food Program”  [pen note:  Feb 1940]


Nutrition Book No.2, Mrs. Dakin
Undated Bulletins from the Cooperative Extension Work in Agricultural and Home Economics State of Connecticut from her collection.  Probably most from 1937-1939.
• “Outdoor Cookery”
• “The Menu of the Month - November: A week’s Meals for  Four for $11.20”  [pen: “Nov. 1939”]
• “Supper Dishes”
• “Home Canned Foods in the Family Meal”
• March 1943, “Fats for Table Use and Cooking”
• “Lamb and Mutton”
• [chart] “One Week’s Food Record”  [pencil: “Sept 1937”]
• “How to Cook Meat”
• “Pork and Port Products”
• “Veal”
• “Evening Refreshments” [pencil: “Fairfield, Oct ’37]
• “The Menu of the Month - October: A Week’s Meals at Moderate Cost”  [pen: Oct. 1939]
• “Food for the Sick and Convalescent”  [pencil: “Sept. 1939”]
• “Refreshing and Nutritious Beverages for the Sick and Convalescent” [pencil: Sept. 1939]
• “Estimating Costs and Value of Home Canned Products” [pencil: “Sept. 1939”]
• “Some Skills in Cooking”  [pencil:  “Jr. Short Course July 1939”]
• “A Polish Dinner”  [pencil: “1933 Farm & Home Week”]
• August 18, 1937, “Notice to Growers and Shippers of Citrus Fruits” from the Department of Agriculture [included for dating and context, not written by Marion]
• “Yeast Breads and Rolls: Suggested Outline for Meetings” Unit 13 of the 4-H Food Program [pen:  “Mar ’39”]
• “The School Lunch” Unit 12 of the 4-H Food Program [pen: “Feb 1939”]
• “Daily Meal Planning” [pen: “Jan. 1939”]
• “Social Customs in Dining” [pencil:  “Nov. 1938”]
• “Table Setting”  [pencil: “Sept 1938”]
• “Yeast Breads”
• “Impromptu Refreshments”  [pencil: “June Approximate Amounts of Foods to Serve Fifty”  [pencil:  “April 1938”]
• “Summer Beverages”  [pencil: “Revised Spring 1938”]
• “What Price Deserts.”  [pencil: Jan. 1938”]
• “New and Old Ways to Serve Potatoes”  [pen: “Jan. 1938”]
• “Foods for the Lunch Box (Revised December 1937)”
• “Cost-Weight Table: Table for Determining Cost Per Pound of a Product” [not by Marion, but included in her book, prepared by NY State College of Home Economics at Cornell U]


Nutrition Book No 4, “What’s Cooking”
• “A Polish Dinner” Co-author with Mrs. Joseph Kasper
• “What's Cooking in Your Neighbor's Pot?  Polish Recipes,” September 1945
• “Feast Dishes for Easter and Other Russian Recipes” offered in “What’s Cooking in Your Neighbor’s Pot” Program over Station WTIC, April 6, 1946
• “Some Southern Favorites” offered in “What’s Cooking in Your Neighbor’s Pot” Program over Station WTIC, June 29, 1946
• “Habitat Dishes from French Canada” offered in “What’s Cooking in Your Neighbor’s Pot” Program over Station WTIC, June 1, 1946
• “It’s an Old Swedish Custom — The Smörgåsbord” offered in “What’s Cooking in Your Neighbor’s Pot” Program over Station WTIC, May 4, 1946
• “Gulyas and Other Hungarian Dishes Given to Marion Evans Dakin by Mrs. Stevan Dohanos,” March 1946
• “What’s Cooking in Your Neighbor’s Pot: Some Recipes from Italy,” February 1946
• “Cooking Fish the Finnish Way,” January 1946
• “Czechoslovakian Christmas Foods,” December 1945
• “Cakes with Little or No Sugar,”  October 1945
• “Meat Replacements,” March 1945
• “Home Preserved Foods in “Basic 7” Meals,”  January 1945
• “Home-Made Mixes,”  January 1945
• “Packed Lunches,”  September 1944
• “Herbs for Accent and Flavor,” September 1944
• “Preserving Eggs in Water Glass,”  “Preserving Eggs in Mineral Oil,”  April 1944
• “Ways to Use Cereals as Desserts,”  [undated]
• “Ways to Use Home Preserved Food: Group III — Other Vegetables and Fruits,” March 1944
• “Ways to Use Home Preserved Food: 2. Tomatoes, Greens, Fruits,”  February 1944
• “Ways to Use Home Preserved Food: 1. Snap Beans and Carrots,”  January 1944
• “What Every Cook Should Know, Unit 7 of the 4-H Food Program,” 10-25-43

Dated Bulletins from the University of Connecticut Extension Service, Storrs Conn. from her collection [professionally published quality]:
• June 1933, “Jellies, Jams and Marmalades,” Bulletin 187
• March 1935, coauthor with W. B. Young, “Home Preservation of Meat,”  Bulletin 217 (Reprint of No 177)
• October 1936, “Vegetables in Various Ways, Unit 9 of the 4-H Program,”  Bulletin 234 (Revision of No. 176)
• February 1938, “Home Canning,”  Bulletin 254 (Revision of Bulletin No.219)
• March 1941, “Home Canning,” Bulletin 304 (Revision of Bulletin No. 254)
• October 1941, “Foods to Help Keep You Fit,” Bulletin 316
• April 1942, “Home Canning,”  Bulletin 324
• March 1943, “Home Preservation of Fruits and Vegetables,” Bulletin 343
• May 1944, “Jams and Jellies,” Bulletin 355 (Revision of 335)
• May 1944, “Pickles and Relishes,” Bulletin 356


Everyone always talked about how much driving Marion Evans Dakin did as she traveled around the State of Connecticut.  She was said to have known every road, named or not.  But no one in the family talked about her as an author of nutrition and food preparation bulletins for the citizens of Connecticut.

Job well done, Nana!


©Erica Dakin Voolich, 2016
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