Ellen Swallow Richards House

History

The Ellen H. Swallow Richards House is a National Historic Landmark house at 32 Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was the home of Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911) from 1876 until her death. Richards was the first woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was its first female instructor. She introduced revolutionary ideas about home sanitation, and conducted pioneering work that led to the establishment of the field of home economics. The house itself was regularly altered as a consequence of her research, and was used by Richards as a consumer product testing laboratory. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ellen Swallow Richards House”, CC BY-SA 4.0.

About Ellen Swallow Richards

Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards was an American industrial and safety engineer, environmental chemist, and university faculty member in the United States during the 19th century. Her pioneering work in sanitary engineering, and experimental research in domestic science, laid a foundation for the new science of home economics. She was the founder of the home economics movement characterized by the application of science to the home, and the first to apply chemistry to the study of nutrition.

From the Wikipedia article “Ellen Swallow Richards”, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Visiting

This building is recorded as a residence of the people listed; it may be privately owned and not open to the public. Opening times, tickets and access change, so check the official website before you travel. Get directions.