Lou Henry was born to Charles and Florence Henry on March 29th, 1874 in Waterloo, Iowa. Lou's father was a woolen mill operator, bank clerk and later partner, and miner. Lou was the eldest of two sisters. Her younger sister Jean was born in 1882. Lou grew up a bit of a tomboy. She greatly enjoyed camping trips, hunting, horseback riding, archery, boating, basketball, and other outdoor activities. She was a skilled taxidermist and loved to display the animals she hunted. Lou obtained much of her education at the Los Angeles Normal School and San Jose Normal School, where she obtained her credentials as a teacher in 1893. While still in school, she developed a great love for rocks, minerals, and mining. This interest led her to attend a lecture by Stanford professor J.C. Branner. At the end of his lecture, she asked him if he would consider a woman geology student. Receiving much encouragement from him, as well as her parents, she went on to become the first woman in America to obtain her bachelor's degree in geology. While at Stanford, she met young Herbert Hoover who was then a senior. Although they saw each other regularly and were very fond of each other, they decided to delay any marraige plans until she graduated and he persued an engineering career in Australia. In 1898, upon her graduation, Herbert wired her a marraige proposal. She quickly wired back affirmatively and they were married the next year in a civil ceremony in Monterey, California on February 10. The day after the wedding they sailed to Shanghai, China where they lived for the next two years. Herbert's job required much travel through dangerous areas and Lou would often come with him. She was present with him during the Boxer Rebellion. She helped to build protective barricades and cared for gunshot wounds. Although their house was riddled with bullets, she and her husband were unharmed. While in China she learned the Mandarin dialect and would use the language later in life with her husband to ward off eavesdroppers. She also was talented in Latin and she and Herbert translated a 16th century encyclopedia of mining and metallurgy published in 1912. Lou and herbert traveled around the world with his different work assignments living in India, Eygpt, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Siberia, Ceylon, Burma, and Japan. London was their base. It was during this time that their two sons Herbert Jr. (1903) and Allan (1907) were born. When WWI broke out in Europe, Lou started and chaired the American Women's War Relief Fund and Hospital and also became a leader in the Society of American Women in London helping to house, feed, and give financial aid to the many European immigrants whose countries were occupied by Germany. She returned to California with her two sons to organize a special branch to send American support to Belgium. She led a campaign to buy Belgian lace to help bolster this country's economy. She also helped organize the transportation home of wounded soldiers with the American Red Cross' Canteen Escort Service. In 1917, Herbert was appointed as chief of the U.S. Food Administration and the Hoovers set off for Washington D.C. Lou became an advocate for food conservation and refugee relief efforts through speeches, lessons, recipes, and widespread media publicity. During the 1920s, Lou became interested in the new national group called the American Girl Guides which later became known as the Girl Scouts. Lou's own active childhood led her to take on many roles with the group becoming president in 1925. Also during this time Lou spent extensive amounts of time designing their new "international style" home in Palo Alto which was completed in 1920. The couple spent 13 years in this home up until before his presidency and also returned to this home afterward in 1940. When Herbert became the Republican nominee in 1928, Lou surprisingly stayed out of the public aspects of the campaign despite her popularity as a speaker. Upon securing office, Herbert and Lou went on one final international trip to Honduras, San Salvador, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, and Argentina before settling into the White House. In her new role as First Lady, Lou was much more subdued than she had been in earlier public life. Part of the reason for this was that with the recent Stock Market Crash of 1929, she wanted to maintain a national calm. Nevertheless, she did continue to give speeches and was a frequent radio guest often speaking on volunteerism and her work with the Girl Scouts. She also was a quick adapter to much of the new technology and media of the day. She had equipment placed in the Oval office for displaying motion pictures and often used her own silent movie camera around the White House. Mrs. Hoover made several historical improvements to the White House, including collecting furniture and other items used by Abraham Lincoln and James Monroe and incorporating them into the Lincoln Study (later becoming known as Lincoln's Bedroom under Truman) and the Monroe Room (which later became the Treaty Room). She also commissioned the first inventory of all historic items in the White House. Another of her most notable accomplishments was overseeing and designing the construction of the presidential retreat, Rapidan Camp (later Camp David). Lou, while always staying informed of political policy, never influenced her husband in that regard. She did, however, show empathy to the "Bonus Army" of WWI veterans by anonymously sending sandwhiches and blankets to those camped out on Pennsylvania Avenue. After leaving the White House, the Herberts settled back into the Palo Alto community. Lou remained active in the Girl Scouts and other groups and during WWII she again showed her support for European immigrants by volunteering with the Western Women's Committee and the Salvation Army's clothing drive.
Lou died of a heart attack in 1944 in New York City and was buried in Palo Alto. Following Herbert's death in 1964, she was reinterred at West Branch, Idaho. Lou Hoover led an amazingly active life and I feel that I have just scratched the surface of it! I would highly recommend digging into it further!
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Have a lovely day! -Emma Hello Friends! It's that time again where I share my favorites from the last month with y'all. It's been a super busy month for me, but I wanted to share some of the things that also made it pretty great! 1. I Love Lucy Show I've been rewatching a lot of the seasons of I Love Lucy lately and totally loving them! I am currently watching the ones where they go to Europe and they are pretty fab. Travel and 1950s life are two of my favorite things! I've been a fan of I Love Lucy for years now and would HIGHLY recommend them! 2. This Nurse's Uniform from RubyMaeRose How adorable is this nurse's uniform?? It's also sooooo rare to find a complete uniform from the 1940s in such great condition! (Also, wouldn't it be amazing to have a mask to wear that is from the 1940s?!) 3. Early antique cars Yeah, everyone loves 1950s convertibles, but how about those early 1900s-1910s models? They're pretty swell in my opinion! ;) 4. This verse from Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? -Psalm 27:1 5. This photo from the 1920s How cool is this photo? Whoever took it deserves some major awards!! I just love the set-up of this photo and that ladies fashion sense is pretty amazing! (Like how adorable is that coat!?!?)
Well, that is also for today folks! Hope you've enjoyed! Please drop a comment and tell me what you've been enjoying this past month! Comments really make my day :) |
AuthorHi everyone! I am Emma, the owner of The Lovely Shoppe Co. I share shop updates, vintage outfits, and vintage photos of everything from fashion to sports to travel to music to cars to actors and everything else! Archives
September 2021
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