McCormick, Virginia E(vans) 1934–

(Jennie McCormick)

PERSONAL: Born October 10, 1934, in Newark, OH; daughter of Ellis (a dairy farmer) and Helen (a home economist; maiden name, Gebby) Evans; married Robert W. McCormick (a professor), October 7, 1972 (died December 13, 2002). Education: Ohio Wesleyan University, B.A., 1956; Pennsylvania State University, M.S., 1962; Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, reading, gardening, genealogy.

ADDRESSES: Home—6489 Strathaven Ct. N., Worthington, OH 43085. E-mail—jenniemccormick@sbcglobal.net.

CAREER: Ohio State University, Wilmington, home economist, 1956–58, home economist with Cooperative Extension Service, Springfield, 1962–64; Pennsylvania State University, University Park, instructor, 1959–62; Ohio State University, Columbus, began as instructor, became assistant professor, 1964–72, professor, 1973–77; Iowa State University, Ames, professor and assistant dean, 1972–73; writer, 1977–.

MEMBER: Worthington Historical Society (member of board of directors), Ohio State University Friends of Libraries (member of board of directors).

AWARDS, HONORS: Partner in Education, Worthington School District, 1991; Rose Award, Ohio Historical Society, 1999; Public Education Award, Ohio Historic Preservation Office, 2002.

WRITINGS:

(With Robert W. McCormick) A. B. Graham: Country Schoolmaster and Extension Pioneer, Cottonwood Publications (Worthington, OH), 1984.

(Editor) Farm Wife: A Self-Portrait, 1886–1896, Iowa State University Press (Ames, IA), 1990.

(Under name Jennie McCormick; with Robert W. McCormick) Probing Worthington's Heritage, Cottonwood Publications (Worthington, OH), 1990.

(Under name Jennie McCormick; with Robert W. McCormick) Worthington Landmarks: Photo-Essays of Historic Worthington Properties, Cottonwood Publications (Worthington, OH), 1992.

(With Robert W. McCormick) New Englanders on the Ohio Frontier: Migration and Settlement of Worthington, Ohio, Kent State University Press (Kent, OH), 1998.

Educational Architecture in Ohio: From One-Room Schools and Carnegie Libraries to Community Education Villages, Kent State University Press (Kent, OH), 2001.

A Cultural History of Three Creeks Metro Park, Columbus Metropolitan Park District (Columbus, OH), 2002.

Great-Grandparents: The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People, 1stBooks Library (Bloomington, IN), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Forgive Us Our Trespasses, "a novel about an early nineteenth-century marriage destroyed by the husband's conversion to the Shaker religion"; research on the Shaker community near Lebanon, OH.

SIDELIGHTS: Virginia E. McCormick told CA: "I retired early to research and write about nineteenth-century Ohio history—primarily to give a voice to ordinary people and their extraordinary accomplishments. One of these was A. B. Graham, a remarkable man my husband and I knew when he was in his nineties, a man who rose from poverty to became a township school superintendent who organized an agricultural club that evolved into the national 4-H Club program.

"My second book utilized the detailed daily diaries of my great-grandmother—a farm wife whose 'butter and egg' business contributed more than twenty-five percent of the household income even though she was considered a non-working 'housewife.'

"Worthington Landmarks: Photo-Essays of Historic Worthington Properties and New Englanders on the Ohio Frontier: Migration and Settlement of Worthington, Ohio, both written with my husband, grew out of our research leading up to our community's bicentennial. Educational Architecture in Ohio: From One-Room Schools and Carnegie Libraries to Community Education Villages is the outgrowth of a research project I completed for the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.

"Aspiring writers are frequently advised to write about what they know. That seems especially true for me, with each research question leading me to a new interest and new project."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

History: Review of New Books, fall, 1998, Louis Leonard Tucker, review of New Englanders on the Ohio Frontier: Migration and Settlement of Worthington, Ohio, p. 16.

Libraries and Culture, winter, 2003, Thomas C. Sosnowski, review of Educational Architecture in Ohio: From One-Room Schools and Carnegie Libraries to Community Education Villages, p. 82.