Ethel B. Rutter, instructor in Household Science, standing at far left at a lab station with ten students in the Household Science lab, located in the northwest corner of the College Building. Kitchen equipment in foreground; blackboard, clock and a set of doors in background. Students (l to r): Lula Mabel Barr, Bessie Mary Lakken, Lillian Ivanella Crum, Mary Elizabeth Jeanetta (Jean) Moore, Ethel Falkner, Rhea Walker, Mable Jane Pollock, Beulah Ferne Bannerman Bridgeman, Hilda Gruchy, Mildred Smith.

Bio/Historical Note: In 1906, Ethel Brittain Rutter (1876-1964), PhB, MA, was widowed with two small children. Rutter received the Gold Medal for proficiency in Household Science from Macdonald College, McGill University, in 1908. She went on to serve on the faculty of Macdonald College. In 1916, Rutter joined the University of Saskatchewan to teach Household Science. Taking summers to study and a year’s leave, she earned the Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago and the Master of Arts degree from Columbia University. In 1928, the School of Household Science was established within the College of Arts and Science. Rutter was instrumental in setting up the degree program, and in 1929 was named Head of the School. She taught classes in food and nutrition, family relations and methods of teaching. To quote from the Canadian Home Economics Journal of March 1955: “Students in Mrs. Rutter’s classes recalled her insistence on accuracy, her high standards of workmanship, her apt phrasing and, above all, her enthusiasm for her subject.” Outside of the University, she encouraged the study of home economics in women’s organizations and constantly stressed the need for employing trained dietitians in hospitals. Upon her retirement in 1940, Professor Rutter was named Professor Emerita of the University of Saskatchewan. She was a Charter Member of the Canadian Dietetics Association (now Dietitians of Canada), Honorary Member of the Canadian Home Economics Association and Honorary Life Member of the McGill Graduate Society. The Rutter Prize was established in 1930 to recognize the most distinguished student in the graduating class of the College of Home Economics. The Rutter Medal now honours the most distinguished Bachelor of Science in Nutrition graduate. Rutter died in 1964; 'Rutter Crescent' in Greystone Heights is named in her honour.

View of a portion of the Roll of Honour, inscribed with the names of 23 persons who served as volunteer nurses during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918) on the first floor of the College Building. Names: Mrs. John Allan MacDonald, Abigail DeLury, Annie M. (Nan) McKay, Christina Cameron Murray (daughter of Walter Murray), Eileen Bell, Kathleen Stevenson (became ill), Stella Methery, Ada Louise Staples (became ill), Katherine Margaret Manson (became ill), Isabel [Isobel] Aberdeen Reid, Vida Mooney, Lulu Mabel Barr, Etta McLeod (became ill), Tena McRae (became ill), Ethel Annie MacFarlane (became ill), Oscar [Oskar] Knodt (became ill), Otto R. Thompson, William G. Hamilton (died), C.S. Hallman, T. Thorvaldson, Mrs. W.C. Murray (Christine Cameron Murray), Janet Crawford, Merle Elizabeth Soare (became ill).

Bio/Historical Note: As the Spanish flu arrived in Saskatoon in 1918 after World War I, Walter C. Murray, University President, gave people a chance to leave the campus if they wished, then ordered a quarantine. The campus for the most part was isolated from the rest of the city, except for Emmanuel College, which became an emergency treatment centre staffed mostly by women volunteers. In granting the use of the building on 19 Oct. 1918, the college only asked that the city fumigate the building and bedding when they were no longer needed. One of the student volunteers who assisted at Emmanuel College became ill after two days and died several days later, Murray reported to the man’s mother in a letter. The student, William G. Hamilton, received full funeral honours, including a procession at the university. Hamilton, a widower, left behind three young children. Murray wrote to his mother that if he had known the young man had children depending upon him, they would have tried to dissuade him from offering his services.