Women’s History Month spotlight: Farmland Exhibition’s Ella Pearl Kedzie Plant

Michigan State University celebrates Women’s History Month in March, a time to honor the impact of women throughout history, including in the arts. Across generations, women artists have challenged norms, shared untold stories and reshaped the way we see the world around us. The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum’s Farmland Exhibition: Food, Justice and Sovereignty is centered around questions of food knowledge, production, scarcity and consumption against the background of MSU’s 170-year history of agricultural tradition. Here, learn more about Ella Pearl Kedzie Plant.

Ella Pearl Kedzie Plant (class of 1898)

Does the name Kedzie ring a bell? Kedzie is an important last name in the history of Michigan State University, dating back to when MSU was called State Agricultural College, and Robert C. Kedzie was the school’s first chemistry professor. MSU even named a building after him: Kedzie Hall. Looking further down the Kedzie family tree is Robert’s granddaughter, Ella Pearl Kedzie, who had her own storied history with MSU.  

Ella Pearl was born in 1877 in Manhattan, Kansas. When she was 3 years old, her father, William Knowlton Kedzie — who graduated from MSU in 1870 — passed away. Her mother, Ella Marie Gale Kedzie, moved Ella Pearl and her brother to Olivet, Michigan, where Ella Marie became the head of the art department at Olivet College, now known as the University of Olivet.

After graduating from Olivet Preparatory School, Ella Pearl attended Olivet College from 1894 to 1895. Her family eventually moved to East Lansing to live with her grandfather at No. 5 Faculty Row — now West Circle Drive between Abbott and Beal. Ella Pearl attended MSU, taking part in the original women’s course as a high honor student, graduating in 1898.

After graduating, Ella Pearl attended Wellesley College as a “Special Student” in English Literature in 1900. She met Louis Clark Plant and the two married inside her grandfather’s home on Faculty Row on Dec. 19, 1900. They had a daughter named Margret Plant Thorp and eventually moved to Montana in 1907, where they had a son they named after Ella Pearl’s grandfather, Robert Kedzie Plant. The Plant family eventually moved back to East Lansing, where Ella Pearl lived until she was 93, dying on Sept. 25, 1970. Ella Pearl Kedzie Plant is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. 

Ella Pearl Kedzie Plant’s cooking notes, which she used to study for classes in the women’s course, are on display in the Farmland exhibition at the MSU Broad Art Museum, 127 years after she graduated. These cooking notes are important not only to Michigan State’s history but also to women’s history, reflecting the societal expectations of women and how gender norms shaped their education, the home and the agriculture industry.

Women could not attend Michigan State University until 1870, and the first time a woman graduated from MSU was in 1879. Ella Pearl was among the earlier graduating classes in the university’s history, paving the way for women to attend.

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To view these pieces and learn more about Michigan State University’s agriculture tradition, visit the MSU Broad Art Museum Farmland: Food, Justice and Sovereignty exhibition, open through July 27.