Hannah L. Wessling Explained

Hannah L. Wessling
Birth Date:May 26, 1873
Birth Place:Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Death Date:January 18, 1960
Death Place:Tracy, California, U.S.
Other Names:Hanna L. Wesseling
Occupation:Chemist, food scientist

Hannah Louise Wessling (May 26, 1873 – January 18, 1960) was an American chemist, billed as "Uncle Sam's Bread Maker" during World War I.[1]

Early life and education

Wessling was from Cincinnati, Ohio,[2] the daughter of John Henry Wessling and Mary Dorothea Rabbe Wessling. Her father and her maternal grandparents were born in Germany.[3] She graduated from Woodward High School in 1894.[4]

Career

Wessling taught chemistry in Cincinnati as a young woman.[5] In the 1910s and 1920s, Wessling worked for the United States Department of Agriculture in Chicago[6] and later in Washington, D.C.[7] She was a food scientist,[8] testing flours and creating optimal recipes and equipment for home baking, using alternative ingredients or varying pan sizes.[9] "Miss Wessling has devoted considerable time--thirteen years--in the work of making bread, jellies, preserves, and canning fruit, and later analyzing them as a chemist," explained one 1910 newspaper report.[10] Her work took on particular relevance during World War I, when food conservation required some substitutions in traditional recipes, and working women sought more efficient and economical ways to bake.[11]

Wessling was a home economist for the Northwest Yeast Company from 1922 into the 1940s.[12] [13] [14] She spoke at the American Home Economics Association meeting in Buffalo in 1924.[15]

Publications

Personal life

Wessling lived in California in her later years. She died in 1960, at the age of 86.

Notes and References

  1. News: 1918-06-10 . Tampa Gas Company (advertisement) . 2024-04-08 . The Tampa Times . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1917-09-18 . Writer of Post Articles on Bread Saving in Cincinnatian . 2024-04-08 . The Cincinnati Post . 7 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Mullett . Mary B. . 1914-02-23 . Who's Who Among Progressive Women . 2024-04-08 . The Washington Herald . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  4. Book: Annual Report of the Public Schools of Cincinnati . 1894 . 69, 71 . en.
  5. News: 1910-06-15 . Biscuit Expert Testifies; Miss Hannah L. Wessling Shows Effect of Bleaching Flour . 2024-04-08 . The Grand Island Independent . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: 1910-06-14 . Pink Biscuits for a Jury; They Were Made of Bleached Flour and No One Ate Them . 2024-04-08 . The Kansas City Times . 3 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: 1913-12-04 . She's Breadmaker for the Nation . 2024-04-08 . The Kansas City Star . 16 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: Britton . Edward E. . 1923-01-22 . Sectional Politics in Agriculture Department . Newspapers.com . 2024-04-08 . The News and Observer . 2.
  9. News: 1914-01-31 . Bakes Bread for Uncle Sam . 2024-04-07 . The Spokane Press . Newspapers.com . 6.
  10. News: 1910-06-14 . Woman Expert Bakes Biscuit for Uncle Sam . 2024-04-08 . The Kansas City Post . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1918-02-16 . Women Work for Conservation by Making War Breads . 2024-04-08 . The Miami Herald . 9 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1922-08-11 . Personal and Social . 2024-04-08 . The St. Helena Star . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Wessling . Hannah L. . 1931-11-01 . Home-Breadmaking is Simple . 2024-04-08 . Capper's Farmer . 18 . Newspapers.com.
  14. News: Wessling . Hannah L. . 1940-05-09 . Bringing Home the Baking . 2024-04-08 . The Adams Weekly Globe . 9 . Newspapers.com.
  15. News: 1924-07-01 . Home Economic Society Opens Annual Meeting . 2024-04-08 . Buffalo Courier Express . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  16. Book: Wessling, Hannah L. . Use of Wheat Flour Substitutes in Baking . 1918 . U.S. Government Printing Office . en.
  17. Book: Clerc . Joseph Arthur Le . The Chemical Analysis of Wheat-flour Substitutes and of the Breads Made Therefrom . Wessling . Hannah L. . 1920 . U.S. Department of Agriculture . en.
  18. Book: Wessling, Hannah L. (Hannah Louise) . Baking in the home . 1921 . Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture . National Agricultural Library U. S. Department of Agriculture.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hannah L. Wessling".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.