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Naylor, Nellie

Published onOct 11, 2021
Naylor, Nellie
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(March 20, 1885 - October 5, 1992)

Quick Facts

Influential in the chemistry department, Nellie Naylor focused on the teaching of first-year undergraduate women and the introduction of chemistry in the home economics curriculum.


Source: University Archives, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

Nellie Naylor, a native of Clear Lake, Iowa, was born on March 20, 1885 to James and Mary Naylor and died October 5, 1992. After graduating (1902) from Clear Lake High School, she obtained her BA (1908) from the University of Iowa (Iowa City) in Chemistry. After spending a year as a rural school teacher in Clear Lake, she was appointed as a chemistry assistant (1909-1912) and Instructor (1913-1919) at Iowa State College (now University) and also enrolled in graduate school at the University of Chicago. She received her MS (1918) in Chemistry from Iowa State and she then completed her education at Columbia University where she received her PhD (1923) in Chemistry. Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Influence of Some Organic Compounds upon the Hydrolysis of Starch by Salivary and Pancreatic Amylases."

She returned to Ames and spent her career in the Iowa State College Chemistry Department, where she was assistant professor (1923-1928) and associate professor (1928-1955) when she retired. Her focus was always on the teaching of first-year undergraduate women and the introduction of chemistry in the home economics curriculum. She also mentored women students, both undergraduate and graduate, who majored in chemistry.

One of her obituaries stated, “It could be said that teaching was her life, and her life was teaching.” Naylor’s impact as a teacher can be seen in the career of Darleane C. (Christian) Hoffman, who changed her major from applied art to chemistry while an undergraduate student at Iowa State College. Hoffman went on to make major discoveries about transuranium elements as well as nuclear fission and was the winner of the National Medal of Science (1997) and the Priestley Medal (2000) from the American Chemical Society.

In a 1998 oral history interview with the author, she commented on changing her major due to Nellie Naylor:

“DH: I believe that I was lucky that I had to take the home ec chemistry course because Professor Naylor somehow just struck a chord with me. Chemistry seemed like the most logical science. You could see where it was going, how things went together. Probably if I'd taken the regular chemistry course I wouldn't have felt that way. She was not a mentor in the sense that we usually talk about because I don't think she even knew who I was.

TZB: Just the way she piqued your interest in this subject.

DH: It was the way she taught it. At the time I don't think she realized it and I've since thought when I teach, sometimes you'll think, "Well, I'm not getting through to anybody." Then you'll get a note a couple years later, somebody saying, "You really turned me on. It meant a lot," and from that experience I've thought how important it is that professors that teach the freshmen as well as the upper-class students.”

Nellie Naylor published Introducing Chemistry with Household Applications (1933) which was adopted at numerous colleges throughout the country. She also published numerous articles in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Naylor was a member of Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta and the American Chemical Society, and served as both National vice president (1939-1945) and treasurer (1948-1951) for Iota Sigma Pi, the National Honor Society for Women in Chemistry founded in 1902. She was a life member of Iota Sigma Pi, and served as a regional coordinator.

Dr. Naylor was a member of the Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames and is buried in the Iowa State University cemetery.

Selected Sources

The Nellie Naylor Papers, RG 13/6/51, Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames.

Darlene C. Hoffman Oral History Interview (1998), MS-650, Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library, Ames.

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