Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose, mid 1900s - 1932, Cornell University

Though neither referred to themselves with any contemporary sexual identity words we use today, Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose were partners in academic scholarship as well as in life. Their relationship was so well-known that they were frequently collectively referred to as “Miss Van Rose."

The two created and then cochaired the Department of Home Economics at Cornell. They were leaders in establishing the field of home economics (now called Family and Consumer Sciences), and their department became the New York State College of Home Economics in 1925, making it the first of its kind in the United States. Later it was renamed The Cornell University College of Human Ecology.

They lived together for about 25 years, until Van Rensselaer passed away in 1932.