Mildred Lager & Soy 1
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MILDRED LAGER & SOY 1 MILDRED LAGER - HISTORY OF HER WORK WITH SOYFOODS AND NATURAL FOODS IN LOS ANGELES (1900-1960): EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCEBOOK Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 2 Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 3 MILDRED LAGER - HISTORY OF HER WORK WITH SOYFOODS AND NATURAL FOODS IN LOS ANGELES (1900-1960): EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCEBOOK Compiled by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 4 Copyright (c) 2009 by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information and retrieval systems - except for use in reviews, without written permission from the publisher. Published by: Soyinfo Center P.O. Box 234 Lafayette, CA 94549-0234 USA Phone: 925-283-2991 Fax: 925-283-9091 www.soyinfocenter.com [email protected] ISBN 978-1-928914-26-6 (Mildred Lager - History of Her Work) Printed 15 Sept. 2009 Price: Available on the Web free of charge Search engine keywords: Mildred M. Lager Mildred Mathilda Lager House of Better Living Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 5 Contents Page Dedication and Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction and Brief Chronology, by William Shurtleff ....................................................................................... 7 About This Book .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Abbreviations Used in This Book ............................................................................................................................. 10 How to Make the Best Use of This Book ................................................................................................................... 11 Mildred Lager - History of her Work with Soyfoods: 153 References in Chronological Order ......................... 13 26 photographs and illustrations on pages 9, 13-15, 18, 20-25, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39, 46, 47, 50 Subject/Geographical Index by Record Numbers ................................................................................................... 65 Last page of Index ...................................................................................................................................................... 78 Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 6 DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Harvard University’s Five Botanical Libraries (especially This book is dedicated to Mildred Lager, Lois Bower Arnold Arboretum Library): Jill Gelmers Thomas. (her close relative), Dorothea Van Gundy Jones, and Edwin S. Jones. French translation: Martine Liguori of Lafayette, California, for ongoing, generous, and outstanding help since the early 1980s. Part of the enjoyment of writing a book lies in meeting people from around the world who share a common interest, Japanese translation and maps: Akiko Aoyagi Shurtleff. and in learning from them what is often the knowledge or skills acquired during a lifetime of devoted research or Loma Linda University, Del E. Webb Memorial Library practice. We wish to give deepest thanks... (Seventh-day Adventist): Janice Little, Trish Chapman. We would also like to thank our co-workers and friends at Of the many libraries and librarians who have been of great Soyinfo Center who, since 1984, have played a major role help to our research over the years, several stand out: in collecting the documents, building the library, and producing the SoyaScan database from which this book is University of California at Berkeley: John Creaser, Lois printed: Farrell, Norma Kobzina, Ingrid Radkey. Irene Yen, Tony Jenkins, Sarah Chang, Laurie Wilmore, Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF), Richmond, Alice Whealey, Simon Beaven, Elinor McCoy, Patricia California: Martha Lucero, Jutta Wiemhoff, Scott Miller, McKelvey, Claire Wickens, Ron Perry, Walter Lin, Dana Virginia Moon, Kay Loughman. Scott, Jeremy Longinotti, John Edelen, Alex Lerman, Lydia Lam, Gretchen Muller, Joyce Mao, Luna Oxenberg, Joelle Stanford University: Molly Molloy, who has been of special Bouchard, Justine Lam, Joey Shurtleff, Justin Hildebrandt, help on Slavic-language documents. Michelle Chun, Olga Kochan, Loren Clive, Marina Li, Rowyn McDonald, Casey Brodsky, Hannah Woodman, National Agricultural Library: Susan Chapman, Carol Elizabeth Hawkins, Molly Howland, Jacqueline Tao. Ditzler, John Forbes, Winnifred Gelenter, Henry Gilbert, Kim Hicks, Patricia Krug, Veronica Lefebvre, Julie Mangin, Special thanks to Tom and Linda Wolfe of Berwyn Park, Ellen Mann, Josephine McDowell, Wayne Olson, Mike Maryland. Thompson, Tanner Wray. Finally our deepest thanks to Tony Cooper of Alamo, Library of Congress: Ronald Jackson, Ronald Roache. California, who has kept our computers up and running since Sept. 1983. Without Tony this series of books on the Lane Medical Library at Stanford University. Web would not have been possible. Contra Costa County Central Library and Lafayette Library: This book, now doubt and alas, has its share of errors. Carole Barksdale, Kristen Wick, Barbara Furgason, Sherry These, of course, are solely the responsibility of William Cartmill, Linda Barbero. Shurtleff. Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 7 INTRODUCTION Brief Chronology of Mildred Lager . 1900 Dec. 19 – Mildred Mathilda Lager is born in 1929 Oct. – The stock market crashes and the Great West Superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin, the only child Depression begins. of Gustav Walfred Lager and Hilda Marie Erickson. Gustav came to the USA in 1890 and Hilda in 1881. They 1930 – Mildred leaves Superior, Wisconsin, probably were married on 28 Oct. 1899 in Superior, Wisconsin. headed for California, after doctors gave her only a few years to live (Evening Telegram {Superior, Wisconsin}. Mildred grew up in Superior at 929 Bay St., then 1938. May 27. p. 4; 1960. “City, area deaths.” Jan. 27. p. 4). attended Superior State Teachers’ College of Wisconsin. She was active in college affairs and became a member of 1932 Nov. 4 – The Family Shoe Store holds its grand the Tau Alpha Chi sorority. Graduating with a teaching opening after moving from 624 Tower Ave. to its new certificate, she then taught in two different schools, one in quarters at 702 Tower Ave. At the time of the announcement, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and one (Washington School, Miss Lager is on the Pacific Coast recovering her health probably a grammar school) in Escanaba, Michigan (Evening Telegram {Superior Wisconsin}. 1932. Nov. 4, p. (Evening Telegram {Superior, Wisconsin}. 1960. “City, 9). area deaths.” Jan. 27. p. 4). 1932-Oct. 1933 – As a result of intensive study of foods 1925 – Mildred starts her lifelong battle with arthritis. and their value to health, Mildred becomes a demonstrator Although a healthy child, raised on a sound traditional for Dr. Frank McCoy, noted health specialist of Los Angeles diet, she began to notice at an early age that her teeth whose. health talks appear daily in The Evening Telegram were soft and her legs often ached. While in her teens she (Superior, Wisconsin) in the column titled “How to keep had been told by physicians that she had incurable well.” She travels throughout the United States appearing rheumatoid arthritis and would never walk again, her before large audiences of both men and women showing hands and feet being completely alkylosed (locked stiff) them how health advocates prepare food (Evening Telegram. at the time. 1938. May 27, p. 4). She soon becomes deeply interested in nutrition, 1932 – Mildred returns to her home town of Superior to convinced that she could heal herself through changing conduct a cooking school and institute at Concordia her diet. This interest eventually led her to soyfoods. Lutheran Church; large crowds attend. Although already underweight, she decides to go on an eliminative diet, using only fruit juices. Five months later 1933 Oct. 25 – Mildred, now 32 years old, opens The her swelling had disappeared and she was making House of Better Living, a large and attractive building remarkable progress. She decided to spend the rest of her surrounded by lawns and gardens at 1207 W. 6th St. in Los life studying nutrition and trying to help others who Angeles. She later wrote, “My aim was to teach, not to suffered as she did from arthritis. merchandise, and to always make my classes free of charge.” The pain from her arthritis may have forced her to stop teaching. For quite a time she was confined to a 1934 Jan. – Mildred is given her first radio program on wheelchair; she worked for a while as a saleslady in a KFAC in Los Angeles – from 7:45 to 8:00 a.m. It is listed at shoe store in Superior. “The Dial” in the Los Angeles Times. 1929 – Mildred Lager and August Abraham form a 1934 April 20 – Mildred begins writing her long- partnership (she is secretary-treasurer and he is president) running column titled “Food Facts” in California Health to buy Giesen’s Shoe Store (at 624 Tower Ave., Superior, News (Hollywood, California), owned and operated by where Abrahamson had worked for 18 years). They Clarke Irvine. rename it the Family Shoe Store Inc. Copyright © 2009 by Soyinfo Center MILDRED LAGER & SOY 8 1935 June – Mildred’s first book,