Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman), 1867-1937

American zoologist; officer in relief organizations in Europe during World War I.

Charlotte Hoffman Kellogg was born in 1874 at Grand Island, Nebraska, and was educated at the University of California, earning a Ph.B. in 1900. She taught English at Miss Head's School in Berkeley, California from 1903 until 1907. During World War I, she participated in civilian relief efforts in occupied Belgium and was a member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium and speaker for the U.S. Food Administration. She was the author of several books about Belgium and Poland. Kellogg died on May 8, 1960.

Vernon L. Kellogg was born in Emporia, Kansas, on December 1, 1867. Kellogg studied at the University of Kansas and Cornell University, as well as in Europe. He was on the faculty at the University of Kansas from 1890 until 1894 and was a professor of entomology at Stanford University from 1894 until 1920. During and after World War I, Kellogg was active in civilian relief efforts in Europe, serving as director of American Committee for Relief in Belgium, 1915-1916; assistant to the U.S. Food Administrator, 1917-1919; chief of the mission to Poland, Russia and other services in Europe with the American Relief Administrator, 1918-1921. He died on August 8, 1937.

Biographical/Historical Note

American zoologist; officer in relief organizations in Europe during World War I.

Charlotte Hoffman Kellogg was born in 1874 at Grand Island, Nebraska, and was educated at the University of California, earning a Ph.B. in 1900. She taught English at Miss Head's School in Berkeley, California from 1903 until 1907. During World War I, she participated in civilian relief efforts in occupied Belgium and was a member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium and speaker for the U.S. Food Administrator. She was the author of several books about Belgium and Poland. Kellogg died on May 8, 1960.

Vernon Lyman Kellogg, who was born in December 1, 1867 in Emporia, Kansas, earned both his B.A. in 1889 and his M.A. in 1892 at the University of Kansas, where he was assistant, then associate professor of entomology from 1890 to 1894. He continued his studies in biology at universities in Leipzig, Paris, the University of California, and Brown University, before completing his D. Sc. at Oberlin in 1922. From 1894 through 1920, he was professor of entomology and bionomics at Stanford University, but he took a leave for humanitarian work with American relief efforts in Europe during and after World War I. Herbert Hoover, a longtime friend, appointed him as the director of the Commission for the Relief in Belgium (CRB), where he served from 1915 to 1916. His wife, Charlotte, was the only woman member of the CRB before the U.S. intervention in the war.

Charlotte Hoffman, whom Vernon Kellogg married in Florence on April 27, 1908, was born in 1874, at Grand Island, Nebraska, of Swiss parents. She was a graduate of the University of California and also studied abroad. For many years, she headed the English Department at Anna Head's School in Berkeley, California. She went to Brussels in 1916 by permission of the German government to join her husband and worked with the CRB for a year. She was prominent in war relief work as a speaker and fund raiser.

Herbert Hoover appointed Vernon Kellogg as assistant to the U.S. Food Administrator. Kellogg was chief of the mission to Poland (1917-1919) and special investigator in Russia and other European countries with the American Relief Administrator (1918-1921). From 1919 to 1931, he was permanent secretary of the National Research Council, Washington, D.C., becoming secretary emeritus in 1933.

In 1921, Charlotte Kellogg was sent to Europe by President Harding to escort Marie Curie to the United States to receive a gram of radium and a special research grant. She directed the Paderewski Testimonial Fund for Polish relief and was involved in a Polish hospital that had been created in Edinburgh for the care of Polish refugees. She was decorated by France, Belgium and Poland for her service to those countries. After Vernon Kellogg died on August 8, 1937, Charlotte Kellogg continued to live and write in California, where she died on May 8, 1960.

Charlotte and Vernon Kellogg had one daughter, Jean, who devoted her life to the arts. She studied for three years at the Yale School of Fine Arts and at the Art Students League in New York City and in Washington, D.C. She provided etchings for a book of poetry, The Loving Shepherdess, by Robinson Jeffers. Her work was shown in California and New York among other venues and later, she herself ran an art gallery in Monterey, California. She was married on July 31, 1960, to James Dickie, an artist who was known for his cartoons and for his books teaching children how to draw.