Blanchard, Juliet S.

Juliet Stroh Blanchard was a prominent citizen who became well known for her writing, travels, and speaking engagements during the mid to late twentieth century. Blanchard was born in Illinois in 1902 and came to Ohio in 1920 to attend the College of Wooster. Shortly after her graduation, she married Werner (Pete) Blanchard. During the early years of their marriage, they moved around the country; but when her husband and a friend co-founded their own company, Engineering Products, the Blanchards settled in Dayton, Ohio. Her husband was killed in an airplane crash on a return trip from a business conference in December of 1948, leaving behind Juliet and their two children. In the early years of their marriage, Mr. Blanchard had told Juliet that if something ever happened to him, he did not want her to live on in the shadow of his business but to create a life of "her own." The documentation found in Mrs. Blanchard's collection is testament that she followed his advice.

Following the death of her husband, Juliet Blanchard began traveling extensively throughout the world. She produced filmstrips for the United Nations, UNESCO, the Presbyterian Church, the Dayton Council on World Affairs, the League of Women Voters, and US/AID. As a result of her travels, she became a popular lecturer and was often invited by local and national organizations and government agencies to speak on issues that related to her experiences and interests.

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