Etta May Budd

Etta May Budd played an important role in the education of George Washington Carver, a Black man. Born in 1863, Etta was the daughter of Joseph Budd who served many different roles at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). During her father’s time at the college, he served as Professor of Horticulture, head of the Horticulture Department, and later President of Iowa State College from

1884-1885.

Budd graduated from Iowa State University in 1882. After graduation she did advanced studies in art in New York, Chicago and Boston. In Boston, she boarded at the Young Women’s Christian Association.

Etta taught art at Iowa State College for one year before beginning her teaching career at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. At Simpson, she befriended a student

named George Washington Carver who was studing art and piano at the time. After noticing Carver’s botanical art work, she encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State College where he eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural science and a master of science degree in 1896. Budd passed away in 1952. The house in which the Budd family lived while Joseph Lancaster Budd was employed at Iowa State is now the Farm House Museum.

SOURE - https://history.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-02/history-education-goldie-innovativeiowans-february-2023.pdf.pdf (Sept, 2025) & https://www.franbecque.com/etta-may-budd-tri-delta-amazingsororitywomen-whm2019-2/ (Sept, 2025)