Elizabeth Baker became First Lady of OHIO as World War II was ending. During the next 16 years, she would watch world events dominated by the Cold War, including the Korean War and the beginnings of the Vietnam War.
Women Promoting Education in Southeast Ohio
Elizabeth Evans Baker (1902-1990)
About Elizabeth Baker
First Lady of OHIO: Elizabeth Evans Baker was the First Lady of Ohio University from 1945-1961. A lifelong patron of the arts, she purchased a community arts center in Massachusetts and transformed it into a training facility for OHIO theater students. She also helped establish peace studies as part of the curriculum at Ohio University.
Theater Patron: Born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1902, Elizabeth Evans graduated from the Kimberley School in Montclair and then from Smith College in Massachusetts. She was a singer and actress before she married John Calhoun Baker in 1933. In spring 1958, Baker, then First Lady at OHIO, purchased a community arts center in Chatham, Massachusetts, called the Monomoy Theatre. As owner and operator of the facility, she turned the property into a training facility for aspiring Ohio University actors. With guest artists and, on occasion, students from other universities, the facility became one of the leading summer theaters on Cape Cod. It closed in 2018. Kantner Hall at Ohio University houses the Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater, as well.
Anti-Nuclear War Activists: Elizabeth Baker and her husband, Ohio University’s 14th President John Calhoun Baker, devoted much time and effort to anti-nuclear war activism, and especially to establishing peace studies as a part of the academic curriculum. The Bakers subsequently endowed peace studies programs at Ohio University, at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, and at Bethany Theological Seminary in Chicago. The Elizabeth Evans Baker Peace Chapel at Juniata College was built in 1989 with funding from the Bakers. Occupying a 14-acre site, this outdoor sculpture installation, designed by former Athens resident Maya Lin, provides a place for campus and community worship and contemplation as well as other activities such as poetry readings and community gatherings.
Baker Peace Conference: At OHIO, they helped establish the John and Elizabeth Baker Peace Studies Endowment, which continues to support an annual peace conference organized by the Contemporary History Institute.
Elizabeth Baker was also the mother of three daughters. She died in June, 1990, in Essex Fells, New Jersey, at the age of 88.
Her Theater Legacy at OHIO
Kantner Hall at Ohio University houses the Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater.
Her Peace Legacy at OHIO
The John and Elizabeth Baker Peace Studies Endowment continues to support an annual peace conference organized by the Contemporary History Institute, the Baker Peace Conference.
