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'''Charlotte Melina Viall Wiser''' (1892–1981), born '''Charlotte Melina Viall''', was an American [[anthropologist]], and a [[Presbyterian]] rural-[[missionary]] to [[North India]] – [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref name="R1">{{cite web |url= http://www.las.iastate.edu/plaza/one_name.php?id=1273 |title= Charlotte Melina Viall Wiser |quote= 1892 – 1981 Charlotte Melina Viall was born in Chicago IL in 1892. She graduated from the University of Chicago She went to India as a Presbyterian Missionary in 1916. |publisher= las.iastate.edu |accessdate= 2 May 2012 }}</ref>
<ref name="R3">{{cite book |last= Anderson |first= Gerald H.|title= Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions |publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ8BFk9K0ToC&q=Charlotte+Viall&pg=PA177|year= 1999 |page= 746 |isbn=978-0-8028-4680-8}}</ref>

She authored several books, notably, '' Behind Mud Walls'' and ''The Foods of a Hindu Village of North India''. She received [[Kaiser-i-Hind Medal]], an award given for public service in [[India]].<ref name="R1"/>

==Early life==
{{expand section|date=May 2012}}
Charlotte was born at Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from [[University of Chicago]]. While in [[furlough]], she completed her [[Master of Science|MS]] degree in Nutrition from [[Cornell University]] in 1933.<ref name="R1"/>

She was sent as a Presbyterian missionary to [[India]] in 1916. She married [[William H. Wiser]], another Presbyterian missionary arrived India in 1915, at [[Allahabad]] in 1916. They had three sons – Arthur, Alfred, and Edward.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R2">{{cite web |url= http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=divinity:128&query=posters&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&filter=&hitPageStart=76 |title= Yale University Divinity School Library – Historical Sketch |quote= JCharlotte Wiser also taught courses at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute – Charlotte Wiser received a M.S. degree in nutrition from Cornel |publisher= NY Times Co. |accessdate= 2 May 2012 }}</ref>

==Missionary work==
Her first term, including her husband's was to teach in [[Allahabad]], and to do social work in [[Kanpur]]. She taught courses at the [[Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences|Allahabad Agricultural Institute]]. During their second term (1925–1930), they worked in [[Mainpuri]], and lived in village [[Karimpur]], near [[Agra]], to get to know the village people and village life.<ref name="R3"/><ref name="R2"/>
<ref name="R4">{{cite book |last=Wadley |first= Susan Snow |author-link=Susan Snow Wadley |title= Struggling With Destiny in Karimpur, 1925–1984 |publisher= University of California Press |year= 1994 |page= xviii|url=https://archive.org/details/strugglingwithde00wadl |url-access=registration |quote=William wiser, Presbyterian Missionary, north india. |isbn=978-0-520-08407-0}}</ref>

She and her husband spent most of their time in North India villages researching to improve the quality of Village life, after a period of six years in teaching from 1925. Initially, they did survey of a farming community to better understand the agriculture conditions. Later, they conducted extensive studies on the social, economic, and religious life of peasants between 1925 and 1930. Based on their survey, research, and experience in Indian Anthropology, she published several books like ''Behind Mud Walls'' – in collaboration with her husband William wiser -, and ''The Foods of a Hindu Village of North India'' in 1936—Charlotte submitted this dissertation to Conrell University as a master's thesis in Nutrition. These research books have become source of North Indian village life to be taught in colleges and universities of
United States, especially in [[Iowa]] state.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R3"/><ref name="R4"/>

Charlotte worked among Indian women and children from rural areas to help raise the standard of health. She ran baby shows like fairs demonstrating Western hygiene and childcare techniques. From 1945 to 1960, both Charlotte and her husband played pivotal and responsible role in the development and direction of ''Indian Village Service'', a demonstration project for the improvement of village life. It later became a model for agencies involving in rural community development program—India's Block Development Program at [[Marehra]], [[Etah district]].<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R3"/><ref name="R2"/><ref name="R4"/>
<ref>{{cite book |last= Chaudhuri |first= Nupur |title= Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance |publisher= Indiana University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jH6LEPVn80C&q=William+wiser%2C+Presbyterian+Missionary%2C+north+india&pg=PA205 |year= 1992 |page= 205 |isbn=978-0-253-20705-0}}</ref>

She returned to US in 1970, and died in December 1981.<ref name="R2"/>

==Works==
* ''For All of Life a Presbyterian Mission study book'', in 1943.
* ''Four families of Karimpur'', in 1978.
* ''Behind Mud Walls'', in 1930–1960, 1970–1980.
* ''The Foods of a Hindu Village of North India'', in 1936.
<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R3"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/WISER,-WILLIAM-WITH-CHARLOTTE-WISER- |title= WISER, WILLIAM WITH CHARLOTTE WISER|publisher= abebooks.com |accessdate= 1 May 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-n88-205045 |title=Most widely held works by Charlotte Viall Wiser |publisher= orlabs.oclc.org |accessdate= 2 May 2012 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[[hdl:10079/fa/divinity.128|William Hendricks Wiser and Charlotte Viall Wiser Papers (RG 128)]], Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library.
* [http://library.wcsu.edu/cao/search.tkl?field_query1=dc.subject&query1=Presbyterian%20Church%20in%20the%20U.S.A.%20--Missions%20--India. William Henricks and Charlotte Melina (Viall) Wiser Papers]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiser, Charlotte Melina Viall}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:American Presbyterian missionaries]]
[[Category:Female Christian missionaries]]
[[Category:American anthropologists]]
[[Category:Presbyterian missionaries in India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]]
[[Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:American expatriates in India]]
[[Category:20th-century anthropologists]]

Charlotte Viall Wiser - Revision history

>Citation bot at 04:28, 9 January 2021