By Oct of 1902, the Ministry of Education was about to make domestic science a regular part of the curriculum in Ontario schools but Adelaide already had her sights on the next step. She wanted Domestic Science to be offered at the university level. She also knew she needed a wealthy patron to finance the project. She approached Sir William Christopher Macdonald, a wealthy Montreal non-smoker, who had made his money in tobacco. Her Ontario Normal School of Domestic Science and Art in Hamilton became the MacDonald Institute of Home Economics which became part of the University of Guelph. In 1907, the Women's Institute marked its 10th anniversary by commissioning Toronto artist John Wycliffe Lowes Forster to paint her portrait. The painting was donated to the MacDonald Institute.