Home Economists in early 20th century America had a major role in the Progressive Era, the development of the welfare state, the triumph of modern hygiene and scientific medicine, the application of scientific research in a number of industries, and the popularization of important research on child development, family health, and family economics. What other group of American women did so much, all over the country, and got so little credit?” Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of The Body Project: an Intimate History of American Girls.

The history of Home Economics can be traced well over 150 years. One of the first to champion the economics of running a home was Catherine Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. In the mid-1800’s both sisters talked about domestic science – teaching management of the home and family through more scientific approach.

The Morrill Act of 1862 propelled domestic science further ahead as land grant colleges sought to educate farm wives in running their households as their husbands were being educated in agricultural methods.

Until 1889 much work in domestic sciences was undocumented. This changed when Ellen Swallow Richards convened a meeting of highly respected contemporaries at Lake Placid, New York to discuss how domestic science would ultimately improve the quality of life for individuals and families.
Ellen Swallow Richards was a Vassar graduate, the first woman to graduate from MIT, and the first woman to be a professor at MIT. She worked tirelessly for more educational opportunities for women, organized the school lunch program which still exists today, and championed nutrition education for the masses in order to encourage people to select a more healthy diet and thus a better quality of life.
The group of influential women she brought together met for ten years. The result of the first meeting was the term “Home Economics”. Subsequent meetings resulted in the establishment of the American Home Economics Association, now known as the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, and students in primary and high schools being offered courses that would open up professional opportunities for women.

Over the course of the 20th century, many federal acts were passed that helped contribute toward the progression of the home economics discipline. The Bureau of Home Economics Act of 1937, as well as a number of Vocational Acts throughout the 1960’s and 70’s all issued funding for the research and continuation of this field that helped to promote increased opportunities and rights for both women  and men.

The curriculum changed with the times when in the 70’s males joined classes. When the need for 2 incomes became apparent, courses on Balancing Work and Family were added.
The connection between the family, individual, and career has always been a tenant of Family and Consumer Science. Our founders saw it over 100 years ago, and we still teach employability skills as well as job specific training in such areas as education, food and nutrition, textiles and fashion, living green, child and elder care, housing, and personal finance.

Our founders realized, as we do today, when science and systems are applied to the home everyone benefits. No society has devised a more powerful unit than the family. Family and Consumer Science has always been about making families healthy, financially responsible, caring, strong building blocks for our society.

-Lori Robinson