1. Historical Highlights in Family and Consumer Sciences Information gathered by Lucy Campanis Revised by Mikki Meadows EIU School of Family & Consumer Sciences

2. Dame Schools – –earliest schools for girls in the colonies needlework cooking reading, spelling and writing 1780 - first admissions of women to coeducational academies Early History of Women’s Education and the Home Economics Movement

3. 1780 - Domestic Economy –Count Rumford Application of science to household problems 1821- Troy Female Seminary –New York –Emma Willard –theory and practice of housewifery –combined liberal and practical studies

4. 1822 - Catherine Beecher established a private girls’ school in Hartford, CT 1836 - Mount Holyoke Female Seminary –Massachusetts –Mary Lyon –cooperative housekeeping plan –forerunner of home management laboratories

5. 1837 - Oberlin Ohio College –First co-educational program –First to admit African-Americans Finishing Schools in New England - emphasized learning housewifery duties and becoming a lady

6. 1840 - Treatise on Domestic Economy –first textbook on Home Economics –Catherine Beecher 1852 - Antioch College admitted women (Horace Mann) 1857 - Handbook of Household Science –scientific study of food, air, heat, and light from the standpoint of the homeworker –Edward Livingston Youmans

7. 1862 - The Morrill Land-Grant Act passed –Higher education became available for the common individual –practical pursuits of living –programs for women were included –Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois

8. 1869 - The American Woman’s Home or Principles of Domestic Science –Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe 1873 - Winthrop School in Boston appointed first sewing teacher

9. 1876 - New York Cooking School –instruction to working and moderate income families –women who wished to train others 1880 - 51% of higher education institutions were coeducational 1888 - “Domestic Science” was introduced in New York City public schools

10. 1893 - Chicago World’s Fair –National Household Economics Association –The Rumford Kitchen (Ellen H. Richards) –Food exhibits by the U.S.D.A. 1894 - first school lunch established in Boston by Ellen H. Richards

11. 1899 - Lake Placid Conferences began 1908 - American Home Economics Association was formed

12. Lake Placid Conferences Initiated by Melvil Dewey, based on an interest in the field of household science 1899 - First Annual Conference –selection of a name for this new field of education Home Economics –education of women for leadership –raising the standard of living for American families

13. 1900 - Second Annual Conference –Home Economics and education 1902 - Fourth Annual Conference proposed the following definition - - - “Home economics in its most comprehensive sense is the study of the laws, conditions, principles, and ideals which are concerned on the one hand with man’s immediate physical environment and on the other hand with his nature as a social being, and is the study especially of the relation between those two factors.”

14. 1904 - Sixth Annual Conference –discussion of the name of the field again occurred 1908 - Tenth Annual Conference –American Home Economics Association formed

15. Later Highlights 1959 - Home Economics, New Directions presented findings of an AHEA committee which reviewed the discipline –reinforced the emphasis on strengthening family life. 1971 - Accreditation of higher education programs was authorized

16. 1973 - Eleventh Lake Placid Conference, “Lake Placid Re-visited,” discussed the definition, focus, role, name, and values of home economics 1975 - Home Economics - New Directions II was developed to provide leadership in the field

17. 1979 - Home Economics Defined –Marjorie Brown and Beatrice Paolucci –provide a definition and description of the field: “The mission of home economics is to enable families, both as individual units and generally as a social institution, to build and maintain systems of action which lead 1) to maturing in individual self-formation and 2) to enlightened, cooperative participation in the critique and formulation of social goals and means for accomplishing them. To fulfill this mission home economists engage in the provision of services (directly or indirectly) to families.” (p. 23)

18. 1980 - 1985 - Certification of home economists was endorsed at the annual meeting

19. 1993 - Scottsdale Conference - proposed the name of the discipline be changed to Family and Consumer Sciences. What is the profession about? *Empowering Individuals *Strengthening Families *Enabling Communities