A history of home economics in British Columbia and its relationship with the mission of the subject/field.

1. 1780 1800 1820 18401760 1860
Industrial Revolution
“Major changes in economic and family organization accompanied industrialization
and urbanization. The advent of factories and wage work, the migration of farm
families to cities, and rapid advances in household technology…all contributed to an
ideological division of labor along gendered lines… Many women worked in paid
occupations, especially in the early stages of industrialization…, but the emerging
ideology was that men, not women, should work outside the home. Housework came
to be seen as a distinctive form of labor, the cultural opposite of wage work” (Ahlander
and Bahr, 1995, p. 55).
1862
“An important event in the
development of home economics as
an academic field [in North America]
was the passage of the MORRILL ACT,
which led to the establishment of
land-grant colleges in each state”
(Heggestad, 2014).
1826
FIRST SCHOOL FOR
GIRLS IN WESTERN
CANADA, St. Boniface,
Manitoba, Canada
(Peterat and DeZwart,
1995)
1841
The Treatise on Domestic
Economy, by Catherine Beecher
(1800-1878), USA
Relating Home Economics Education in British Columbia with the Mission of
Home Economics: A Partial Historical Timeline
Ayala Monique Johnson | March 10, 2014
1

2. 1880 18901870
1887
Needlework in schools officially supported
by D. Wilson, the first Inspector of Schools
1872
PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACT, Province of BC; Provincial Legislature
establishes provincially legistated education
1871
CONFEDERATION
(BC joins the new
Confederation of
Canada)
1870
UNIVERSAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION MADE OPEN FOR FEMALES by Egerton Ryerson,
Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada (1846 – 1876). He believed
1. that “inclusion of practical subjects enhanced moral growth, as well as mental
discipline”
2. a happy civilization depends on “domestic relations”
3. “let her [wife/mother] be intellectually educated as highly as possible” (from
Ryerson, cited by Wilson, 1985, pp. 12-13)
1894
Canadian National Council for Women Annual
Meeting: Resolution passed (with assistance from
Adelaide Hoodless) to "do all in its power to further
the introduction of manual Training for girls into the
Public School System" (from Hoodless, cited by Peterat
and deZwart, 1995, p. 4).
2

3. Adelaide Hoodless
A Canadian, from Ontario, Hoodless was a co-founder of a variety of groups, including the
Women’s Institute, the National Council of Women of Canada, Victorian Order of Nurses, and the
National Association of the YWCA
She believed that “explicit training in family matters was the answer to the problems of urban
society” (Wilson, 1985, p. 23).
Adelaide Hoodless maintained two assumptions, which were upheld in domestic science of the
times:
1. “the traditional instincts and haphazard knowledge, formerly the basis of running the home,
were no longer sufficient in the complexities of the industrial age…
2. “Training in domestic affairs was a means of maintaining the ethical and moral standards
necessary for family stability” (Wilson, 1985, p. 30).
Image retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adel
aide_Hoodless
3

4. 1896 1897 1898 18991895 1900
1897
Woman’s Institute of BC (founded by Hoodless) endorsed
efforts by Local Councils of Women to support domestic
science in schools with motto, “For Home and Country”
(Wilson, 1985, p. 42); “home and family deserved the
same kind of study, care, and service as the Farmer’s
Institute directed to the stock and crops of their farm”
(from Scott, cited by Wilson, 1985, p. 43).
1899-1909
Lake Placid Conferences
1898
• Public School Domestic Science,the
“Little Red Book”, by Adelaide Hoodless
• “Ellen Swallow Richards described the
ideal college curriculum for women as
including ‘history as a science’” (Turkki
and Vincenti, 2008, p. 79)
At the Lake Placid
Conferences
Attendees believed that
“explicit training in family
matters was the answer to the
problems of urban society”
(Wilson, 1985, p. 23).
1900
First Canadian
attendance at the
Lake Placid
Conferences
“The early founders of the field, constrained by
biologists to refrain from labelling the field
‘ecology’, did emphasize the interest of the
profession in the study of individuals as
members of families in interaction with their
environment” (Bubolz and Sontag, 1988, p. 1).
“Enhancement of
the well-being of
families and
improvement of the
conditions of their
existence has been a
dominant value
orientation of the
field since its
origins” (Bubolz and
Sontag, 1988, p. 2).
4

5. Ellen Swallow Richards
(1842-1911)
Recognised as a founder of home economics in the United States.
Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Swallow_Richards
“The first woman admitted to and to receive a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (in
chemistry), the first woman MIT faculty member, the first woman faculty member of any science school, and the
woman who was primarily responsible for founding the field of home oecology. In 1908, Swallow’s ‘home
oecology’ was officially named ‘home economics’” (Bubolz and Sontag, 1988, p. 1).
In the late 19th Century, Richards founded Woods Hole, MIT’s oceanographic institute, and introduced biology to
the curriculum at MIT. She guided the opening of the New England Kitchen in 1890. She was elected President of
the American Home Economics Association, as it was formed from the Lake Placid Conference, in 1908, and was a
founder of the Journal of Home Economics (Bois, 1997).
5

6. Lake Placid Conferences
1899-1909
Home Economics becomes a profession.
“There were dissenting voices suggesting that scientific management might not be congruent with successful family
life, but the dominant position prevailed. Home economics set a course that it has held for almost a century…,
namely the application of the principles of science and industrial production to the solution of home problems”
(Ahlander and Bahr, 1995, p. 56).
“The purpose of domestic training is to ‘direct the individual faculties toward the idealization of the home’ … ‘to
assist the pupil in acquiring a knowledge of the fundamental principles of correct living’” (from Hoodless, cited by
Wilson, 1985, p. 80).
“The educational dimension was considered so important that the conceptual ideas of the field were ignored in
order to mold domestic science to fit the framework of manual training” (from Budewig, cited by Wilson, 1985, p.
31).
Caroline Hunt’s ideals formed part of the ideology of the conferences - “the potential of individuals can only be
fulfilled when they understand what they ‘have been’ and what they ‘are now’ and what they have the potential ‘to
become’ (Wilson, 1985, p. 73).
Turn of the Century
19th to 20th
Philanthropist women began trying to “improve” the lives of “needy” families (Wilson, 1985, p. 20). This women's
movement included a hidden agendat: demand for well trained domestic servents was disguised as improving the
skills of immigrant women.
6

7. 1902 19031901
1900-1901
Manual training centres established
for boys (two in Vancouver & two in
Victoria); that there was a 20 year gap
before building such facilities for girls
in rural areas demonstrates the
ideology that “in rural communities
the skills of homemaking were still
considered to be the duty of the
mother” (Wilson, 1985, p. 44).
1903
“Nature study should be central, with Manual Training and
Domestic Economy on either side of it… These are not fads
in any sense. They are fundamental to the maintenance of
civilization and the upward progress of the individual and
the race” (from Robertson, cited by Wilson, 1985, p. 24);
“‘Habits of right working lead to habits of right thinking’…
Manual training initiated students into some of the basic
processes involved in obligation, maintenance, and
advancement of mankind” (from Harcourt, cited by Wilson,
1985, p. 32).
1902
Fourth Lake Placid Conference: “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 specially of the relation between those two
factors” (Lake Placid Conference Proceedings,
1902, p. 70); education should be for life, not just
for homemaking (from Vaines, cited by Wilson,
1985)
1903
Margaret Jenkins, a Victoria
school trustee established BC’s
first domestic science centre; first
centre for the teaching of cooking
in BC was in Victoria, organized by
local council of women and the
Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, and other donors (Wilson,
1985, p. 40).
Image retrieved from
http://www.viu.ca/homeroom/content/topics/People/jenk.htm
7

8. 1905 19061904
1904
MacDonald Institute,
Ontario
• established for the
training of domestic
science teachers
created a supply of
local teachers, in
addition to those
imported from
England and the USA
(Wilson, 1985, p. 26)
• created specialist
teachers and
increased the
credibility of the field
1906
• MacDonald Institute, Quebec
established for the training fo domestic
science teachers (Wilson, 1985, p. 26)
• Annie Laird, Principal of the faculty of
household science at the University of
Toronto was the first female professor at
University of Toronto (with Clara
Benson) and was named full professor
in 1920; Annie Laird “set the direction of
Canadian educational policy in home
economics at the level of higher
education” (Wilson, 1985, p. 31).
• “The aim of domestic science …was
‘arousing an interest in the art of true
homemaking’ ..[and to] teach ‘right
living’ ” (from Berry, cited by Wilson,
1985, p. 45-80).
1905
• “Domestic science teachers were
recognized officially in the Public
School Act of 1905 and shortly
afterwards "home economics"
was approved as an optional
subject in the provincial
curriculum” (Dunae, 2011) but
reliant on outside funding, such
as women’s groups
• Domestic Science Centre
established at Central School,
Vancouver, with Elizabeth Berry
(first graduate of first teacher
training class, MacDonald
Institute) as a teacher of hand
sewing and foods (Wilson, 1985,
pp. 40-41.
1899-1909
Lake Placid Conferences 8

9. 1908 1909 1910 19111907 1912
1908
• International Federation
for Home Economics
established (IFHE
website, n.d.)
• Adelaide Hoodless
(1995) demarcates the
way home economics
skills should be learned
according to the age of
the learner.
1909
Constitution of the
American Home Economics
Association announced in
the journal: “the
improvement of living
conditions in the home, the
institutional household and
the community” (AHEA,
1909, p. 1)
1911
• In BC, Domestic Science becomes
Home Economics (Dunae, 2011;
Wilson, 1985)
• Domestic Science: Course 1, by
Annie Juniper (first curriculum
written for girls in Victoria)
1909
• American Home
Economics Association
formally organized
• First issue of The Journal
of Home Economics
1910
Alice Ravenhill arrives from
England and becomes an
influential member of
Woman’s Institute and Council
of Women. This has an indirect
effect on public schooling and
credibility of domestic science
programmes (Wilson, 1985, p.
44).
1908
At the Lake Placid Conferences,
Ellen Richards states, “’ “The
home has a distinct ethical as
well as economic meaning. It
should include mutual
helpfulness in spiritual matters
as well as mutual economic
benefit’” (cited by Turkki and
Vincent, 2008, p. 81) 9

10. 1916 1919 1922 19251913 1928
1913
Girls’ Home
Manual, byAnnie
Juniper (de Zwart,
2004)
1920
• Comprehensive home economics
curriculum published in BC, pragmatic and
utilitarian (Dunae, 2011)
• “Home economics got itself embroiled in
marketing and product promotion in the
1920s and never really got out, except
maybe in the last 25-30 years [1995 to
present]” (de Zwart, 2014, personal
correspondence)
1926
• Historical evidence that students can pass/fail
home economics (Wilson, 1985, p. 92).
• The beginning of an era of reduced
educational variation in BC, including support
for the scientific method; Provincially
Prescribed Learning Outcomes and textbook;
standardized foods laboratories (Wilson,
1985)
• Jesse McLenaghan is the first provincial
supervisor of home economics
World War I
1914-1918
domestic science classes focused
on war-time effort, making
bandages, clothes, and
fundraising efforts including
dinners, supporting the Red
Cross; focus on conservation,
economy and preservation of
food (Wilson, 1985, p. 48).
1924
Survey of the School System, by Putman
and Weir (cited by Wilson, 1985, pp.50-
51) created provincial legitimization of
home economics. Resulting
recommendations included that home
economics should be compulsory in
middle school and optional in high
school – acceptable as a second science
for graduation; additionally to appoint a
director of home economics.
1927
Foods, Nutrition, and
Home Management
Manual, “The Red Book”,
Jessie McLenaghen (de
Zwart, 2004)
10

11. 1940 1940 1945 19501935 1955
1939
Founding of the
Canadian Home
Economics Association
• Jessie McLeneghan,
the first president of
the Association.
• Dissolved in 2003
World War II, 1939-1945
1936
• Home economics
made compulsory for
grade 7 and 8 in BC
municipal and city
school districts
• curriculum revamped
to include “character
education” (Dunae,
2011).
1941
“Inspector and
Assistant Director
of Home
Economics,
Bertha Rogers is
appointed” in BC
(Dunae, 2011)
• Education is preparation for life in a democratic, Canadian society
• The family is the greatest contributor to influence democratic life
• Wartime effects include the commonplace occurrence for both
parents to be frequently absent
• Education emphasises changing times, as women begin to enter
the workforce, with a related need for family life to address this
change
• A priority for educators is the importance of educating, mindfully
of one’s personal philosophies towards creating a better world
(MacMillan, 1995)
1950
First issue of the
Canadian Home
Economics
Journal
1943
University of British
Columbia establishes
a Department of
Home Economics, this
being the first time BC
home economists
could be educated
within the province
(Smith and de Zwart,
2010, p. 9).
1951
UBC changes its programme to establish a School of
Home Economics
11

12. 1965 1970 1975 19801960 1985
1958
Jean Hart Whittemore (1995) writes of the
field as service knowledge, with the
importance of including males in home
economics education; Skills learned should
be fitting to students interested in pursuing
career paths in addition to homemaking;
Education should be made available to
people at all life stages in order to account
for an increasing human life span
1980
Important scholar Margorie Brown (1980) writes of three Systems of
Action, the “Technical (Instrumental)…, the “Communicative” …, and
the “Emancipative” (pp. 62-65)
• Education needs goal prioritization, with a necessity of
discarding some goals so that a few can be sought well and
thoroughly, rather than many goals be sought superficially
• “it [the field] would place less emphasis on immediately
utilitarian know-how knowledge and more emphasis on
developing the conceptual systems and rational capacities of
students” (1980, p. 131)
1979
BC Home Economics curriculum revision
• four topic areas: food, clothing, human relations, shelter
• “the family conceived as a ‘conserver’ reflects societal
concern for diminishing resources” (from Wilson, 1985, p.
96)
• Five Learning outcomes: “Foods and nutrition, clothing and
textiles, family studies, textile arts and crafts, and housing
and interior design” (Wilson, 1985, p. 97)
1980
Margorie East (1980) writes
that “home economics is
the study of household
management for achieving
the highest quality of
human life” (p. 38) and
states that “the field as a
whole will come into its own
character” (p. 40)
1960s
In this decade,
“the concept of
human ecology re-
emerged as a
unifying
philosophical
perspective for
home economics”
(Bubolz and
Sontag, 1988, p. 2).
12

13. 1978
Mission of Human Ecology, incorporating the
mission of Home Economics
“‘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’” (from Brown and Paolucci, cited by Bubolz and Sontag, 1988, p. 3).
“As a profession, human ecology seeks to create and maintain an optimum balance between people and their
environments. The core of human ecology is the human ecosystem: the reciprocal relations of individuals and
families with their near environments. An ecological model provides a philosophical and conceptual basis for
integration as both an interdisciplinary field and a profession… persistent practical problems should
provide the basis for knowledge and practice in home economics” (Bubolz and Sontag, 1988, pp. 3).
13

14. HUMAN ECOLOGY 1988
Bubolz and Sontag’s (1988) model of a human ecosystem,
identifying the “dimensions of individual and family systems
and their environment” (pp. 7-8).
14

15. 1995 20051985
1983
Francine Hultgren
cites Caroline
Hunt, bringing
back focus to the
importance of
reflective practice
in home
economics
(Wilson, 1985, p.
72).
1994
• UN declares 1994 the International
Year of the Family. “The United
Nations also promotes the annual
worldwide observance of the
International Day of Families on 15
May of each year, aimed at increasing
awareness of issues relating to the
family and encouraging appropriate
action” (United Nations, 2013).
• Home Economics Education becomes
part of the Department of Curriculum
Studies at UBC.
2004
For home economists in the 21st century, making life rich in meaning, and
revitalizing and rediscovering a re-enchantment with the world means
“recovering a sense of wholeness in everyday life. This means that we begin
to know, see, become, and act in ways that honour the interconnectedness of
all living systems. Re-enchanting our everyday life through using
metaphorical approaches and moral discourses means that what is now
considered ordinary and mundane can be rediscovered as sacred and
meaningful, thereby creating lives worth living in an ecologically desirable
society. We must do this by becoming active participants in transformative
processes” (Vaines, 2004, p. 135)
1998
BC Curriculum
Revision to include
Cafeteria Training,
grades 11 – 12
2000
1997
BC Curriculum
introduces Career
and Personal
Planning, grades 11-
12, thereby moving
curricula which was
traditionally taught
in home economics
to a separate
domain
2005-2006
BC Curriculum
Revision
introduces Health
& Career
Education, grades
K-9
1987
Linda Peterat,
appointed a
tenure-track
Home
Economics
Professor at
UBC
15

16. 2007
2007
BC Home Economics
Curriculum Revised into three
subject areas
1. Foods & Nutrition 8 – 12
2. Family Studies 10 – 12
3. Textiles 8 – 12
2007
BC curriculum revision introduces Planning
10, effectively providing a new place to
cover subject matter already covered in
Famly Studies. This move undermines
efforts by the field of home economics to
keep such subject matter within its own
field.
2014
Present Day
2008
“An historical perspective is essential for
sound professional practice that is truly
beneficial to families, consumers and
society… Home economics can be seen as a
combination of human development,
healthy living, social responsibility, the
sustainable use of resources and cultural
diversity… Our history informs us that
home economics has a sustainable
mission.” (Turkki and Vincenti, 2008, pp.
81-93)
Important current scholar
Sue McGregor on transformative practice
The Future
“The future of home economics as a
profession is greatly dependent on
how successful we are in clarifying
and strengthening our links to society
and how our messages are received”
(Turkki and Vincenti, 2008, p. 92).
16

17. Home Economics is “’a field of study and a profession, situated in the human
sciences that draws from a range of disciplines to achieve optimal and
sustainable living for individuals, families and communities.’ As a curriculum
area, home economics ‘facilitates students to discover and further develop their
own resources and capabilities to be used in their personal life’” (from IFHE,
cited by Smith and de Zwart, 2010, p. 21).
“Since we are a life supporting discipline and field, we address many basic life-
sustaining elements such as food, housing/shelter, and care of people in various
cultural, social, and natural environments using our ecological heritage. We are
convinced that we have a role to play in the continuously changing present and
future world because advocacy for individuals, families and communities as basic
units of all societies and cultures around the world is and will remain relevant. As
long as we are loyal to our profession and able to integrate our knowledge with
others, we will make progress with promising results. Change is our challenge”
(Turkki and Vincenti, 2008, p. 93).
17

18. References
Ahlander, N. R. & Bahr, K. S. (1995). Beyond Drudgery, Power, and Equity: Toward an Expanded Discourse on the
Moral Dimensions of Housework in Families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 57(1), 54-68. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/353816
Bois, D. (1997). Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards. Distinguished Women of Past and Present Web Site. Retrieved
from http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/richards-es.html
Brown, Marjorie. (1980). What is home economics education? (pp. 56 – 66, 100-121). Minneapolis, MN: University
of Minnesota. Retrieved from
https://ares.library.ubc.ca/aresinternal/ares.dll?SessionID=E0947462817O&Action=10&Form=50&Value=31723
Bubolz, M. M. & SONTAG, M. S. (1988). Integration in home economics and human ecology. Journal of Consumer
Studies and Home Economics, 12, 1-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.1988.tb00462.x
de Zwart, M. L. (2004). Reimagining Home Economics As a Vital Force in Education: Metaphoric Reflections. In M.
G. Smith, L. Peterat, & M. L. de Zwart (Eds.), Home Economics Now: Transformative Practice, Ecology, and
Everyday Life; A Tribute to the Scholarship of Eleanore Vaines. pp.99-109. Vancouver, Canada: Pacific
Educational Press.
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19. East, Marjorie. (1980). What is home economics? Home economics; past, present, and future, (pp. 7-40). Boston:
Allyn and Bacon. Retrieved from
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Heggestad, M. (2014). What is Home Economics? Albert R. Mann Library. 2014. Home Economics Archive:
Research, Tradition and History (HEARTH). Retrieved from
http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/h/hearth/about.html
Hoodless, A. (1995). Home Economics. In L. Peterat & M. L. DeZwart (Eds.) An Education For Women: The
Founding of Home Economics Education in Canadian Public Schools. (pp. 22-28). P.E.I.: Home Economics
Publishing Collective. (Reprinted from Home economics, 1908, pp. 190-196).
International Federation for Home Economics Web Site. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ifhe.org/
Lake Placid Conference Proceedings 1899-1908. Washington, DC: American Horne Economics Association, 1899-
1908. From Vaines, Eleanore. (1984). Pause and reflect. Canadian Home Economics Journal 34(3), 137-140,
155.
MacMillan, E. (1995). Realism in home economics Education. In L. Peterat & M. L. DeZwart (Eds.) An Education
For Women: The Founding of Home Economics Education in Canadian Public Schools. (pp. 84-88). P.E.I.:
Home Economics Publishing Collective. (Reprinted from Journal of the Canadian Dietetic Association, 6(1),
1944, pp. 24-26).
Peterat, L. & DeZwart, M. L. (1995). An Education for Women: The Founding of home Economics Education in
Canadian Public Schools. Charlottetown, PEI: Home Economics Publishing Collective UPEI.
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20. Smith, M. G. & de Zwart, M. L. (2010). Home Economics: A contextual study of the subject and Home Economics
teacher education. On behalf of the Teachers of Home Economics Specialist Association (THESA): A BCTF
PQT/Teacher Inquiry project. Retrieved from http://bctf.ca/thesa/pdf/inquiry_contextual.pdf
The Journal of Home Economics. (1909). Announcement: The American Home Economics Association and the
Journal of Home Economics. 1(1), 1. Retrieved from http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/
Turkki, K., & Vincenti, V. B. (2008). Celebrating the past: A critical reflection on the history of IFHE and the Home
Economics profession. International Journal of Home Economics (1(2), 75-97. Retrieved from www.ifhe.org
United Nations. (2013). Global Issues: Family. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/globalissues/family/
Whittemore, J. H. (1995). Implications of the Canadian Conference on Education to Home Economics. In L.
Peterat & M. L. De Zwart (Eds.) An Education For Women: The Founding of Home Economics Education in
Canadian Public Schools. (pp. 124-127). P.E.I.: Home Economics Publishing Collective. (Reprinted from
Canadian Home Economics Journal, 8(4), 1958, pp. 5-6).
Wilson, S. W. (1985). Changing Conceptions of Practice in Home Economics Education (Master’s Thesis).
Retrieved from https://circle.ubc.ca/browse?value=Wilson%2C+Susan+Worth&type=author
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