The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live

The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live

Author: Danielle Dreilinger

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2021-05-04

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1324004509

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The surprising, often fiercely feminist, always fascinating, yet barely known, history of home economics. The term “home economics” may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today. In the surprising, often fiercely feminist and always fascinating The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field’s history from Black colleges to Eleanor Roosevelt to Okinawa, from a Betty Crocker brigade to DIY techies. These women—and they were mostly women—became chemists and marketers, studied nutrition, health, and exercise, tested parachutes, created astronaut food, and took bold steps in childhood development and education. Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics’ women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages. This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a denigrated subject to its rightful importance, as it reminds us that everyone should learn how to cook a meal, balance their account, and fight for a better world.


The Secret History of Home Economics

The Secret History of Home Economics

Author: Danielle Dreilinger

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2022-05-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1324021861

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An NPR Favorite History Book of 2021 The surprising, often fiercely feminist, always fascinating, yet barely known, history of home economics. The term “home economics” may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today. In the surprising, often fiercely feminist and always fascinating The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field’s history from Black colleges to Eleanor Roosevelt to Okinawa, from a Betty Crocker brigade to DIY techies. These women—and they were mostly women—became chemists and marketers, studied nutrition, health, and exercise, tested parachutes, created astronaut food, and took bold steps in childhood development and education. Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics’ women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages. This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a denigrated subject to its rightful importance, as it reminds us that everyone should learn how to cook a meal, balance their account, and fight for a better world.


Rethinking Home Economics

Rethinking Home Economics

Author: Sarah Stage

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-07-05

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1501729942

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Until recently, historians tended to dismiss home economics as little more than a conspiracy to keep women in the kitchen. This landmark volume initiates collaboration among home economists, family and consumer science professionals, and women's historians. What knits the essays together is a willingness to revisit the subject of home economics with neither indictment nor apology. The volume includes significant new work that places home economics in the twentieth century within the context of the development of women's professions. Rethinking Home Economics documents the evolution of a profession from the home economics movement launched by Ellen Richards in the early twentieth century to the modern field renamed Family and Consumer Sciences in 1994. The essays in this volume show the range of activities pursued under the rubric of home economics, from dietetics and parenting, teaching and cooperative extension work, to test kitchen and product development. Exploration of the ways in which gender, race, and class influenced women's options in colleges and universities, hospitals, business, and industry, as well as government has provided a greater understanding of the obstacles women encountered and the strategies they used to gain legitimacy as the field developed.


Finding Betty Crocker

Finding Betty Crocker

Author: Susan Marks

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1439104018

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

IN 1945, FORTUNE MAGAZINE named Betty Crocker the second most popular American woman, right behind Eleanor Roosevelt, and dubbed Betty America's First Lady of Food. Not bad for a gal who never actually existed. "Born" in 1921 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to proud corporate parents, Betty Crocker has grown, over eight decades, into one of the most successful branding campaigns the world has ever known. Now, at long last, she has her own biography. Finding Betty Crocker draws on six years of research plus an unprecedented look into the General Mills archives to reveal how a fictitious spokesperson was enthusiastically welcomed into kitchens and shopping carts across the nation. The Washburn Crosby Company (one of the forerunners to General Mills) chose the cheery all-American "Betty" as a first name and paired it with Crocker, after William Crocker, a well-loved company director. Betty was to be the newest member of the Home Service Department, where she would be a "friend" to consumers in search of advice on baking -- and, in an unexpected twist, their personal lives. Soon Betty Crocker had her own national radio show, which, during the Great Depression and World War II, broadcast money-saving recipes, rationing tips, and messages of hope. Over 700,000 women joined Betty's wartime Home Legion program, while more than one million women -- and men -- registered for the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air during its twenty-seven-year run. At the height of Betty Crocker's popularity in the 1940s, she received as many as four to five thousand letters daily, care of General Mills. When her first full-scale cookbook, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, or "Big Red," as it is affectionately known, was released in 1950, first-year sales rivaled those of the Bible. Today, over two hundred products bear her name, along with thousands of recipe booklets and cookbooks, an interactive website, and a newspaper column. What is it about Betty? In answering the question of why everyone was buying what she was selling, author Susan Marks offers an entertaining, charming, and utterly unique look -- through words and images -- at an American icon situated between profound symbolism and classic kitchen kitsch.


Stir it Up

Stir it Up

Author: Megan J. Elias

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780812240795

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Stir It Up explores the changing aims of home economics while putting the phenomena of Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Ty Pennington, and the "Mommy Wars" into historical context.


Ashes 2011

Ashes 2011

Author: Gideon Haigh

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2011-02-25

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1845136888

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Most people gave England a modest chance of success. Some, like Glenn McGrath, insisted that history would repeat itself and Australia would administer another 5-0 whitewash. What no-one anticipated was that the 2010-11 Ashes Tests would see one of the most complete performances ever by an England touring side, the first Ashes victory on Australian soil for 24 years, with, uniquely, three innings victories. It was a series, indeed a tour, full of remarkable records, from the bats of Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, and the ball of James Anderson and Graham Swann. Every member of the side made crucial contributions – even those like Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan who had not originally been first choices for the Tests. Now, Gideon Haigh, ‘one of the best living writers on cricket’ (Daily Telegraph), tells the full story of this amazing sporting achievement. Beginning with the build-up to the series - Australia going into it on the back of an uncharacteristic losing run, England after a year of quietly solid consolidation – he covers each Test, day by day, in pithy match reports and elegant analyses. Ashes 2011 is the perfect way to re-live a memorable sporting triumph.


African Americans in the Human Sciences

African Americans in the Human Sciences

Author: Vanessa P. Jackson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-07-07

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1793648956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores the role and experience of African American women scholars and educators in the field of human, family, and consumer sciences. Its five sections cover careers in education, the role of historically Black colleges and universities, opportunities and challenges brought about by the internationalization of the field, opportunities for new careers paths in the human sciences, and the current and future role of technology. The contributors come from a variety of backgrounds with experiences in research, teaching, outreach, and service. Taken together, the essays capture the vitality and diversity of knowledge that has, over time, assisted in transforming the field.


Communicating Family and Consumer Sciences

Communicating Family and Consumer Sciences

Author: Elizabeth J. Hitch

Publisher: Goodheart-Wilcox Publisher

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781566377973

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Communicating Family and Consumer Sciences is designed for professionals who will be communicating with students or clients in both formal classroom settings and nonformal settings. Written at the college level, this text is intended for use by students and professionals in community and human services, Family and Consumer Sciences education, and Family and Consumer Sciences outreach education.


Gender on Wall Street

Gender on Wall Street

Author: Laura Mattia

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-06-13

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 3319755501

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book contains advice and direction for women who are either seeking a career or who have already embarked on a career in financial services. The book first aims to help the female reader gain clarity on her motivation in pursuing a career in finance. It then identifies potential gender-specific challenges that could create problems if she is unaware or unconscious to her surrounding work environment. Lastly, it provides insights and exercises to develop a strategy for career accomplishment. Written by a former Senior Financial Executive for several fortune 500 firms including M&M Mars, a Wealth Manager/Owner of a fee-only Registered Investment Advisory firm, and Professor of financial planning at the University of South Florida, the book will help women identify pitfalls, create game plans to transcend the limitations of their workplace cultures, and learn how to collaborate with their peers to create healthier work environments. Told through personal stories, anecdotes from other women and academic research, Gender on Wall Street helps women identify the internal and external obstacles to their success. This book will also provide a means of overcoming these obstacles through conscious engagement, personal reflection and strategy-building exercises at the conclusion of each chapter. The reader will be guided into creating their own personal career plan—the STAR plan—which will help them achieve career success.


Food Will Win the War

Food Will Win the War

Author: Rae Katherine Eighmey

Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780873517188

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays, vegetable gardens and chickens in every empty lot. When the United States entered World War I, Minnesotans responded to appeals for personal sacrifice and changed the way they cooked and ate in order to conserve food for the boys "over there." Baking with corn and rye, eating simple meals based on locally grown food, consuming fewer calories, and wasting nothing in the kitchen became civic acts. High-energy foods and calories unconsumed on the American home front could help the food-starved, war-torn American Allies eat another day and fight another battle. Food historian Rae Katherine Eighmey engages readers with wide research and recipes drawn from rarely viewed letters, diaries, recipe books, newspaper accounts, government pamphlets, and public service fliers. She brings alive the unknown but unparalleled efforts to win the war made by ordinary "Citizen Soldiers"--farmers and city dwellers, lumberjacks and homemakers--who rolled up their sleeves to apply "can-do" ingenuity coupled with "must-do" drive. Their remarkable efforts transformed everyday life and set the stage for the United States' postwar economic and political ascendance. Rae Katherine Eighmey is a food historian who has written several historical recipe books and coauthored Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare from Church and Community Cookbooks. An avid foodie, she tested all the recipes in this book for modern kitchens.