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• Home Economics

In this portion of the guide you will find material related to the field and practice of Home Economics ,   including both archival collections and published materials of individuals and organizations. The  International Federation for Home Economics  defines Home Economics as a field of study and profession that is "considered the original field of research on economic, social, and ecological aspects of everyday living." This guide contains material from Schlesinger Library holdings about women and organizations that worked within that field, as well as material related to guiding people through everyday household management topics. 

The material related to Home Economics in this guide was found by performing a "keywords anywhere" search in HOLLIS for phrases such as  "housekeeping,"  and  "home economics,"  as well as some narrower search terms such as "housewife" and "housewives," and "household management."

• Anna Vertrees Love Ackerly (1893-1980) Anna Vertrees Love Ackerly had a life-long relationship with home economics. This collection includes a summary of her many accomplishments, but highlights her career as an active member of New York State Federation of Home Bureaus. She held many positions within this organization, including Vice-Chairman of the County Executive Committee, Secretary-Treasurer (and later director) of the Eastern District, and International Relations Chairman. The collection includes writings from other members of the NYSFHB, her friends, and her family on the topic of her life.
• Sarah Gibson Blanding (1898-1985) Sarah Gibson Blanding was born in Lexington, Kentucky and earned an A.B. from the University of Kentucky in 1923, an M.A. from Columbia in 1926, and studied at the London School of Economics from 1928 to 1929. She went on to become an educator. During her time at the University of Kentucky, from 1919 to 1941, she was an instructor of physical education, professor of political science, and dean of women. She then moved on to become the director of the New York State College of Home Economics at Cornell University, and finally a dean, then president, of Vassar College. The collection contains material pertaining to her career, including an oral history transcript about her time directing the College of Home Economics at Cornell.
• Alice Bradley (1875-1946) Home economist, hospital dietician, principal of Miss Farmer's School of Cookery (1915-1944), and cooking editor for the Woman's Home Companion (1916-1936), Bradley was a nutrition consultant for the government and private industry, teacher at cooking schools and on the radio, and the author of numerous cookbooks, manuals, and articles. Most of the collection consists of brochures and clippings from Miss Farmer's School of Cookery and biographies of Alice Bradley by her sister, Marion Bradley Atwood.
• American Home Economics Association The American Home Economics Association was founded in 1909 and served as the voice for the home economics profession in America. This collection includes State Governors' letters in reply to AHEA President Florence Wilkinson Low's request for support for the President's Commission on the Status of Women. The AHEA published a number of bulletins, newsletters, and journals, some of which are held at the Schlesinger, such as News-Letter: American Home Economics Association , AHEA: A History of Excellence , The Journal of Home Economics , and For You... A Career in Home Economics .
• Persis Conant Babb (1887-1915) This collection consists of one notebook, entitled Persis Conant Cook Book , which contains handwritten notes and recipes that probably were taken during a cooking class. The notes are divided by lesson on topics such as washing dishes, using a stove, and setting the table, as well as recipes for common dishes. The collection also contains a pamphlet advertising uses and recipes for Sea Moss Farine, and a pamphlet of recipes for Wm. Underwood Co's deviled meats.
• Cambridge Home Information Center The Cambridge Home Information Center was a small, community-based organization in Massachusetts. It consisted of middle-class homemakers from the area who needed such an organization in light of the changing role of housewives after World War I. Originally, the Center was an educational organization hosting courses on cooking and household management, and offered consulting sessions once a week with a home economist. During World War II, members assisted with the war effort through home economy projects. By 1947, the Center's goal was to help its members adjust to the often changing problems and expectations of home management. These records contain administrative records and bylaws, membership lists, correspondence, menus, recipes, and photographs.
• Laura Oakes Cushman (1895-1988) Laura Oakes Cushman was a Home Economics educator. She taught domestic science at the Walter E. Fernald State School and later the Boston Cooking School. In 1941 she led a Mobile Canteen Cookery Course for the Massachusetts Women's Defense Corps. An instructor at Miss Farmer's School of Cookery in Boston, Cushman also taught at the New England School of Home Arts, the Household Nursing Association, and Framingham State College. This collection includes a memory book, photographs, yearbooks, and Cushman's diaries from 1918 to 1976, many of which detail her extensive travels with Alice Bradley, an acquaintance from Miss Farmer's School of Cookery. It also includes lesson plans, recipes, and other teaching materials from Miss Farmer's School of Cookery, the Boston Cooking School, and the Mobile Canteen Cookery course, among others, and recipes collected by Cushman including those of the Food Magician and his Boston radio series, World Rambles in Epicurean Cookery.
• Christine Frederick (1883-1970) Home economist, lecturer, and author, Frederick campaigned for more efficiency in the kitchen. She set up and directed the Applecroft Home Experiment Station on Long Island, wrote on household management and the role of women as consumers, was an editor for Ladies Home Journal and The American Weekly , and in the 1950s became an interior decorator. She and her husband, J. George Frederick, had helped found the Advertising Women of New York in 1912. The collection primarily contains photographs of Frederick's work at Applecroft Home Experiment Station, but also includes correspondence, speeches, pamphlets, and some documents and photographs pertaining to her personal life.
• Grace E. Frysinger (1885-1973) Grace E. Frysinger was a well-educated home economist who served as an instructor at the School of Domestic Science and Arts in Chicago, the director of the Home Economics Department at Bellmont College in Nashville, a food conservation lecturer in New York City, and the senior home economist at the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. This collection contains materials relevant to Frysinger's work re-educating rural women and the Rural Home Conference in Washington, D.C in 1934.
• Hattie A. Harlow Hattie A. Harlow was a seamstress and music teacher from Brockton and Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This collection consists of hand-sewn scrapbooks containing manuscript instructions in knitting, lacemaking, gardening, cooking, personal care, and various household remedies. Also included are clippings, reading lists, physiological drawings, rules for business, phrenological diagrams, and other examples of self-instruction; and one flyer advertising her services.
• Home Economists in Business Home Economists in Business, a section of the American Home Economics Association, had its beginnings in 1921 when a small group of women announced their desire to have a section of the organization devoted to business interests. It was founded in 1924. Members of the HEIB were employed by food and textile manufacturers, utility companies, and women's magazines, where they facilitated communication between producers and women consumers. The HEIB also evaluated and made recommendations for home economics curricula at American colleges and universities. The archival records contain history and administrative information, records of the governing boards of the HEIB, financial information, photographs, and audiovisual material related to the history, objectives, and future of the HEIB. The Schlesinger Library holds a significant amount of published material related to the HEIB, such as The News Letter about All of Us , Timely Topics , National News Notes , and Communique .
• Marjorie Child Husted Marjorie Child Husted was an advertising executive, home economist, and director of the Home Service Department of General Mills, Inc. She planned and implemented the "Betty Crocker" radio program for twenty years, beginning in 1926. The collection contains biographical material, typescripts of six speeches, and pamphlets regarding women in business.
• Institute of Women's Professional Relations The Institute of Women's Professional Relations was established in 1928 in New London, Connecticut, to raise the level and number of women in professional positions. The bulk of this collection consists of studies and interviews on chemistry, banking dietetics, and home economics, and studies and reports carried out in cooperation with Works Progress Administration project 2132 and the League Women Voters, on Connecticut and Rhode Island state governments.
• Betty Hosmer Mawardi (1921-2012) Betty Hosmer Mawardi was an alumnae of Radcliffe College, Harvard Graduate School, and Wellesley College. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Radcliffe College in 1959. Throughout her life, Mawardi worked in academia, taking jobs at Wellesley College, Harvard University, and Case Western Reserve University. This collection consists of a notebook, probably from her home economics class at Horace Mann School, containing recipes, lists of utensils, layout of a table setting, etc. It also contains a notebook containing recipes clipped from magazines, and typed notes from an undated lecture concerning her travels in Egypt.
• Emily Sibley (1888-1979) Emily Sibley grew up in Cambridge Massachusetts. She attended Radcliffe College and later Simmons College, where she was educated in home economics. She went on to teach home economics at many different institutions, eventually settling into a part-time position teaching home economics at the Choate School in Brookline, Massachusetts. This collection contains family accounts and recipes, lectures on home economics, and lecture notes on cookery, budgeting, diet, nutrition, and dressmaking. Several recipes from this collection have been digitized and are available online through the finding aid for the Papers of Emily Sibley .
• Evelyn Lorraine Schmitt Wallace (1923-1981) Evelyn Schmitt Wallace was a homemaker and teacher from Stratford, Connecticut. She married David Wallace in 1954, and they had three children together. She stayed at home with them until 1973 when she began teaching English at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Maryland. This collection consists of diaries, notebooks, correspondence, and household account books detailing her daily activities, menus, housekeeping chores, and finances. Her diaries become more personal and reflective in her later years, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and the illness began to progress.
• Sally Joy White (1852?-1909) The first woman journalist in Boston, White used the pseudonym Penelope Penfeather. As special reporter for the Boston Post in 1870, she covered women suffrage conventions and related activities. She continued to report on women's rights activities and local news and advised on fashion and household problems for the Boston Herald until shortly before her death. This collection includes family correspondence, letters White received from notable persons, volumes of clippings of her newspaper articles and columns, photographs, a biographical essay on White by her granddaughter, and papers of her daughter Grace Elinor Joy (White) Pratt. Additional related material can be found in the Additional Papers of Sallie Joy White .
• Beatrice Jeanette Whiting (1890-1966) Beatrice Jeanette Whiting grew up in Richmond, Virginia and spent her life as a primary and secondary school teacher. She taught home economics at the all-black Armstrong High School in Richmond, Virginia, and eventually earned a four-year college degree. After Whiting retired in 1960, she received an award from the Old Dominion Vocational Association for her many years of faithful service in the public schools of Richmond, Virginia. She never married. This collection consists of a volume of sewing exercises dating to about 1915 with instructions and samples completed by Whiting. Also included is a volume of congratulatory messages presented to Whiting by the faculty of Armstrong High School upon her retirement in 1960.
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Assessing the New Home Economics with 2020 Vision

• First Online: 18 May 2022

Cite this chapter

• Shoshana Grossbard 3 , 4 &
• Andrea H. Beller 3 , 4  

Part of the book series: Palgrave Advances in Behavioral Economics ((PABE))

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In the early 1960s, Becker and Mincer placed households and what they produce at the center of economic analyses dealing with consumption, labor markets, household decisions regarding health, children, and marriage. This school of thought was labeled the New Home Economics (NHE). This chapter provides an assessment of the NHE. Our first contribution is defining the NHE to help determine which other researchers can be considered as being part of the NHE. Second, we offer an assessment of the NHE’s success based on five criteria: awards to its participants, integration of ideas into mainstream economics, NBER’s inclusion of new NHE-led applications of economic investigation, growth of new organizations promoting NHE-related research, and the academic success of early students of Becker and Mincer specializing in NHE.

Parts of this paper are based on Beller and Grossbard ( 2019 ).

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Margaret Gilpin Reid (1896–1991)

How We Do Economics Today

Friedman, Milton (1912–2006)

In line with the aims and scope of the Review of Household Economics , as stated in https://www.springer.com/journal/11150/aims-and-scope .

Margaret Reid ( 1934 ) published a book on household production, based on the dissertation she wrote at the University of Chicago. Hazel Kyrk had been her thesis adviser. On the origins of home economics see Folbre ( 1998 ), Beller and Kiss ( 2001 ), and Beller ( 2014 ). By the late 1970s, many departments of home economics had been reorganized and renamed as, for example, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences (Georgia), the School of Human Resources and Family Studies (Illinois), or the Department of Consumer Economics and Housing (Cornell). In the mid-1990s, some had been further transformed and merged with other departments, with the economics units becoming the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (Illinois), or Policy Analysis and Management (Cornell).

More on the history of economics and sociology of the family can be found in Grossbard-Shechtman ( 2001b ).

That paper was published as Mincer ( 1962 ). Mincer reported this 1960 presentation as the starting point of the NHE in at least two conversations Shoshana had with him, one on the phone and one in person.

In a phone conversation in the 1990s Mincer told Shoshana that the term “New Home Economics” was not applicable any longer: “new” loses its meaning after a certain amount of time.

For more information on students of Becker and Mincer at Columbia see Grossbard-Shechtman ( 2001a ) and Beller and Grossbard ( 2019 ).

The NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) is a prestigious organization central to the economics profession (see https://www.nber.org/about-nber ).

The economic analysis of consumption included the Ph.D. dissertation of Hazel Kyrk from the Economics Department at the University of Chicago in 1920, which added a social psychological perspective to the economics. The dissertation won the coveted Hart, Schaffner and Marx award and was published as a book in 1923 under the title A Theory of Consumption (Beller and Kiss 2001 ). The book was reprinted by Arno Press in 1976.

Sachko Gandolfi showed that contributions to household production influence the purchase of life insurance by men and women.

However, her doctoral thesis, completed in 1972, dealt with the economics of slavery and her principal adviser was Robert Fogel.

O’Neill completed her dissertation at Columbia in 1970. It dealt with income and education effects on regional migration, not a NHE topic according to the definition used here.

More about Silber and Steckel is found in the next subsection.

Lloyd continued to publish further work related to the NHE (e.g. Lloyd and Niemi 1979 ; Lloyd et al. 1979 ) and to work on questions related to household economics, especially while employed by the Population Council.

John W. Graham had been a student of Marc Nerlove’s at Northwestern University, where Nerlove moved when he left Chicago in the mid-1970s.

When awarding him the Nobel prize in 1992, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences highlighted Becker’s “models of behavior of the family (or household), including distribution of work and allocation of time in the family.”

Becker’s marriage market model is one of the multiple theoretical models of marriage contained in this theory of marriage. More on Becker’s various theoretical models of marriage is found in Grossbard ( 2010 ).

Many of the themes addressed by Becker in these individual articles were included in Becker’s ( 1981 ) Treatise on the Family .

Becker et al. ( 1977 ) also contains a search model of marriage.

The topic of fertility had been addressed by economists many decades before the birth of the NHE, e.g. by Malthus. However, it was not addressed by mainstream economists for most of the twentieth century.

As of December 2020, he still directs NBER’s New York Office. Another health economics program at NBER focuses on the functioning of markets for health insurance and medical care.

Victor Fuchs, Michael Grossman, and James Poterba contributed to this paragraph via personal emails.

More on the history of the NBER can be found at https://www.nber.org/about-nber/history .

The following list is more restricted than the list of students mentioned in Sect.  2 , where graduates who had trained with Becker or Mincer and wrote dissertations on other topics, and later engaged in NHE-related research, were also included.

An academic career implies affiliation with universities or research organizations such as RAND for most of their working years.

The following Columbia students did not spend most of their post-doctoral years pursuing an academic career: Elizabeth Landes and Federicka Santos. Columbia graduate who continued an academic career but did not publish much that is related to the NHE: Morris Silver.

Chicago graduates who left academia at a relatively early stage in their career: Alan Freiden, Michael Keeley, Edy Kogut, and Nigel Tomes. Chicago graduates who continued an academic career but did not publish much that is related to the NHE: Anne Williams, Lawrence Kenny, Jacques Silber, John Turner, and Walter Wessels. The whereabouts of Indra Makhija are unknown.

More on gender and the Columbia labor workshop (which was not limited to NHE) in Grossbard-Shechtman ( 2001a ) and Beller and Grossbard ( 2019 ).

Adams, James D. (1976). “A Theory of Intergenerational Transfers.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.

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———. (1976b). “Hospital Utilization: An Analysis of SMSA Differences in Hospital Admission Rates, Occupancy Rates and Bed Rates.” Explorations in Economic Research (National Bureau of Economic Research) (Summer): 326–378.

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———. (1973). “Work and Welfare: The Case of Aid to Families with Dependent Children.” The Journal of Human Resources 8: 103–125.

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Gandolfi, Anna. (1975). “An Analysis of the Demand for Life Insurance.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

———. (1986). “New Non-Traditional Products and Their Markets”, Society of Insurance Research: Research Review, No. 87, January.

Ghez, Gilbert R. (1970). “A Theory of Life Cycle Consumption.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

Ghez, Gilbert R., and Gary S. Becker. (1974). The Allocation of Goods and Time Over the Life Cycle. NBER and Columbia University Press.

Goldin, Claudia. (1977). “Female Labor Force Participation: The Origin of Black and White Differences, 1870 to 1880.” Journal of Economic History 37: 87–108.

———. (1979). “Household and Market Production of Families in a Late Nineteenth Century City.” Explorations in Economic History 16: 111–131.

Graham, John W., and Andrea H. Beller. (1989). “The Effect of Child Support Payments on the Labor Supply of Female Family Heads: An Econometric Analysis.” The Journal of Human Resources 24 (Fall): 664–688.

Gronau, Reuben. (1967). “The Effect of Traveling Time on the Demand for Passenger Airline Transportation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

———. (1973). “The Intrafamily Allocation of Time: The Value of Housewives’ Time.” American Economic Review 63: 643–651.

———. (1977). “Leisure, Home Production, and Work—The Theory of the Allocation of Time Revisited.” Journal of Political Economy 85: 1099–1124.

Grossbard, Amyra. (1976). “An Economic Analysis of Polygamy: The Case of Maiduguri.” Current Anthropology 17 (4): 701–707.

———. (1978). “Towards a Marriage Between Economics and Anthropology and a General Theory of Marriage.”  Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Review 68 (2): 33–37.

Grossbard, Shoshana. (2006). Jacob Mincer, A Pioneer of Modern Labor Economics . New York: Springer.

———. (2010). “How ‘Chicagoan’ are Gary Becker’s Economic Models of Marriage?” Journal of History of Economic Thought , 32 (3): 377–395.

Grossbard-Shechtman, Amyra. (1984). “A Theory of Allocation of Time in Markets for Labor and Marriage.” Economic Journal 94: 863–882.

Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana. (1993). On the Economics of Marriage . Boulder: Westview Press. Reprinted by Routledge in 2019.

Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana. (2001a). “The New Home Economics at Columbia and Chicago.” Feminist Economics 7 (3): 103–130.

———. (2001b). “The Economics and Sociology of Marriage,” in S. Grossbard-Shechtman and C. Clague (eds.), On the Expansion of Economics . Armonk, NJ: M.E. Sharpe.

Grossman, Michael. (1972). The Demand for Health: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation . New York: Columbia University Press.

Heckman, James J. (1973). “Contraception Strategies and Fertility Outcomes: Estimates of a Stochastic Model of Reproduction,” in Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association, 280–285.

———. (1974). “Shadow Prices, Market Wages and Labor Supply.” Econometrica 42 (4): 679–694.

——— and Orley Ashenfelter. (1974). “The Estimation of Income and Substitution Effects in a Model of Family Labor Supply.” Econometrica 42 (1): 73–86.

——— and F. Campbell, G. Conti, S. Moon, E. Pungello, R. Pinto, and Y. Pan (2014). “Early Childhood Investments Substantially Boost Adult Health.” Science 343 (6178): 1478–1485.

Heckman, James, and Macurdy Thomas E. (1980). “A Life Cycle Model of Female Labour Supply.” Review of Economic Studies 47 (1): 47–74.

Heer, David M., and Amyra Grossbard-Shechtman. (1981). “The Impact of the Female Marriage Squeeze and the Contraceptive Revolution on Sex Roles and the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States, 1960 to 1975.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 43 (1): 49–65.

Hochman, Oded, and Haim Ofek. (1977). “The Value of Time in Consumption and Residential Location in an Urban Setting.” The American Economic Review 67: 996–1003.

Honig, Marjorie Hansen. (1971). “The Impact of the Welfare System on Labor Supply and Family Stability: A Study of Female Heads of Families.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

——— and Giora Hanoch. (1980). “A General Model of Labor-Market Behavior of Older Persons”. Social Security Bulletin (43), April.

Johnson (Lans), Shirley B. (1967). “The Investment in Marriage: Theory and Application.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

Keeley, Michael C. (1974). “A Model of Marital Information: The Determinants of the Optimal Age at First Marriage and Differences in Age at Marriage.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago.

———. (1977). “The Economics of Family Formation.” Economic Inquiry 15: 238–250.

———. (1979). “An Analysis of the Age Pattern of First Marriage.” International Economic Review 20: 527–544.

Kenny, Lawrence. (1977). “The Demands for Child Quality and for Educational Inputs, the Production of Child Quality, and Related Topics.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.

———. (1983). “The Accumulation of Human Capital During Marriage by Males.” Economic Inquiry 21: 223–231.

Kogut, Edy Luiz. (1972). “The Economic Analysis of Demographic Phenomena: A Case Study for Brazil.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.

Krein, Sheila Fitzgerald, and Andrea H. Beller (1988). “Educational Attainment of Children from Single-Parent Families: Differences by Exposure, Gender and Race.” Demography 25 (May): 221–234.

Lancaster, Kelvin J. (1966). “A New Approach to Consumer Theory.” Journal of Political Economy 74: 132–157.

Landes, Elisabeth M. (1978). “Economics of Alimony.”  Journal of Legal Studies 7: 35–78.

Leibowitz, Arleen S. (1974). “Home Investments in Children.” Journal of Political Economy 82 (2, Part 2): S111-S131.

Lloyd, Cynthia B. (1972). “The Effect of Child Subsidies on Fertility: An International Study.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

——— and Beth T. Niemi. (1979). The Economics of Sex Differentials . Columbia University Press.

———, Emily S. Andrews, and Curtis L. Gilroy, eds. (1979). Women in the Labor Market . New York: Columbia University Press.

Makhija, Indra. (1977). “The Economic Contribution of Children and Its Effects on Fertility and Schooling: Rural India.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.

Manser, Marilyn, and M. Brown. (1980). “Marriage and Household Decision Making: a Bargaining Analysis.” International Economic Review 21:31-44.

Margo, Robert and Richard H. Steckel. (1983). “Heights of Native Born Whites during the Antebellum Period.” Journal of Economic History 43: 167–174.

McElroy, Marjorie B., and M.J. Horney. (1981). “Nash Bargained Household Decisions: Toward a Generalization of the Theory of Demand.” International Economic Review 22: 333–349.

Michael, Robert T. (1972). The Effect of Education on Efficiency in Production. New York: Columbia University Press, NBER, Occasional paper 116.

———. (1973). “Education in Non-market Production.” Journal of Political Economy 81: 306–327.

Michael, Robert T., and Gary S. Becker. (1973). “On the New Theory of Consumer Behavior.” The Swedish Journal of Economics 75: 378–396.

Mincer, Jacob. (1962). “Labor Force Participation of Married Women: A Study of Labor Supply,” in H. Gregg Lewis (ed.), Aspects of Labor Economics . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

———. (1963). “Market Prices, Opportunity Costs, and Income Effects,” in C. Christ (ed.), Measurement in Economics . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Mincer, Jacob, and Haim Ofek. (1978). “Family Migration Decisions.”  Journal of Political Economy 86 (5): 749–773.

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Grossbard, S., Beller, A.H. (2022). Assessing the New Home Economics with 2020 Vision. In: Altman, M. (eds) Constructing a More Scientific Economics. Palgrave Advances in Behavioral Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83928-4_12

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• May 4, 2021

THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOME ECONOMICS How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live By Danielle Dreilinger

In 1972, I was the overeager student who always raised her hand and preferred reading the encyclopedia to doing “something creative.” So I was not happy to be told that my seventh-grade courses would include home economics. It sounded dumb.

“There are not enough elements of intellectual growth in cooking or housekeeping to nourish a very serious or profound course of training for really intelligent women,” M. Carey Thomas, the president of Bryn Mawr, declared when the college rejected the field in 1893. Twelve-year-old me would have agreed.

In “The Secret History of Home Economics,” Danielle Dreilinger argues that we were wrong. “Home economics was far more than baking lumpy blueberry muffins, sewing throw pillows or lugging a bag of flour around in a baby sling to learn the perils of parenting,” she writes. “In its purest form, home economics was about changing the world through the household.”

Women trained in home economics wrote recipes for food manufacturers, invented clothing care labels and defined the federal poverty line. They set nutritional standards, demonstrated electrical appliances to rural residents, designed clothing patterns for female defense workers and pioneered radio programming. They served as military dietitians and endured captivity as prisoners of war. One of their number, Bea Finkelstein, developed food for the Project Mercury astronauts.

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Cornell University Library Digital Collections

Hearth - home economics archive: research, tradition, history.

HEARTH is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance. The first phase of this project focused on books published between 1850 and 1925 and a small number of journals. Future phases of the project will include books published between 1926 and 1950, as well as additional journals. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects relating to Home Economics, are all freely accessible on this site. This is the first time a collection of this scale and scope has been made available.

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Current online holdings:

• Pages: 772,183
• Books: 1180 (1243 Volumes)
• Journals: 16 (440 Volumes)

Additional information, images and readings on the history of Home Economics are also available at the Cornell University Library's Rare and Manuscript Collections site, " From Domesticity to Modernity: What Was Home Economics? " as well as the Human Ecology Historical Photographs collection .

"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? ... We must do everything we can to preserve and organize records and materials from this important female ghetto."

— Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and Professor, Cornell University College of Human Ecology and author of The Body Project: an Intimate History of American Girls .

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Top 101 Home Economics Research Topics [Updated]

Home economics research is more than just cooking and sewing; it encompasses a diverse range of topics that impact our daily lives. In this blog, we’ll delve into the world of home economics research topics, exploring current trends and potential research topics.

Home economics has a rich history, evolving from its early focus on domestic tasks to encompass broader aspects of family and consumer sciences. Throughout history, pioneers in the field have made significant contributions, shaping its development into the interdisciplinary study it is today.

Current Trends in Home Economics Research

Table of Contents

• Home economics research addresses contemporary issues impacting individuals, families, and communities.
• Focus areas include food and nutrition, family and consumer sciences, housing and interior design, textiles and apparel, and human development.
• Researchers explore topics such as dietary patterns, parenting styles, sustainable housing solutions, sustainable fashion practices, and mental health in families.
• Emphasis is placed on understanding cultural influences, promoting well-being, and addressing societal challenges.

Top 101 Home Economics Research Topics: Category Wise

Food and nutrition.

• The impact of dietary patterns on health outcomes.
• Food insecurity and its effects on families.
• Cultural influences on culinary practices.
• Sustainable food systems and their implications.
• Nutritional interventions for improving community health.
• The role of food education in promoting healthy eating habits.
• Food labeling and its influence on consumer choices.
• The psychology of food cravings and binge eating.
• Food allergies and dietary restrictions: coping strategies and solutions.
• The relationship between diet and mental health.
• The effects of urbanization on dietary habits and nutrition.
• Food marketing strategies targeted at children and adolescents.
• The relationship between food additives and health outcomes.
• Food waste reduction strategies at the household level.
• The influence of socioeconomic status on food choices and access.
• Community-based nutrition programs for underserved populations.
• The importance of learning about healthy eating to stop long-lasting illnesses.
• Looking at how different cultures eat and how it affects their health.
• How the world becoming more connected changes the way people eat traditional foods.
• Food safety practices in home kitchens and their effectiveness.

Family and Consumer Sciences

• Parenting styles and their effects on child development.
• Financial literacy and its impact on household economics.
• Consumer behavior and decision-making processes.
• Gender roles in household chores and responsibilities.
• The influence of the media on family dynamics.
• Intergenerational transmission of family values and traditions.
• Work-life balance: challenges and strategies for modern families.
• The role of technology in family communication.
• Coping mechanisms for family stress and conflict resolution.
• Diversity and inclusion in family structures and dynamics.
• The intersection of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in family dynamics.
• Financial planning for major life events such as marriage and retirement.
• Consumer attitudes towards sustainable and ethical products.
• Digital literacy skills and their importance for modern households.
• The role of family rituals in strengthening relationships.
• Substance abuse prevention programs for families.
• Time management techniques for balancing work, family, and personal life.
• The effects of household clutter on mental health and well-being.
• Intergenerational transmission of culinary traditions and recipes.
• Strategies for conflict resolution and mediation within families.

Housing and Interior Design

• Sustainable housing solutions for urban environments.
• Universal design principles for creating accessible homes.
• Biophilic design: incorporating nature into indoor spaces.
• The impact of interior design on mental health and well-being.
• Smart home technologies: benefits and drawbacks.
• Affordable housing strategies for low-income communities.
• Historic preservation and adaptive reuse in architecture.
• The psychology of color in interior design.
• Innovative materials and construction techniques in homebuilding.
• Housing policies and their effects on social equity.
• The impact of the built environment on physical activity levels.
• Cultural influences on architectural styles and housing designs.
• Aging in place: adapting homes for older adults’ needs.
• Energy-efficient design principles for sustainable housing.
• The psychology of space: how interior design affects mood and behavior.
• Homelessness prevention strategies and support services.
• Innovative furniture design for small living spaces.
• Historic preservation and community revitalization efforts.
• Smart home technologies for improving safety and accessibility.
• The role of public policy in addressing housing affordability issues.

Textiles and Apparel

• Sustainable fashion practices and their environmental impact.
• Ethical considerations in the global textile industry.
• Clothing and identity: self-expression through fashion.
• The psychology of fashion trends and consumer behavior.
• Textile recycling and upcycling initiatives.
• Fashion education and its role in shaping industry standards.
• Historical influences on contemporary fashion design.
• Body image perceptions and their relationship to clothing choices.
• The future of wearable technology in fashion.
• Cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation in fashion.
• The environmental footprint of fast fashion and alternative business models.
• Textile innovations for sustainable clothing production.
• The cultural significance of traditional textile crafts.
• Fashion as a form of social activism and self-expression.
• The psychology of online shopping and its impact on consumer behavior.
• Clothing rental and sharing platforms : sustainability and consumer trends.
• Textile recycling technologies and closed-loop production systems.
• Fashion entrepreneurship: challenges and opportunities for small businesses.
• Body positivity movements and their influence on fashion marketing.
• The role of fashion in shaping cultural identities and social norms.

Human Development and Relationships

• Marital satisfaction and communication patterns.
• The impact of divorce on children’s well-being.
• Aging and quality of life: promoting healthy aging practices.
• Intergenerational relationships and their significance.
• Mental health stigma within families and communities.
• Resilience factors in overcoming family adversity.
• Attachment theory and its implications for parent-child relationships.
• The role of social support networks in coping with life transitions.
• Gender identity development across the lifespan.
• Intersectionality in understanding human development and relationships.
• How social media impacts how we connect with others and our mental well-being.
• Coping strategies for managing work-related stress within families.
• The impact of migration on family dynamics and support networks.
• Trauma-informed care approaches for supporting survivors of abuse and violence.
• Positive youth development programs and their long-term outcomes.
• The benefits of intergenerational activities for promoting social cohesion.
• Cultural competence in providing family-centered healthcare services.
• Gender equality initiatives within families and communities.
• How having a parent in jail can affect kids’ happiness and growth.
• Technology-mediated communication and its impact on family cohesion.
• Innovations in marriage and family therapy for addressing diverse needs and challenges.

What Is The Importance Of Home Economics To You As A Student?

As a student, home economics holds significant importance for several reasons:

• Life Skills Development: Home economics equips students with practical life skills that are essential for everyday living. From cooking and nutrition to budgeting and time management, these skills are invaluable for independent living and contribute to personal growth and self-sufficiency.
• Health and Well-being: Studying home economics helps students understand the importance of healthy living practices, including proper nutrition, hygiene, and stress management. This knowledge promotes physical and mental well-being, laying the foundation for a healthier lifestyle both now and in the future.
• Financial Literacy: In home economics class, we learn about money stuff like budgeting, saving, and handling debt. This helps us understand how to use money wisely and make smart choices. It’s like learning the secrets to being good with money so we can be in control of our finances and become more independent.
• Cultural and Social Awareness: Home economics encompasses various aspects of culture, family dynamics, and social issues. Through studying topics like food culture, family relationships, and societal trends, students gain a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives and develop empathy and respect for different cultures and lifestyles.
• Practical Application of Academic Concepts: Home economics provides a hands-on approach to learning that complements theoretical knowledge acquired in other subjects. By applying concepts from science, mathematics, and social studies to real-life situations, students gain a deeper understanding of academic content and its relevance to their daily lives.
• Preparation for Future Roles: Whether students aspire to become parents, caregivers, homeowners, or professionals in fields related to food, nutrition, or family services, home economics provides a solid foundation for success in these roles. The skills and knowledge acquired through home economics education are transferable and applicable across various personal and professional domains.

In conclusion, home economics research is a dynamic field that encompasses a wide range of topics relevant to everyday life.

By exploring issues related to food, family, housing, textiles, and human development, researchers contribute valuable insights that can lead to positive changes in individuals, families, and communities.

As we continue to advance our understanding of home economics research topics, we empower ourselves to create healthier, more sustainable, and more fulfilling lifestyles for all.

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Journal of Home Economics Research JHER is open-access journal. Scopus & Thomson Reuters Clarivate. JHER provides a platform for scholars, scientists, students, and professionals to showcase their latest findings and advancements in various fields, including Economics, Accounting ,Management, Psychology, Education, Political Science, Financial, Sociology, Law, Communication Sciences, Tourism, Theology, Linguistics,  and History. We are pleased to receive your contributions.

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Effectiveness of Home Economics Learning Commons (HELCs) in Enhancing the Academic Performance of Grade 5 Learners: A Quasi-Experimental Research

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The term "home economics" honours the academic origins of our field which defines itself as the original field of research on economic, social, and ecological aspects of everyday living.

Today, while known under many names, the field spans multiple academic disciplines  that focus on every-day life skills and responsible resource management at home:

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Home economics draws its strength from a multi-level approach as an academic discipline and a profession by

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• advocacy for concerns of individuals, families and their communities.

Origins: Advancing women

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Home economics competition Toronto 1922 (wikimedia commons)

In the 19th century, home economics was one of the first subjects that allowed women to pursue an academic education. Later, home economists were successful in placing food, sanitary and consumer protections into policy, while making the gendered nature of the field less relevant.

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Home Economics Education: Its Challenges and Contribution to National Development

The study investigated the challenges faced in Home Economics Education and the roles of Home Economics Education in the national development. The population of this study comprised all the people of Akwa Ibom State. The study adopted Expost-Facto research design, while stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the respondents. The instrument for data collection which was tagged “Challenges and Roles of Home Economics Education to the National Development Questionnaire (CRHEENDQ) was administered to the respondents and used for the study. The instrument was vetted by experts in statistics, test and measurement before the reliability test was conducted with 30 respondents which produced the reliability coefficient of 0.77, proving the instrument to be reliable for the study. Data collected were analysed using mean statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. From the results of the data analysis, it was observed that there are various challenges facing...

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The quality of teaching and learning Home Economics is deteriorating in Nigerian schools and institutions which lead to the breeding of its graduates without good functional knowledge. The purpose of the study is to highlights on the problems faced in teaching Home Economic courses, as well as contemporary trend and practices in teaching Home Economics, especially in the Colleges of Education in Nigeria. The Curriculum content and its weaknesses which were identified as contributing factors were critiqued. Some effective teaching strategies being used in the global world are identified and highlighted to fit into the teaching of Home Economics. Recommendations were made to help improve the standards of teaching and learning Home Economics in Nigeria; Home Economics teachers should employ various teaching strategies, as well as using multiple at a time, to fit into their various topics.

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Students’ enrolment in Home Economics programme in Senior High Schools (SHSs) in Ghana has been low in recent times. This has become a concern for major stakeholder in education. This study examined the determinants of students’ enrolment in Home Economics programme in SHSs in Ghana. The cross-sectional descriptive survey design was employed for the conduct of the study. The target population comprised first year Home Economics students from 16 selected SHSs in three administrative regions (i.e., Western, Central and Greater Accra Region). A simple random sampling technique (lottery method) was employed to sample 4 schools in the Western Region and 6 each from Central and Greater Accra Region. A census sampling technique was then utilised to include all Home Economics first-year students in the selected schools. A sample size of 1,136 students from 16 schools participated in the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Binary logistic regression analysis was employed to anal...

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PRINCE E DZAKPASU

This paper focused on the relationship between Teachers' characteristics and students' attitude in Home Economic in Port Harcourt Metropolis of Obio/Akpor Local government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The sample constituted of two hundred junior secondary school students. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Two instruments were designed for the study, Student's perception of teacher's characteristics (SPTCQ) and students' attitude of towards learning of home economics (SATLHQ) structured in a 4-point Likert Scale. Mean was used to analyze the instrument. The hypothesis formulated was analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation. Results from SPTCQ and SATHQ among others revealed that students perceived their Home Economics teacher having good teaching and communication skills but did not like how their teachers use less of instructional materials. The correlation coefficient obtained was not significant hence there was no significant relationship between SPTCQ and SATLHQ. The study concluded with recommendations that teachers adapt good communication techniques through verbal and non-verbal , create good classroom management strategies and use more than on method of teaching amongst others to boost attitude of students towards Home economics .

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IGWE AMARACHI

Home economics is a significant subject in Nigerias educational ecosystem that aims to facilitate the empowerment of students to have a positive relationship with food skills and a healthy diet. There are growing indications that the field has been experiencing low enrolment in the recent decade. Thus, the present study examined the teachers pedagogical proficiency as a factor influencing the students attitude towards home economics education. Ninety-six undergraduates enrolled in the home economics department from two higher education institutions in the Enugu State of Nigeria participated in the study. A simple percentage score indicates that the majority of the students (65.5%) indicated a positive attitude towards home economics education, while less (34.5%) showed negative attitudes. Furthermore, a simple regression analysis was performed to test the study hypothesis. The result revealed that teachers pedagogical proficiency positively predicted students attitudes towards home ...

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