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A Material Pedagogy: Lessons from Early-Twentieth-Century Domestic Arts Curricula

A Material Pedagogy: Lessons from Early-Twentieth-Century Domestic Arts Curricula A Material Pedagogy: Lessons from Early-Twentieth-Century Domestic Arts Curricula Liz Rohan In 1917 Olive Elrich of the Free Sewing Machine Company wrote to the dean of the home economics department at Michigan State University, following up on a business transaction. The school had purchased some of her company’s machines. As a consultant, she lectured about the machines she sold and also demonstrated how to sew effectively on them (Elrich 1917). While home economics is often associated with training women to work in the home, this curriculum, as it was developed during the first three decades of the twentieth century, actually helped women like Elrich gain the skills, ethos, and exper- tise to work outside it — not only as consultants but as salespeople, educators, and writers. The students themselves often funded their educations as future home economics experts by working outside the home. One aspiring MSU student, Edna Maguire — planning to attend the school in 1917 — requested an opportunity for work while in school because her father had had a stroke. She admitted that she had to “rely entirely on [her] own resources” as a stu- dent (Maguire 1917). Female students like Maguire thus worked outside the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pedagogy Duke University Press

A Material Pedagogy: Lessons from Early-Twentieth-Century Domestic Arts Curricula

Rohan, Liz
Pedagogy , Volume 6 (1) – Jan 1, 2006
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Copyright
© 2006 Duke University Press
ISSN
1531-4200
eISSN
1533-6255
DOI
10.1215/15314200-6-1-79
Publisher site
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Abstract

A Material Pedagogy: Lessons from Early-Twentieth-Century Domestic Arts Curricula Liz Rohan In 1917 Olive Elrich of the Free Sewing Machine Company wrote to the dean of the home economics department at Michigan State University, following up on a business transaction. The school had purchased some of her company’s machines. As a consultant, she lectured about the machines she sold and also demonstrated how to sew effectively on them (Elrich 1917). While home economics is often associated with training women to work in the home, this curriculum, as it was developed during the first three decades of the twentieth century, actually helped women like Elrich gain the skills, ethos, and exper- tise to work outside it — not only as consultants but as salespeople, educators, and writers. The students themselves often funded their educations as future home economics experts by working outside the home. One aspiring MSU student, Edna Maguire — planning to attend the school in 1917 — requested an opportunity for work while in school because her father had had a stroke. She admitted that she had to “rely entirely on [her] own resources” as a stu- dent (Maguire 1917). Female students like Maguire thus worked outside the

Journal

Pedagogy – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2006

References