In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how I tried to find an instruction manual or job description of sorts to help me in the role of full-time wife and mother. I tried a variety of search, using such terms as “homemaker” or “homemaking”. Most of the books that appear and that have the day-to-day types of instructions that I was looking for are available in books published in the 1800s and early 1900s. In fact, based on the research that I have done, one could almost say that the 1950s housewife was really a 1920s housewife but with the benefits of new and improved electrical appliances!

The first book I found was titled Housewifery: A Manual and Text Book of Practical Housekeeping by Lydia Ray Balderston, A.M. The purpose of this book was stated as:

“…to help not only the individual home woman but to serve as a text for study groups of rural extension and other club-women and in the housekeepers’ courses given by schools and colleges.”

And then I read a second book, very similar in style to the first, titled Practical Housewifery. This book was published in 1905 and was written by someone described as the “Domestic Economy Teacher, London County Council Schools”. Its preface states that it was written to:

“…follow the lines laid down by the syllabus of the Education Department, for those student who are desirous of training for the ‘Housewifery Diploma’.”

I don’t know about you, but the idea that these books were written as the course curriculum for schools and colleges greatly surprised me – especially once I read the actual contents of the books! As I continued to research, I learned that these types of books were not unique. In fact, previous versions were written, some dated as early as 1832. A majority of them dealt with cookery as opposed to housewifery, although many included tips and other information at the front of the book and between the recipes and cooking instructions.

Have you ever heard of such a thing as schools teaching young women to be proper housewives? And that issues a “Housewifery Diploma”? Believe it or not, this was the true foundation to what we now know as home economics. I never heard of a college course on home economics, beyond a degree to teach the class to high school students, like I was taught when I was in high school. Yet, several of these old textbooks that I discovered were written precisely for these purposes. So how is it that this knowledge went from being taught to all girls to being taught to very few?

Based on the collection of books that I have found online, we know that very detailed and instructive housewifery knowledge was available in the 1800s and early 1900s. In 1903, Cornell University offered three courses, for credit, relating to home and family life. In 1907, the first four year curriculum for home economics was completed. Housewifery was so important during this time in American history that publications were produced tailoring to it, namely Good Housekeeping, which first published in 1885.

So when did the decline of housewifery really start? This is the question that I will attempt to answer in tomorrow’s post, so stay tuned.