| Historians rarely treat the home economics movement as a serious force of intellectual and/or cultural influence, yet for more than one hundred years it has developed or expanded to become one of the most adaptive and holistic disciplines. Moreover, the birth of home economics as a discipline can only be understood as part of a larger pattern of the development of the culture of professionalism in the late nineteenth century. The development of home economics, then, can be considered one route that women were able to take to economic independence and to intellectual as well as social fulfillment.;The development of the home economics profession paralleled the expansion of education for women thanks in large part to the Morrill Land Grant Act (1862), which created public universities for the education of the agricultural and industrial classes. Although the Morrill Act did no require the admission of women, most states included coeducation as part of their land grant charter. Coeducation at western land grant colleges allowed women to push the boundaries of their sphere and create their own niche within the academy.;This study tells the story of an all-women's department of home economics at a major land grant university, the University of Idaho. It discusses how the women in that program conceptualized their discipline, how they secured their legitimacy through community ties, and how the land grant college mission combined with the University's western geographic location to create a program that has remained relevant. I argue that the University of Idaho's home economics program was created to serve the intellectual needs of the women residing within the state of Idaho. As a result, home economics developed as a bridge between the scholarly community and the rural peoples of Idaho. In essence it offered rural women new and innovative ways to manage their homes in an ever-changing world.;Research materials for this study came from the University of Idaho's Special Collections and Archives, Moscow, Idaho. In addition, several newspapers including the Lewiston Teller, Moscow Daily News, and the University of Idaho's student newspaper the Argonaut also yielded valuable information. |
