| This study argues that Kansas State Agricultural College, the first co-educational land-grant institution, played a key role in shaping the profession of home economics. This is unrecognized in the histories of the home economics movement which focus almost exclusively on the contributions of Ellen Richards and other eastern leaders who organized a decade of conferences leading to the formation of the American Home Economics Association in 1908. These leaders deliberately slighted western models, particularly the influential Kansas plan, because prestigious eastern women's colleges found the practical components of land-grant programs unacceptable. To understand the complexities, ambiguities, and differences of opinion within the profession of home economics, however, one must take into account the contributions of western as well as eastern leaders.;Adopting the controversial manual-training approach to education in 1873, Kansas State offered all students a program emphasizing a balance between sciences, general cultural subjects, and technical courses, called industrials. These practical courses were designed to prepare both males and females for paid vocations. By offering domestic industrials as feminine alternatives to the agricultural courses offered to men, Kansas State's leaders intended to graduate "strong womanly women" who would be prepared to support themselves in professional careers as well as succeed in traditional feminine roles.;Kansas State had the strongest and largest academic program offering domestic economy in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Its balanced curriculum served as a model for other colleges. Its graduates, holding coveted B.S. and M.S. degrees, provided leadership for home economics programs in the era when college-trained people gained ascendency in professional careers. They set patterns that continue to the present day.;Some have interpreted the development of home economics in higher education as a conservative move to limit women to the domestic sphere. It can just as easily be seen as a progressive move which allowed educated middle-class women to successfully enter the male-dominated academic professions. |
