Domestic sciences at Bradley Polytechnic Institute and The University of Chicago

Seminar in Sanitary Science: It will deal with new and unsettled problems whose solution will help place the subject of public health on a more scientific basis. The topics assigned will be chemical, physiological, bacteriological, economy or social, according to the preference and training of the individual students.

House Sanitation: This course includes a study of the following topics: situation, surroundings, ventilation, heating, drainage, plumbing, lighting and furnishing. This will be a study of the sanitation of the dwelling as the unit of public health.... Special attention will be given to the investigation of general sanitary conditions from a practical and scientific standpoint.

The Economy of Living: This course will consider the order and administration of the household with a discussion of the scientific principles of the application of heat to food materials, the chemistry of cleaning and domestic service. General Hygiene: This course is intended primarily for undergraduates and is practical in method and scope. It is intended also as an introduction to the study of Sanitary Science. (General Hygiene was introduced in the early years but dropped in 1900.)

The Citizen as Householder: The house as a factor in public health; the control of the householder by the state and his freedom in relation to sanitation and food supplies.

Food Supplies and Dietaries: The nutritive and money values of food stuffs; the application of heat to food principles; adulteration; methods of preservation.28

Sanitary Science was considered part of Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. We know that this field of Sanitary Science at The University of Chicago included laboratory work. In 1895, Marion Talbot sent an invitation that read: "You are cordially invited to visit the Sanitary Laboratory on the ground floor of Beecher Hall, December 2, 1895, from 2:00-4:30." The exhibit consisted of "instruments to show movements of currents of air, others for determination of carbon dioxide in air, and still others showing the mystery of household plumbing."29 Instructors in related fields in this infant discipline at The University of Chicago included Alice Norton who was listed by the 1901 registrar as teaching Home Economics and Foods in the School of Education and Marion Talbot who taught Sanitary Science in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Friends in Boston, both of these women were students of Ellen Richards of the Massachusetts of Technology. Thus the program's philosophy at The University of Chicago reflected Richards's strong emphasis on chemistry and sanitation. Richards and Talbot placed emphasis on science to improve the household, whereas Kedzie supported a balance of art and science.

By 1904, the section of Sanitary Science became the Department of Household Administration in the College of Arts, Literature and Science and in the Graduate Schools. In this introductory statement in The University of Chicago's announcement of this department: "Students of social movements look with apprehension on present-day tendencies which draw men more and more in the direction of commercialism and women into industrialism to the detriment of home and family life and the consequent injury of the larger social interests of which it is the foundation. ... Theoretical courses dealing with economic, legal, sociological, sanitary, dietetics, and aesthetic interests of the household will be supplemented by practical work, all to be conducted on a strictly collegiate basis."30 Laboratories are not emphasized in early documents of The University of Chicago for Sanitary Science. The laboratory featured in an open-house invitation was located in a basement, whereas the laboratories at Bradley were located on the entire third floor of Bradley Hall. Clearly Bradley's emphasis was on teaching skills with solid scientific grounding. The related departments at The University of Chicago were much more intent on teaching sanitation in whatever application could be found within a course related to Domestic Science. Marion Talbot may not have felt as secure in her position at The University of Chicago as Nellie Kedzie must have felt at Bradley. Talbot's request for a more modem department was acknowledged by Harper as worthy, but could not be funded.31