Domestic sciences at Bradley Polytechnic Institute and The University of Chicago

The National Household Economics Association (NHEA) existed from 1893-1903, as it grew out of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The objective of this association was to establish bureaus of information about the needs of employers and the employed, promoting among members a more scientific knowledge of the economic value of foods and fuels, advancing a more intelligent understanding of correct plumbing and drainage in the homes as well as the need for pure water and good lights, securing skilled labor in every department of the home, and organizing schools of household science and services. The NHEA dissolved because the work had been incorporated into the General and State Federations of Women's Clubs and the Lake Placid Conferences. If we were to place the beginnings of the home economics in this time period, then the social context and state of women's education would be important to study in more depth as we search for the true beginnings of this profession.

Influence of the Midwest in the Founding of Home Economics

It is into this era that we need to examine the contemporaries of Ellen Richards. I think it is fair to ask ourselves this question: Isn't it strange that the purported founder was not associated with Domestic Science or Domestic Economy at a land grant institution in the Midwest, where we have observed the most explosive growth for the most part in the last eighty to ninety years? And, why did people look to the East (Lake Placid, etc.) rather than the West or Midwest where existing domestic science programs seemed to proliferate? Of course not all Midwestern schools adopted the balanced approach with Industrials. The University of Chicago and then later the University of Illinois were greatly influenced by the teachings of Ellen Richards.