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Domestic sciences at Bradley Polytechnic Institute and The University of Chicago
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Autumn 2002 by Collins, Nina
Even when Ellen Richards came to colleges of the Midwest, her visits were not always officially listed as visits with the Domestic Science faculty. When she visited Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, Illinois, in February of 1899 (before the Lake Placid Conferences began) Ellen Richards was listed as an instructor of chemistry at MIT as she lectured to the arts and sciences at Bradley" However, if one had read her name in the Peoria and school newspapers, one would never have known that she was even associated with Domestic Sciences. The publication surrounding her visit to Bradley never mentioned her association or interest in Domestic Science, which had been an integral part of Bradley's polytechnic beginnings with Nellie Kedzie. However, Nellie Kedzie spoke of Ellen Richard's visit to Peoria fondly in one of her radio programs over the Wisconsin airwaves in 1933 that was devoted wholly to Ellen Richards. She stated that she first met her on a summer vacation in the state of Maine. Speaking about this first meeting with Ellen Richards she stated, "Mrs. Richards was interested because I came from the far west (Kansas), and in short order we became well acquainted. We talked about what I was trying to do in College classes, instructing girls in the management of their future homes. Their problem was to make the least expenditure of time, energy and money to get the best results. Mrs. Richards and I sat on boulders down by the river and talked over the problems of teaching what was then called 'domestic economy' in a western college. ... I remember with what pleasure she listened to the stories of our work in the Kansas College where I was teaching. She was particularly appreciative of some of the ways in which the work had been made popular. ... Mrs. Richards was especially appreciative of the plan to unite the study of Entomology or Geology with the cooking laboratory. ... Over and over Mrs. Richards would say, 'Do the girls like it? Will they be happier when they go to keep house in their own homes? Do they understand what food will do for them?' ... Among the delightful memories of Mrs. Richards is that of her visit to me when I was teaching in Bradley Polytechnic Institute. Eight members of our faculty carried on cooperative housekeeping. Mrs. Richards was greatly interested to spend the weekend in our establishment to see how we ran it. ... When Mrs. Richards left us, she said, 'you people are on the right track. Simple, happy comradeship and getting rid of our every day drudgery will transform the world."' Thus we know that much of that weekend Ellen Richards spent at Bradley was with Nellie Kedzie and Domestic Science, but officially she was billed as part of Arts and Sciences.
Domestic Economy or Science and home economics served different audiences in the western states than was served in eastern schools and were developed from different philosophies as the budding discipline perhaps was perceived as serving different audiences. As we look at domestic economy or domestic science programs in existence in the late 1800s, we see a pattern emerging. Virginia Gunn in her writings concerning "Strong Womanly Women who shaped the Western Home Economics Movement" describes the western approach as a "balanced approach." Industrial courses taught practical and applied work as an application of science and art. Kedzie and many western schools taught sewing and cooking as an industrial, balanced with lectures concerning nutrition, budgeting, table service, manners, and the production and marketing of food. Chemistry was a prerequisite for foods courses that allowed the integration of subject matter between departments. Land grant institutions such as Ohio State, North Dakota, and Iowa followed much of the same model presented by Kedzie at Kansas State and later in Illinois at Bradley. As teachers went out from schools following the Industrials model, the plan under which they were taught was implemented in secondary schools and colleges where new programs were being founded. This approach was followed more than 100 years ago at Bradley Polytechnic Institute.
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