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Catharine Beecher writes the Treatise on Domestic Economy. She was instrumental in promoting equal access to education for women.
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The first association in the U.S., Ladies Christian Association, was formed in New York City.
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Morrill Land Act is passed. This act donated public lands to the several states and territories which provided colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts.
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Kansas State Agricultural College offers women’s higher education for the first time. They played a pioneering role in the field of Domestic Science
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Ellen Richards receives her second Bachelor of Science degree from MIT, the first woman to do so. She also received a Master’s Degree from Vassar on the basis of a thesis she submitted on the chemical analysis of iron ore.
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Winthrop School in Boston appointed the first sewing teacher.
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The Women’s Laboratory opened with Professor John M. Ordway in charge, assisted by Ellen Richards.
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Ellen Richards published her first book, The Chemistry for Cooking and Cleaning: A Manual for Housekeepers. She describes the science behind baking bread, cooking nutritious meals, and other topics for a housekeeper of her day.
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Ellen Richards conducted the Great Sanitary Survey, the groundbreaking study of water pollution in Massachusetts that modernized sewage treatment and developed the first water purity tables and water quality standards.
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The Hatch Act is passed, establishing agricultural experiment areas in accordance to the Morrill Land Act. This act provided $15,000 a year for state established agricultural experiment stations.
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The Second Morrill Act passed in response to the discrimination of black students, providing further funding for black student colleges.
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The Rumford Kitchen at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This kitchen showed the application of the principles of domestic science.
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American Public-School Lunch. Ellen Richards and Edward Atkinson started them in Boston high schools. They did it as a private enterprise.
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The first Lake Placid conference was held. Attendees eventually create the American Home Economics Association.
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The first girls’ tomato club (4-H) organized by Marie Cromer a teacher, through Agricultural Extension. She organized them after learning of boys’ corn clubs.
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The American Home Economics Association is established. It became the most influential professional society for home economics.
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The Smith-Lever Act is passed, establishing a national Cooperative Extension Service. This was done to educate rural Americans about advances in agriculture and home economics.
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Smith-Hughes Act, provided federal aid to the states to promote precollegiate vocational education in agricultural and industrial trades and in home economics.
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Save the Wheat! Help the Fleet! As part of the war effort, home economists teach the nation food conservation in the home. They taught about food substitution and preservation. The goal was to properly provision the Allied armies.
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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, giving women the right to vote, is ratified.
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A Home Economic section is added to the American Association of Land-Grant Colleges
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Louise Stanley is appointed the first head of the USDA Bureau of Home Economics.
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Child care is recognized as a part of the home economics curriculum.
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The Betty Lamp is adopted as the official symbol and logo of the American Home Economics Association
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Food Corporations hire home economists to create recipes and provide nutritional information.
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The WOI Homemaker’s Half-hour radio show begins broadcasting with Margaret Haggert at the microphone.
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Agnes Faye Morgan, chair of the Department of Home Economics at University of California, Berkeley, is appointed to serve on President Roosevelt’s First Nutrition Congress
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The USDA Bureau of Home Economics becomes the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics reflecting its more intense focus on nutrition.
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Florence Wilkinson Low sets out to eliminate racial tension in the AHEA. Since the 1940s minorities could only be members-at-large. She changed the by-laws, eliminating segregation in membership and allowing minorities leadership potential.
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James Hood and Vivian Malone became the first two black students to enroll successfully at the University of Alabama, defying Gov. George C. Wallace Jr.’s “stand in the schoolhouse door.”
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The Vocational Education Act of 1963 provided grants to states for vocational-technical education programs. The funds were targeted for occupations in demand.
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Vocation Education Act amended to include those with special educational handicaps or disadvantages.
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The Eleventh Lake Placid Conference is held to address the future of the field of home economics. Focus was shifted from home and family to the ecosystem of humans and their environment.
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The AHEA launched Project 2000. The goals were to address the issue of the minorities in the field. Guidelines were adopted and strategies put in place to help with their needs.
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Cornell University sponsors "Rethinking Women & Home Economics in the 20th Century hoping to bring together the perspectives of women's historians, home economics educators and home economists.
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New York Times Article "Where the Boys Are: Home Ec" was printed, promoting home economics for men.
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American Home Economics Association becomes American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences
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First Lake Bonneville Summit held at BYU-Idaho to commemorate the history of Family Consumer Sciences and to generate positive FCS networks in the Southeast Idaho area.
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100 years of American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences. Celebrations are held across the nation.
