Domestic Science.
Although part of the same program, Domestic Science and Domestic Art
each had slightly different goals and purposes. Domestic Science offered training and
instruction in those special subjects needed in the daily administration of every home. This
meant the proper selection and the best methods of preparing food "to the most healthful and
pleasing manner of living." It included cookery, laundry-work, household science, emergencies,
home-nursing, and public and private hygiene.
In cookery, students learned to prepare cereals, vegetables, breads, meats, soups,
desserts, etc., with the preparation of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In laundry-work, they
obtained experience with the various qualities of soaps, starches, washing fluids, bleaching
powders and bluings, as well as a knowledge of their chemical actions. Household science and
hygiene covered sanitation of the person and the home; emergencies and home-nursing taught
the care and treatment of ills due to unsanitary conditions, accidents, and many other kinds of
sickness.
Domestic Art.
Domestic Art, on the other hand, taught areas that were more of a comfort than a
necessity. As the condition of living depends so much on the application of those principles
studied in Domestic Science, so the pleasures and comforts of a healthy body were enhanced by
the application of those principles found under the head of Domestic Art, as the proper
decoration of the person: fancy sewing, dressmaking, and millinery.
The 1902 &iBulletin described these in a charming way.
Sewing comprised the various kinds of stitches used in hand sewing, including patching and darning. The use and
care of the sewing machine was introduced followed by the drafting, fitting, and making of the simplest clothing.
As dressmaking was a continuation of the sewing: drafting, tracing, and cutting of the close-fitting garments, the
student had to have the ability to originate and make tasteful garments. Further talks were given on hygiene,
selection of fabrics, and on harmony of color in dress.
The aim of millinery was to give instruction leading to the cultivation of the artistic taste in the student,
both as to color and design, in order that it could be applied in a skillful and artistic manner in the manufacture of
pleasing headgear. The dexterity in the making and arrangements of bows and the harmonious treatment of colors
were to be acquired by constant practice and competent criticism. This practice work was executed upon hat
frames using colored cotton and flannel to represent the customary silks and ribbons. The student finally had to
make a hat or bonnet from an original design drawn and colored beforehand.
A special two-year course in Home Science was established for those preparing to teach
it in the public schools. In addition to subjects considered daily in the care of the home, it also
required course work taken with students enrolled in other courses: English, German or French,
chemistry, sociology, economics, plus all the regular courses given in the department of Home
Economics. These included textiles, laundering, dietaries, foods and their manufacture and
production, home sanitation, home nursing, physiology and personal hygiene, plain sewing,
drafting, and dressmaking, basketry, and bacteriology.
Like all other students, these students also had to write a thesis. For example, for her
certificate in Home Economics in 1904, Nina Louise Meery of Ogdensburg wrote a thesis on
A
Model Kitchen
, and Mary Frances Signor of Ridgway, Penn., wrote one on
The Effect of High
Temperatures on Food;
she went on to become the supervisor of Domestic Science and Art at
the Marquette High and Manual Training School in Marquette, Mich.
Students in both Domestic Science and Domestic Art took science and art classes in
each semester. Following is the two-year course outline for the domestic science and art
curriculum, as it is outlined in the
First Circular of Information
.
