Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation

Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation is a series of cooking class leaflets created by the School District of Philadelphia. The book was used in a Home Economics class in Philadelphia and published in 1942. It contains recipes and instructions for cleaning, caring, and cooking. While the textbook itself is generic and mass produced, this particular copy was owned by a female student, Edith Fineberg and contains notes, recipes, and doodles within the pages and on the covers. The book is full of her personality and becomes a beautiful view into the past. It shows how young girls were taught to be members of society and the expectations placed on them from a young age.

Background

Home Economics

Home economics originated in the early 1900s as part of a movement aimed at preparing young women for new professional jobs by equipping them with basic skills like cooking, cleaning, and home care. The course was created as a form of science. Female students wore lab coats and were taught necessary skills that could help them procure a wide range of jobs in the future. The Federal Bureau of Home Economics was erected around the same time. The government organization helped teach women during the war how to cook with limited food supplies, had an advice radio show, published recipes, and taught about food and nutrition. There was a focus in American culture that the home could contribute to social change. Managing a properly fed and cared for nuclear family was a way in which young women could have a powerful effect on the future generation. Though a major shift happened in the 1950s that highlighted the growing conformist and repressive culture of the times. The home economics field became a prime example for feminists in the 1960s of sexist, inhibitory culture and as a result, the field is no longer studied or taught.

Chef Fritz Blank

The textbook was donated to the Penn Library in 2008 by Chef Fritz Blank, in the largest donation of cookbooks the library has received. Chef Fritz owned a famous restaurant in Philadelphia called Deux Cheminees, one of the first high-end restaurants in Philadelphia. It was opened in 1979 and it brought classic French style cooking to the growing Philadelphia restaurant scene. The restaurant was located in two conjoined townhouses decorated to feel cozy and homey. On display in the restaurant was Chef Fritz’s cookbook collection. Chef Fritz was very interested in teaching children. He would go to Philadelphia schools and run cooking classes. One of the many cookbooks in his collection was Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation. Though the book appears to be very generic, as there are thousands of copies of this specific textbook. This one is special.

The Textbook

Structure

Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation was bound by W. Newkirk. Indented into the front cover is “BOUND BY W. NEWKIRK 186 W. NEDRO AVE. PHILA, PA” (Figure 1). After extensive research, information on W. Newkirk was hard to come by. Though the address listed on the cover, 186 W. Nedro Ave, was home to the Newkirk family in the 1940s. It’s inconclusive whether Newkirk ran exclusively a book binding business, or if he bound books in addition to other jobs. The book itself is bound for durability. The front and back cover are likely sturdy cardboard able to endure years of being shoved into book bags, held by children and worn down. These textbooks were designed for practical, functional use by a schoolchild, it was not designed for leisure reading. They are not beautiful, and they are certainly not expensive. The books were produced as cheaply as possible. There are three thick staples holding together the pages. Nothing could be more generic than government issued textbooks.

Content

The book is broken up into 40 separate sections. The sections are laid out on the first page of the book in green-colored text—one of the only two pages with color in the book. There is no title page, just a list of each section and their page number (Figure 5). The first eleven sections are labeled A-L while the subsequent 29 are labeled 1-29. Sections A-L include titles such as “Housekeeping Practice,” “Cleaning Practice,” and “Baby Care.” These sections are quite informative and give a clear set of rules for those to follow. For example, in “Food for the Sick,” there are lists of appropriate foods and their best preparations, a “rules for serving” section, and a continuation of do’s and don’ts. The format is largely based on strict rules, instructions that are clear and easy to follow. Though, the textbook is full of commands, rather than recommendations. Textbook lines include: “Avoid discussing food in the presence of the patient and do not ask the patient what she wants.” The Philadelphia public school system is pushing these strict opinions on massive amounts of students. Home economics is one example of a large-scale project that aimed at changing the way young girls think and learn. The forcefulness of these lessons shows just how powerful textbooks can be.

The numbered sections are recipes. The organization of the recipes is a bit peculiar. It begins with basics, breads, and breakfasts but scatters random sections like “cereal” and “cake” in seemingly random sections of the book. The recipes are very simple and easy to follow. This textbook was probably made for middle school students considering the simplicity of the recipes. It is a starting point for cooking and teaches many basics that one can carry with them.

Edith Fineberg

There are a number of scribbles and notes in the book. Most notably, the front inside cover has the name Edith Fineberg and her address 5810 Rodman St. Philadelphia, PA (Figure 2). The name and address is written twice. Underneath her name, Edith wrote “Edith loves him” and scribbled that section 10 has sugar cookies. Edith lived in West Philly, in the 1940s a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Philadelphia. Other sparks of Edith’s personality shine through the book. She scribbled-in-pencil her own recipe in her own chapter, number “29 ½”—for “Italian Spaghetti” (Figure 6). There is another recipe for “Hamburg Stew” and one for “Peach Short Cake.” These recipes don’t appear elsewhere in the book. Maybe they were taught to her by her teacher or maybe she had assignments to bring in or create her own recipes. On the back of leaflet 5, Vegetables, you can see her notes or an activity from the class. Edith organized different vegetables into the categories roots, leaves, stems, seeds, and tubers. She also scribbled the notes, “1. Vitamins 2. Minerals 3. Roughage.” It’s amazing to see a student of a 1940s home economics course brought to life through her interactions with a textbook.

Significance

Overall, the Home Economics Textbook is a reflection on the past, on the role of young women and wives in the 1940s and the expectations placed upon them from a young age. Home economics raises a question that remains relevant to this day. What role should the government and public school systems play in teaching young children basic skills and “non-academic” lessons? If lessons such as these aren’t the governments responsibility, then where are children expected to learn it? Are we not placing yet another unfair advantage on students who don’t have stable homes or those whose parents don’t have the time to teach them skills such as cooking, cleaning, and changing a tire. In the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, anti-home economics sentiment grew and the course is nearly completely extinct. But is the abolishment of home economics really the answer? Or should public education be considering a reinstatement of “home economics” in a non-gendered format where all students are taught a form of both “home ec” and “shop?”

Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation gives us a look into the life of a young student and the expectations placed on girls in the 1940s to be caretakers and wives. It makes us think about the implications of mass produced documents and the reach they have. And it makes us contemplate our own current education system and understand how it has changed throughout history. Finally, Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation reminds us that even in cheap, popular, mass produced documents, you can still find something special and marginalia often tells a completely new story than the one stamped into the pages.