Department of Domestic Economy in the Iowa Agricultural College, Ames

              DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN THE IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMES
cBy Mrs. Mary B. Welch, lecturer on domestic economy.l
The first instruction in this department was given in 1872 by a course of
lectures to the junior girls on matters connected with housekeeping. In 1877 the
trustees added a course in cooking, and provided and furnished a kitchen for the
use of the class. For the last four years, therefore, lessons in cooking have
been given to the junior class, in connection with lectures on such subjects as
house furnishing, care of the sick, care of children, management of help, dress,
&c. Physiology and domestic chemistry are carefully taught as a part of the course
in domestic economy.
In 1879 the course was further extended by the addition of sewing and laundry
work. These have been taught with fair success for two years. Many of our stu-dents,
however, have been able to pass them by examination, and it was found
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difficult to arouse the same degree of interest in either as in cooking. There
has been a steadily increasing demand for instruction in the latter, and the
course has been reorganized for this year so as to give the cooking lessons to a --
larger number of students. These lessons were formerly confined to the juniors,
on account partly of want of room in the small kitchen provided by the board, and
partly on account of lack of drill iI2_che~istry in the _prece~ing years. At the last
session of the legislature larger rooms were assigned to the department, and the
present plan arranges for progressive lessons to the freshman, sop~more, and
junior classes.
The young women of the freshman class prepare, under my instruction, the noon-day
meal for one table in the main dining hall, where two hundred students are
boarded. The housekeeper furnishes the bill of fare for the day, and sends to the
practice kitchen sufficient material for a dinner for ten persons, which is cooked
and served by the teacher and her class. Not more than five work at once, and