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North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: Photo 2017

Scope and Contents

The photographs and slides in the North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council collection were accessioned as part of the initial records deposit by the North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council. The records were processed as Manuscript 275. The visual images document the people and activities of the council spanning from the 1940s to the 1980s. The images have been organized into three series: People, Exhibitions, and Events. The copy photographic prints and copy slides related to the council’s Oral History Project Memories of North Dakota Homemakers, that were accessioned as part of this collection, were incorporated into Photograph Collection 2079 which contains all photographs collected for this particular project. Many of the images appear in the three-book series published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The People Series includes group photographs of the attendees at the council’s annual meetings from 1943 to 1968 as well as group photographs of the annual officers. These were removed from a three-ring binder, with the original chronological order retained. In addition there are other group images some identified as to the people but not the event. The EFNEP Annual Conference images likely are the North Dakota representatives at the event. There is a series of six portraits of Grace DeLong of the NDSU Extension Service who worked closely with the council. There are also several miscellaneous portraits with only Sue Fowler identified. The Exhibitions Series includes images of exhibits and displays done by the North Dakota Agricultural College Home Demonstration Work and individual homemakers clubs across the state. The displays usually have a theme related to homemakers or homemaking. Those dated have been organized chronologically; the others by broad time periods. Images 47-62 date from the 1970s-1980s and are color snapshots. The Events Series begins with group photographs of the North Dakota delegates to the National Home Extension Homemakers Council. The images from the North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council meetings include audience and program shots as well as individuals receiving awards. There is a series of snapshots taken at NDSU in 1978 when chair covers were presented to Gov. and Mrs. Art Link. They had been designed by various North Dakota artists and portrayed various scenes from across North Dakota. The covers were to be used on the chairs used in the formal dinning area of the Governor’s residents in Bismarck. There is a snapshot of Bonnie Consolo with a group of women when she spoke at NDSU in 1980. Elizabeth Lorenz of Germany apparently came to study at NDSU in 1949 and likely was sponsored by or became involved with the homemakers council. This study program was coordinated by the Committee on Friendly Relations among Foreign Students headquartered in New York City. After her return to Germany she continued to maintain contact with council members and sent back photographs of herself, husband and children. This file includes a print of a group of students including Miss Lorenz on board the S.S. Ernie Pyle on their arrival in New York harbor, taken in 1949. The photographs from Germany, from the mid-1950s, are all identified on the back. She married a Heinrich Boege. They also appear to include images of her parents and siblings.

Dates

  • 1940 - 1980

Creator

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

Copyrights to images in this collection are held by the Institute or with the creators.

History

Although the North Dakota Extension Homemakers' Council was not organized on the state level until the 1940s, the beginning of extension home demonstration work in North Dakota began much earlier. In 1913 Mildred M. Veitch was hired to assist farm wives in "the elimination of drudgery without material increase in cost." The early 1920s saw the organization of homemakers clubs across the state with the assistance of the Extension Service's home demonstration agents. By 1930 there were 419 clubs and a total membership of 7,116 women. Although discussions had been held regarding organizing a state homemakers council, a formal meeting was held at the NDAC Farm and Home Week on February 10, 1941. After discussions and voting held by county councils, meetings were held on February 11-12, 1942 to formally organize the North Dakota Homemakers' Council. By the 1970s it also became known as the North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council, and was incorporated in 1979. The homemakers council became the largest women's organization in North Dakota. Apparently in 1992, the council changed its name to North Dakota Association for Family and Community Education, its current name. The Homemakers' Council served as a broad unit that assisted individual homemakers' clubs at the state and county level. The council provided home demonstration leaders for use at the county and local level. The county home demonstration leaders were usually women who worked with a male county extension agent. As the county extension agent provided information and assistance to farmers, the home demonstration leader did the same for the farmer's wife. This provided a well rounded government service organization that supported family farms. The Homemakers' Council sought to ease the homemakers' lives as well as improve their standard of living and aid in financial planning. The demonstration leaders developed economical food supply projects such as growing garden vegetables and canning and preserving the produce. Other projects included making your own clothing and economical methods for decorating and improving your house. Do-it-yourself projects, such as remodeling your own kitchen, were popular among the homemakers' clubs. The homemakers' clubs and the state council were not only involved in baking and sewing. Many issues discussed at annual meetings included controversial community and human interest issues such as the quality of care patients received at the State Hospital in Jamestown, providing proper immunizations to their families, and how much violence children were exposed to through the media (such as television, magazines, and comic books).

Extent

194 Photographic Prints (194 photographic prints.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Provenance

Donated by North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council, 1994 (Acc. 2345).

Property rights

The Institute for Regional Studies the property rights to this collection.

Subjects

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding Aid to the North Dakota Extension Homemakers Council Photograph Collection
Description rules
Rda
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository

https://library.ndsu.edu/ndsuarchives/collections/institute-regional-studies-archive-collection
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States

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