University Archives Photograph Collection, Home Demonstration Work Photographs 1910-1976

Summary
Contents
Names/subjects
Using these materials
Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.
Creator
North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service
Size
3 linear feet (8 albums (549 photographic prints; 1009 slides); 34 x 31 cm. + 1 box (92 negatives))
Call number
UA 023.009

Photographs of people, activities, events, exhibitions, and programs related to home demonstration work in North Carolina from 1910 to 1976.

Home demonstration, part of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension service, sought to provide better conditions in farm homes through adult education by demonstration, and North Carolina was one of five Southern states where it originated. It grew to over 65,000 women organized in 2,500 clubs throughout all of North Carolina's 100 counties by the mid-1960s, and in 1995 it became the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Biographical/historical note

Organized home demonstration work among rural women in North Carolina started when I. O. Schaub, director of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, appointed Jane S. McKimmon State Home Demonstration Agent in 1911.

A pioneer in home demonstration work, McKimmon headed the program until 1937. Ruth Current succeeded her and directed the program for three decades afterward. In 1958, Current was named assistant director of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service in charge of home economics programs. Both women achieved national recognition for their work.

Home demonstration was part of the Agricultural Extension Service at North Carolina State College, which was conducted in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. It sought to provide better conditions in farm homes through adult education by demonstration, and North Carolina was one of five Southern states where it originated. It grew from 416 women in 14 counties when it started to over 65,000 women organized in 2,500 clubs throughout all of North Carolina's 100 counties by the mid-1960s. In 1995 it became the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Scope/content

Chiefly black-and-white photographic prints, 8 x 10 in. or smaller, documenting the people, activities, events, exhibitions, and programs related to home demonstration work in North Carolina from its beginnings to the mid-1970s. Some photographs were taken by home demonstration agents, professional photographers, and staff photographers from North Carolina State College's Department of Visual Aids, and some were produced by the United States Department of Agriculture's Extension Service and the Office of War Information. Many photographers are not identified.

The collection includes portraits and group portraits of county agents, specialists, and club members; State Home Demonstration Agents Jane S. McKimmon and Ruth Current; views of club meetings, facilities, tours, award presentations, demonstrations, and displays; African American participation in home demonstration work; national and state Home Economics Association meetings, Farm and Home Week, and the North Carolina State Fair; early curb markets, canning demonstrations, "Milk for Health" campaigns, and World War II scrap drives; slides from various activities.

Arrangement

The collection is organized by format: photographic prints, negatives, and slides. Arrangement is by University Archives Photograph Collection subject classification.

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], University Archives Photograph Collection, Home Demonstration Work Photographs, UA 023.009, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Alternative form available

Related material

Source of acquisition

Created by University Archives from various sources.

Processing information

Processed by Elizabeth Preston and Robert Burton, 2004 December; slides processed by Mary von der Heide, 2006 June

Encoded by Craig Breaden, 2005 October; Mary von der Heide, 2006 June

Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.
Negatives (UA 023.009.001)

Includes both negatives corresponding to various photographic prints in the collection and some negatives without corresponding prints.

Box 1
Proofs (UA 023.009.002)
Box 1
Ruth Current and Jane S. McKimmon (UA 023.009.011)

Includes photographs by Jay Seymour Studios (New York, N.Y.) of Jane S. McKimmon posing with her successor Ruth Current, Academy Award winning actress Jane Darwell, and others while in New York for the radio dramatization of her life story, "When We're Green We Grow," on NBC's "Cavalcade of America.

National and state meetings (UA 023.009.031)

Includes photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt during her appearance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1953 to speak at a conference.

World War II (salvage and scrap drives) (UA 023.009.034)

Three series of photographs produced by the United States Office of War Information probably used by Home Demonstration agents to illustrate how club members could contribute to the war effort by salvaging fats and collecting tin cans and discarded nylon stockings.

Album 3
Food. General (UA 023.009.040)
Milk campaigns (UA 023.009.044)

Promotional photographs, most probably produced by the United States Department of Agriculture in the 1920s, promoting the regular consumption of milk and the use of milk as a food, especially for children. Includes a portrait of Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson drinking a bottle of milk.

Health and safety. General (UA 023.009.050)
Health and safety. Demonstrations and programs (UA 023.009.052)
Textiles and clothing. General (UA 023.009.060)
Textiles and clothing. Exhibitions and displays (UA 023.009.061)
Housing and furnishings. General (UA 023.009.070)

Subjects include home improvement, furnishings, gardens, and handicraft.

Home and family. General (UA 023.009.080)

Subjects include home management (economics), etiquette, housework, and domestic life.

Home and family. Demonstrations and programs (UA 023.009.082)
Home Demonstration work. General ca. 1940s, 1970s (UA 023.009.000)

Slides of home demonstration work.

45 slides

Album 7
Home Demonstration clubs. General 1952-1969 (UA 023.009.020)

Slides related to activities of Home Demonstration clubs in several North Carolina counties.

40 slides

Album 7
Home Demonstration work. Events ca. 1953 (UA 023.009.030)

Slides showing events sponsored by Home Demonstration. The first set of slides are from a reception in honor of Governor William Kerr Scott, including several slides of Governor Scott and his wife (43 slides). The second set of slides depict a talent show, in which women display skills they have learned (99 slides).

142 sildes

Home Demonstration work. Food. General 1950-1970 (bulk 1967, 1970) (UA 023.009.040)

15 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. Food. Demonstrations 1950s (UA 023.009.042)

9 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. Health and Safety. General 1970 (UA 023.009.050)

5 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. Textiles and clothing. General 1970 (UA 023.009.060)

1 slide

Album 8
Home Demonstation work. Housing and furnishings. Exhibitions 1965 (UA 023.009.071)

1 slide

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. Housing and furnishings. Demonstrations 1965 (UA 023.009.072)

5 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. Home and family. General 1960s (bulk 1967) (UA 023.009.080)

Includes 133 slides from a home and family slide show.

176 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. National and state meetings (UA 023.009.031)

Slides from State Week in 1953.

95 slides

Album 8
Home Demonstration work. People 1949-1967 (bulk 1967) (UA 023.009.010)

25 slides

Album 7
Home Demonstration clubs. Music 1954, 1970 (UA 023.009.026)

Contains mostly slides of the Catawba Music Workshop and Music Training School in 1954.

32 slides

Album 7
Home Demonstration work. Slide presentation on history of Extension Homemakers 1920s-1980 (UA 023.009.090)

A collection of slides that may have been gathered for the Extension Homemakers 60th Anniversary and includes highlights of Dr. Eloise Cofer's term.

369 slides

Album 9
Home Demonstration clubs. Tours (UA 023.009.024)

Slides from the Associated Country Women of the World meeting in Toronto, Canada in 1953. At the beginning of the series are two typed sheets describing the slides.

59 slides

Album 7
Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.

Access to the collection

This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to digital files may require additional advanced notice.

For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.

Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111

Phone: (919) 515-2273

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], University Archives Photograph Collection, Home Demonstration Work Photographs, UA 023.009, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.