Anna Kelton Wiley Papers. Homemaker-Consumer Life in Washington, D.C., 1922-23.

PREVIOUS

NEXT

Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929

Anna Kelton Wiley Papers. Homemaker-Consumer Life in Washington, D.C., 1922-23.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
1922 1923

SUMMARY
The folder, originally titled "Housekeepers' Alliance 1922-23," contains a mix of personal and promotional letters, association program and meeting announcements, activist literature, reports, advertisements, and magazine articles that focus on housewife and consumer issues in Washington, D.C., in 1922 and 1923. Pivotal is Mrs. Wiley's membership in the Housekeepers' Alliance and other women's groups fighting on consumers' behalf for food safety and sanitation. Documents include an illustrated fable, "Complaint of a Loaf of Bread," that anthropomorphizes a loaf of bread that, because it lacks a wrapper, is exposed to dogs' sniffing and sick children's sneezing. An article about President Coolidge's bread preferences, "Coolidge, Champion of Wholewheat Bread, Urging its Use," which appeared in Washington's Evening Star newspaper, also mentions Anna Kelton Wiley's husband, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, "for many years chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture and author of the pure food law, [who] swears by whole wheat bread." Fur and the killing of animals to make women's fur garments was another hotly contested issue. The activist literature Mrs. Wiley preserved includes pamphlets, photographs, and poems about cruelty to animals (a poem with the title "To a Fur Scarf"), produced for the Anti- Steel Trap League. A promotional letter to Mrs. Wiley from the service department of a women's and misses' apparel company offers to present to clubs and schools, without charge, a series of talks and demonstrations intended to educate consumers on such subjects as "What to Wear and When to Wear It," "Line and Color in Dress," and "Dressing on a Budget." A November 13, 1923, report details "Suggestions for Program Committee of Homemakers Section, D.C. Home Economics Association," including questions to be asked of Washington, D.C., residents in an "urgently needed" household budget questionnaire; the advisability of inaugurating a Buyers' Forum that would secure "experts in different lines to advise us as homemakers on the buying of china and . . . other lines of house furnishings"; an account of time studies reported by homemakers; and the desirability of having "home testers" to try out different recipes and household devices. A flyer for National Thrift Week, an "activity of the Young Men's Christian Association's program to help young men and boys to think straight on money matters," includes a list of "Ten Financial Commandments to Help the Individual in the Business of Making a Life." An advertising brochure for American Security and Trust Company, entitled "A Duty to Daughters," urges fathers to provide for a daughter "resources of her own which will buy and maintain a home . . . whether she be married or unmarried." An undated Springfield, Mass., newspaper story, "Industrial Arts Exhibits Attract Attention at Fair," covers talks by leaders in a rural setting in the field of "home culture," as well as expositions of "how to furnish the home" and "how to arrange the kitchen most conveniently for the saving of steps and labor, [and] the best equipment for that kitchen." Planning and publicity documents show that a Home Budget Bureau, cosponsored by the Housekeepers' Alliance and the Home Economics Department of the D.C. Federation of Women's Clubs, was to be instituted as a free service to local homemakers and to be open for consultation in Washington's Commercial National Bank for two hours daily. Selections reproduced as facsimile page images: 38 of 90 pages.

SUBJECTS
Bread industry.
Fur trade.
Saving and investment.
Home economics.
Retail trade
Young Men's Christian associations.
Consumer protection.

MEDIUM
0038

CALL NUMBER
Container 265 Folder: Housekeepers' Alliance 1922-23

PART OF
Anna Kelton Wiley Papers

DIGITAL ID
amrlm mk03 urn:hdl:loc.mss/amrlm.mk03 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/amrlm.mk03

PREVIOUS NEXT NEW SEARCH