During spring term Dr. Kara Ritzheimer’s History 310 (Historian’s Craft) students researched and wrote blog posts about OSU during WWII. The sources they consulted are listed at the end of each post. Students wrote on a variety of topics and we hope you appreciate their contributions as much as the staff at SCARC does!

This post was written by Caitlin Patton.

In November 1942, the Oregon State Barometer published an article titled “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” which provides insight into the dietician and nutrition programs in Oregon State College’s (OSC) School of Home Economics.^[i] Further research reveals that other departments beyond Home Economics developed programs to reach the broader Corvallis and Oregon communities. These programs reflect an increase in support from doctors and the general public for nutrition research and its practical applications during the beginning of World War II. The American government worked with universities across the country, including OSC, to develop and manage numerous programs to share information on and provide support for the nutrition of both civilians and soldiers.

This November 1942 article in the Oregon State Barometer, OSC’s student-run newspaper, reported the U.S. Army had requested “1200 additional trained dieticians” and that Dean Ava B. Milam, “who heads the [home economics] school on this campus and who is the chairman of the state committee on nutrition for defense,” shared this information at a recent Faculty Triad club luncheon. The article also described new collaborative programs between the military and the school to certify graduates as dieticians faster using apprenticeship programs. It also explained that Dean Milam hoped to apply the apprenticeship model to other subjects.^[ii] This article shows how the army was attempting to recruit dieticians, but it does not explain if the army was asking for recruits directly from the home economics school at OSC or from colleges in general.^[iii]  Additionally, some quotes from Dean Milam imply that the increased recruitment of dieticians was the result of a shift in public opinion towards concern about diet for civilian workers as well as soldiers.^[iv] This article raises many questions about the forces and factors which influenced the development of the dietician program at Oregon State College.

Primary sources demonstrate the collaborative efforts of the dieticians and nutritionists within OSC’s Home Economics Department and the American government during World War II to improve the nutrition of both soldiers and civilians. Wartime articles sharing the experiences of recent OSC graduates showcased the work these dieticians were doing to help soldiers. For example, two articles from the Barometer, both printed in 1944, list several OSC graduates from the home economics department who were working as dieticians for the army.^[v] Additionally, the Oregon State Yank, a magazine for OSC alumni serving in the armed forces, published articles that recounted the experiences of graduates serving as dieticians in various military theaters. One of these articles, titled “SHE-I Observations,” named various alumni working as dieticians at Fort Lewis and McChord Field, both in Washington. One OSC-trained dietician was even working with troops stationed in England.^[vi] Another article titled “The Feminine Front” introduced readers to Roberta “Becky” Beer, a recent alum who had “answered the urgent call for dieticians.”^[vii]

Home Economics also worked with government organizations to change the nutrition habits of civilians. In 1943, Dean Milam served as chairman of the Oregon Nutrition Committee for Defense. In this position, she took an active role in organizing numerous policies and programs meant to provide nutritional information and support to American families.^[viii] As the Dean of the Home Economics School, Milam may have also been responsible for adding the class “Nutrition for National Defense” in the 1942-1943 class catalog.^[ix] A survey of prior catalogs reveals this was a new class. Although details about course content are unavailable, it’s likely that Milam and others hoped that this new course would communicate useful information to women who might one day serve in the army or whose work might support their local communities.^[x] Mabel C. Mack, an OSC graduate from the School of Home Economics also published several pamphlets with the Oregon State College Extension Service on food supply, nutrition, and management during wartime for families.^[xi] Mack had completed a PhD at OSC in 1939 and may have served on Milam’s Oregon Nutrition Committee for Defense.^[xii] These documents show how the women of the School of Home Economics contributed to the national conversation about the nutritional well-being of soldiers and civilian families.

The first page of Mabel C. Mack’s “Food to Keep You Fit,” adorned with patriotic decorations, provides information about the author and publisher. The second page of “Food to Keep You Fit” lists daily amounts for different food categories and pictures of those categories. The third page of “Food to Keep You Fit” provides readers with a recommended pattern of food categories for breakfast, dinner, and supper or lunch. The fourth and final page of “Food to Keep You Fit, lists weekly amounts of different food categories as well as an image of a red shield with the text “Defend Your Health With Protective Foods.” Available in Special Collections & Archives Research Center, hereafter referred to as SCARC, Oregon State University Libraries, Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1941), Extension Bulletin 562.

OSC’s School of Agriculture and Extension Services also played a key role in wartime food and nutrition programs. Perhaps taking a page from the School of Home Economics, faculty authored pamphlets focused on food management during the war. For example, in 1943 A. G. B. Bouquet, Professor of Vegetable Crops, printed a pamphlet on growing a vegetable garden.^[xiii] The next year, Thomas Onsdorff, an Associate Professor of Food Industries, and Lucy A. Case, a nutritionist from Extension Services, together published a guide on canning vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, and more. It also listed other resources published by OSC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that families could easily request from their County Extension Office or OSC’s Home Economics Extension Service if they wanted more information.^[xiv]

OSC and Extension Services also supported the Victory Garden Program. W. A. Schoenfeld, Dean and Director of Agriculture, presided over a conference, held in the Memorial Building on December 4^th, 1942, for representatives of local branches of the Victory Garden Program in Oregon. Some of the featured guests included economists and horticulturists from Extension Services as well as state officials.^[xv] And in an effort to share their expertise with the community, OSC faculty reached out to local schools. Professor Bouquet (noted above) developed a popular victory garden class for high school students.^[xvi] The class included a lecture that guided students on which crops would be best to grow for canning and on how to maximize the amount of produce grown in their gardens.^[xvii]

The various nutrition programs that OSC faculty developed and managed reflect a broader effort during WWII to improve nutrition for both soldiers and civilians. As the army began to draft soldiers, it also conducted surveys on the health of recruits and found that 25% of conscripts displayed symptoms of prior or recent malnutrition.^[xviii] In 1940, President Roosevelt called for a National Nutrition Conference for Defense on the grounds that “Fighting men of our armed forces, workers in industry, the families of these workers, every man and woman in America, must have nourishing food. If people are undernourished they cannot be efficient in producing what we need in our unified drive for dynamic strength.”^[xix] The first Nutrition Conference for Defense, held in 1941, stressed the importance of addressing national nutrition through programs across different levels of government, from the national down to the local.^[xx] Although the Victory Garden Program was managed at the local level, it had a great national impact: families across the country locally grew 8 million total tons of food in a single year.^[xxi] The national and state governments also developed programs such as free school lunches and food stamps to support struggling families.^[xxii] The U.S. Congress passed the Tydings Amendment in 1942, which granted farm workers an exemption from the draft so that they could continue to produce necessary foods throughout the war.^[xxiii] The U.S. Army, meanwhile, designed the dietician apprenticeship program mentioned in the 1942 Barometer article to secure nutrition support for both military and civilian hospitals.^[xxiv] University students who completed an approved course could apply to serve as an apprentice at a military or civilian hospital for six months before serving another six months at another U.S. Army hospital. The army also developed another program to recruit dieticians from unrelated undergraduate programs.^[xxv] These national nutrition programs benefited both civilians and the military greatly.

The November 1942 Barometer article “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure” reveals the important role that Oregon State College faculty and alumni played in wartime efforts to promote nutrition across the United States and in the military. The graduates of the home economics school worked with soldiers as dieticians and shared resources with civilian families. The other departments of OSC also reached out to the Oregon community with guides and education programs. The nutrition programs of Oregon State College, from the dietician apprenticeship program to the Victory Gardens Program, contributed to the national efforts to improve the nutrition of Americans at home and soldiers abroad.

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Notes:

^[i] “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” Oregon State Barometer, November 20, 1942: 1.

^[ii] “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” 1.

^[iii] “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” 1.

^[iv] “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” 1.

^[v] “Armed Services Claim Co-eds,” Oregon State Barometer, May 19, 1944: 3, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk56z; “YANKEE DOODLE DANDIES…,” Oregon State Barometer, March 7, 1944: 1, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk402.

^[vi] “SHE-I Observations,” Oregon State Yank, November 1944:14, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719t25j.

^[vii] Jayne Walters Latvala, “THE FEMININE FRONT,” Oregon State Yank, November 1944: 14, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719t25j.

^[viii] “Minutes of Meeting, Oregon Nutrition Committee for Defense,” June 25, 1943, https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww2/Documents/services-nut3.pdf.

^[ix] “Foods and Nutrition,” in Oregon State College CATALOG 1941-42 (Eugene: Oregon State Board of Higher Education, 1941), 342-345.

^[x] “Foods and Nutrition,” in Oregon State College CATALOG 1942-43 (Eugene: Oregon State Board of Higher Education, 1942), 343.

^[xi] Mabel C. Mack, “FOOD To Keep You Fit,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650 (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1941), Extension Bulletin 562; Mabel C. Mack, “Use Milk, Eggs, and Milk Products,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650 (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1941), Extension Bulletin 583; Mabel C. Mack, “Planning YOUR FAMILY”S FOOD SUPPLY,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1942), Extension Bulletin 588; Mabel C. Mack, “Planning YOUR FAMILY”S FOOD SUPPLY,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650 (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1943), Extension Bulletin 616.

^[xii] Mabel Clair Townes Mack, “A Study of the Kitchen Sink Center In Relation to Home Management,” (PhD diss., Oregon State College, 1939), 1; “Minutes of Meeting,” 1.

^[xiii] A. G. B. Bouquet, “Farm and Home VEGETABLE GARDEN,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650 (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1943), Extension Bulletin 614.

^[xiv] Lucy A. Case and Thomas Onsdorff, “Home Food Preservation by Canning * Salting,” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650 (Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1944), Extension Bulletin 642.

^[xv] “Victory Garden Heads To Convene at OSC,” Oregon State Barometer, November 25, 1942: 1, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj11d.

^[xvi] “Oregonian Features Bouquet in Editorials,” Oregon State Barometer, March 3, 1943: 1, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj59k.

^[xvii] “Victory Gardeners Hear Crop Lecture,” Oregon State Barometer, March 2, 1943: 2, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj589.

^[xviii] Karen Stein, “History Snapshot: Dietetics Student Experience in the 1940s,” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 114, no. 10 (September 22, 2014): 1648–62, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.08.001, 1652.

^[xix] “The National Nutrition Conference,” Public Health Reports (1896-1970) 56, no. 24 (1941): 1234, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4583763.

^[xx] “The National Nutrition Conference,” 1248-1249.

^[xxi] H. W. Hochbaum, “Victory Gardens in 1944: How Teachers May Help,” The American Biology Teacher 6, no. 5 (1944): 101–3. https://doi.org/10.2307/4437480, 101.

^[xxii] “The National Nutrition Conference,” 1248-1249; “Minutes of Meeting,” 1.

^[xxiii] Lizzie Collingham, The Taste of War (New York, NY: Penguin Group USA, 2012), 75–88, 78-79.

^[xxiv] “Home Ec Schools Under Pressure,” 1.

^[xxv] Stein, “History Snapshot: Dietetics,” 1650-1651.

Bibliography:

“Armed Services Claim Co-eds.” Oregon State Barometer, May 19, 1944: 3. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk56z.

Bouquet A. G. B. “Farm and Home VEGETABLE GARDEN.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 614. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1943.

Case, Lucy A. and Thomas Onsdorff. “Home Food Preservation by Canning * Salting.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 642. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1944.

Collingham, Lizzie. The Taste of War, 75–88. New York, NY: Penguin Group USA, 2012.

“Foods and Nutrition.” In Oregon State College CATALOG 1941-42, 342-345. Eugene: Oregon State Board of Higher Education, 1941.

“Foods and Nutrition.” In Oregon State College CATALOG 1942-43, 343-345. Eugene: Oregon State Board of Higher Education, 1942.

Hochbaum, H. W., “Victory Gardens in 1944: How Teachers May Help.” The American Biology Teacher 6, no. 5 (1944): 101–3. https://doi.org/10.2307/4437480.

“Home Ec Schools Under Pressure.” Oregon State Barometer. November 20, 1942: 1.

Latvala, Jayne Walters. “THE FEMININE FRONT.” Oregon State Yank, November 1944: 14. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719t25j.

Mack, Mabel C. “FOOD To Keep You Fit.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 562. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1941.

Mack, Mabel C. “Use Milk, Eggs, and Milk Products.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 583. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1941.

Mack, Mabel C. “Planning YOUR FAMILY’S FOOD SUPPLY.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 588. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1942.

Mack, Mabel C. “Planning YOUR FAMILY’S FOOD SUPPLY.” in Oregon State College Extension Service Bulletin 551-650, Extension Bulletin 616. Corvallis: Oregon State System of Higher Education, 1943.

Mack, Mabel Clair Townes. “A Study of the Kitchen Sink Center In Relation to Home Management.” PhD diss., Oregon State College, 1939.

“Minutes of Meeting, Oregon Nutrition Committee for Defense.” June 25, 1943. https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/ww2/Documents/services-nut3.pdf.

“Oregonian Features Bouquet in Editorials.” Oregon State Barometer, March 3, 1943, 1. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj59k.

Peterson, Anne, “Dietitians Seek Military Status In Army Service.” The New York Times, October 13, 1940. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1940/10/13/94840663.html?pageNumber=60.

“SHE-I Observations.” Oregon State Yank, November 1944: 14. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719t25j.

Stein, Karen.“History Snapshot: Dietetics Student Experience in the 1940s.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 114, no. 10 (September 22, 2014): 1648–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.08.001.

“The National Nutrition Conference.” Public Health Reports (1896-1970) 56, no. 24 (1941): 1233–55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4583763.

“Victory Garden Heads To Convene at OSC.” Oregon State Barometer, November 25, 1942: 1. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj11d.

“Victory Gardeners Hear Crop Lecture.” Oregon State Barometer, March 2, 1943: 2. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj589.

“YANKEE DOODLE DANDIES…” Oregon State Barometer, March 7, 1944: 1. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk402.

During spring term Dr. Kara Ritzheimer’s History 310 (Historian’s Craft) students researched and wrote blog posts about OSU during WWII. The sources they consulted are listed at the end of each post. Students wrote on a variety of topics and we hope you appreciate their contributions as much as the staff at SCARC does!

This post was written by Andrew Hare.

Oregon State University (OSU) today looks much different than it once did. Whereas now the university has a broad curriculum that includes the sciences, the liberal arts, engineering, and agriculture, there was a time, not long ago, when OSU did not, and federally could not, offer liberal arts curricula beyond basic services. When the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 designated Oregon State University to be one of seventy-six land-grant institutions, it did so with the intention of offering instruction in science, military tactics, agriculture, and engineering.[i] Additionally, in 1932 the State Board of Higher Education in Oregon determined that OSU, then known as Oregon State College (OSC), should focus predominantly on professional and technical curricula.[ii] This directive corresponded with the Oregon State System of Higher Education’s conviction that OSC not duplicate the liberal arts education offered at the University of Oregon.[iii]

The system of higher education in Oregon, alongside the rational of Oregon State College as a land-grant institution, is what prevailed until 1973 when the College of Liberal Arts officially began offering majors and degrees, ending the marginal status of liberal arts. Oregon State University did so despite more than 100 years of vocational and technical education. Such a shift in higher educational curriculum evokes the question: at what point did liberal arts curricula begin to become important and develop at Oregon State University?

One answer is found, in part, during World War II, a moment when liberal arts curricula increased to provide professional and technical students with supplementary coursework.[iv] A close study of wartime curricular changes at OSC reveals that increasing awareness of America’s international responsibilities and opportunities underscored the importance of the liberal arts. Oregon State College was not alone in this shift; many universities across the country found themselves implementing new liberal arts curricula likewise to prepare their students, illustrating a more dynamic concern for international preparation.[v]

This narrative centers on two key elements of archival documents: the yearly course catalogs the Registrar of Oregon State College published between the years 1941-1945 and the yearly curriculum coordination meetings that the university President, executive body, and Deans held during the years 1941-1945. The university publishes these course catalogs every year, and they provide information on numerous topics, including faculty numbers, course descriptions, and student enrollment (Figures 1 & 2).

The curriculum coordination meetings, meanwhile, document various proposals to change curriculum—either by adding or removing courses (Figures 3 & 4 below). Once each Dean had proposed their changes, the President, executive body, and each Dean would vote on whether to advance that change. The story of the liberal arts at Oregon State College in WWII begins in the catalogs during the years of 1944 and 1945 with the addition of new language and cultural survey courses.[vi] Further examination of the curriculum coordination meeting reveals that OSC administrators believed that courses would support students pursuing professional and technical majors.

On December 29, 1942, during one of the administration curriculum coordination meetings, Oregon State College Dean Ulysses DuBach, speaking for the Lower Division & Service Departments (now College of Liberal Arts), proposed Russian language and Russian culture be added to the university’s course offerings to address the “present world conditions,” noting “Russia will be of increasing importance” (Figures 3 & 4).[vii]

Only two years later in 1944, Oregon State College officially began offering Russian cultural studies and first/second-year Russian language courses.[viii] To instruct these new wartime courses, OSC hired four new faculty whose sole responsibility was to teach these new courses, a decision made partly to address the decrease in faculty as a result of the war.[ix] In another instance, Home Economics Dean Ava Milam relayed a story of a serviceman learning Chinese who had found work using his language skills, expressing the need for Mandarin language courses.[x] Dean Milam cited this example to champion the additional languages and expanded cultural studies at OSC.[xi] Administrators understood the necessity of liberal arts as a means of not only complimenting their students’ scientific and professional education but also preparing them to work within an increasingly globalizing world.

These instances of language and cultural studies at OSC during World War II highlight a much deeper conversation OSC administrators had throughout the war. Concerned with how to ensure that the college’s liberal arts curriculum did not overlap with the University of Oregon, but wanting to continue its development, President Strand debated with colleagues about the benefit of introducing a liberal arts associate degree, asking “would it be a good thing for Oregon State College?”[xii] Only months before, on November 4, 1943, each Dean in their respective college unanimously agreed that language arts remained a critical necessity for the future of their students’ success in technical and professional fields.[xiii] Two years later in 1945, President Strand addressed the College in his biennial report stating and reiterated the necessity of liberal arts education and the development of its presence at Oregon State College for its students.[xiv]

Across the United States, higher education universities and colleges followed a similar path of utilizing liberal arts curricula to prepare their students for an increasingly globalized world economy.[xv] As John W. Studebaker, U.S. Commissioner of Education, noted on February 13, 1942: “Isolation is gone for good in the United States.”[xvi] Studebaker made these comments not about the war effort, but about curriculum, predicting that the war would encourage more instruction on “world geography, economics, and foreign languages.”[xvii] Many universities added cultural surveys and courses about international organizations, foreign languages, foreign literature, and geographical analysis.[xviii] Additionally, institutions began offering courses in Japanese, Russian, and Mandarin, reflecting the increased presence of each nation-state participating in the war at the time.[xix]

Overall, the changes made to Oregon State College’s liberal arts curricula throughout World War II coincided with a national imperative to provide students with opportunities to succeed in a post-isolationist United States, now amidst an international community. Yet, Oregon State College remained unique in that it made such changes while attempting to fit within the designation of its Morrill Act and Oregon State Board of Higher Education vocational and professional education outlines.

The development of the liberal arts curriculum at Oregon State College throughout World War II and beyond illustrates a much broader connection the higher education institutions have with the events and necessities of the world. The introduction of Russian as a language course is only part of a much larger expectation that universities had during and after the war to address the beginning of a much more global world. Although administrators at Oregon State College attempted to not duplicate courses offered at the University of Oregon, they recognized and addressed the necessity for students to have an expanded curriculum available to them, one that would enable them to advance their goals and responsibilities after graduation. Since then, the importance of both a scientific and liberal arts education has been a foundational asset to higher education institutions. It is interesting to wonder how the curriculum of today will change to be the curriculum of tomorrow.

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[i] William Robbins, The People’s School (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2017), 1.

[ii] Robbins, The People’s School, 6.

[iii] Biennial Report of Oregon State College 1945–1946, 4-5, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 013, box 11, sub. 12.

[iv] “A Plan for Wartime,” April 26, 1942, item 60A-60F, Administrative Council Minutes 1941-1942 to 1945-1946, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 032, Box-Folder 2.4.

[v] Caroline J. Conner and Chara H. Bohan, “The Second World War’s impact on the progressive educational movement: Assessing its role,” Journal of Social Studies Research 38, no. 2 (2014): 7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssr.2013.10.003.

[vi] Oregon State College Catalog, 1943-1944, 105, 107, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Also available at https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719v945; Oregon State College Catalog, 1944-1945, 105, 107, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Also available at https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719v945.

[vii] “New Courses (Continued),” 1942-1943, item 1, Curriculum Committees Minutes 1933-1965, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, Microfilm RG 029, Reel-Folder 2.2.

[viii] Oregon State College Catalog, 1944-1945, 34, 43, 48, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Also available at https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719v945.

[ix] “Minutes of the Administrative Council Meeting,” December 15, 1943, item 56 and “Minutes of the Administrative Council Meeting,” December 15, 1941, item 9. Both available in Administrative Council Minutes 1941-1942 to 1945-1946, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 032.

[x] “Minutes of the Administrative Council,” November 4, 1943, 53, Administrative Council Minutes 1941-1942 to 1945-1946, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 032, Box-Folder 2.4.

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] “Minutes of the Administrative Council” February 2, 1944, 121, Administrative Council Minutes 1944-1945, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 032, Box-Folder 2.3.

[xiii] “Minutes of the Administrative Council,” November 4, 1943, 53, Administrative Council Minutes 1941-1942 to 1945-1946, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 032, Box-Folder 2.4.

[xiv] Biennial Report of Oregon State College 1945–1946, 1-2, SCARC, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, RG 013, box 11, sub. 12.

[xv] Virgus Ray Cardozier, Colleges and Universities in World War II (Westport: Praeger Press, 1997), 118-121.

[xvi] Macarena Solis, “Higher Education Adapts to the War,” World War 2.0, published February 13, 1942, https://blogs.shu.edu/ww2-0/1942/02/13/higher-education-takes-a-turn-in-result-of-war/.

[xvii] Ibid.

[xviii] “Changing Courses: Classes and Curriculum During WWII,” CUNY Academic Commons Archives, Brooklyn College, https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-1940s/changing-course-classes-and-curriculum-during-wwii/.

[xix] Sarah Madsen, “The Impact of World War II on Baylor University’s Course and Program Offerings,” Baylor University, May 13, 1942, University Press Release; “Departments Announce New Courses,” Baylor University, February 25, 1947, The Baylor Lariat, 1https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/the-baylor-lariat-waco-texas-vol.-48-no.-39-tuesday-february-25-1947/94438; “Ohio Includes Chinese in New War Curricula.” New York Times, Feb 1, 1942, https://www.nytimes.com/1942/02/01/archives/ohio-includes-chinese-in-new-war-curricula-more-than-60-courses.html.

During spring term Dr. Kara Ritzheimer’s History 310 (Historian’s Craft) students researched and wrote blog posts about OSU during WWII. The sources they consulted are listed at the end of each post. Students wrote on a variety of topics and we hope you appreciate their contributions as much as the staff at SCARC does!

This post was written by Aleksia Harris.

University students’ experiences during World War II were far from traditional for both young men and women. Male students trained for combat through the campus’s ROTC program, and female students continued their studies while filling in for their male peers. Oregon State University’s courses continued to enroll students in numerous areas of study such as engineering, agriculture, home economics, etc., motivating students, particularly female students, to continue a normal college education. The School of Home Economics at Oregon State University’s “General Statement” in the 1943-43 Oregon State College course catalog outlines the college’s purpose and goals for its primarily female student population.[i] While this field of study seems unbiased, program requirements reinforced gender norms that relegated women to motherhood and housekeeping which not only affected OSU students, but women across the nation.

This “General Statement” included in Oregon State University’s course catalog enforces gender roles through language, encouraging women to continually carry the burden of providing a sense of normalcy through a perilous reality. The “General Statement” is directed at their female student population; it uses feminine pronouns, thereby suggesting that this major was primarily dedicated to producing the perfect housewife. This document is found in a bound book, written on paper with presumably a typewriter, and is a fraction of the complete catalog. It is also presented in a keen condition, a consequence of the archival storage it has enjoyed at the Oregon State University Valley Library. The school’s “General Statement” promises to prepare students for “all problems of the home and family,” hinting towards a gender bias when referring to the audience because women are expected to deal with familial issues during this time.

With the obvious gendering seen in the School of Home Economics “General Statement,” many of the degrees within the school focused on family-building classes that emphasized women’s role in the home. Classes such as, “Family Relationships” and “Child Care and Training” (347-348) presumed that many Home Economics majors were preparing for a future life as housewives. The Oregon State Barometer published an article in February 1941 titled “Active Home Management Girls Practice the Arts of Housekeeping” that touched on these gender roles. This article describes female Home Economics students’ daily tasks of making breakfast, laundry, housekeeping, hosting lunches, classes, and social events. While these actions are seen as an application of learned knowledge, housekeeping skills were considered a requirement for future housewives which is emphasized through OSU’s Household Administration curriculum.

There was obvious pressure on young women to continue their education and normal everyday life during the early years of the war. Doris P. Adamson attended OSU during the war and maintained a scrapbook that provides insight into the life of young women attending OSU during 1939-1941. This scrapbook contains handouts provided by OSU detailing ‘Co-Ed Codes’, and a ‘Save Your Blushes’ pamphlet, both of which describe the ideal female students at the school through proper manners and socialization.^[ii]

Other women, particularly housewives, in Oregon, were continuously assisting in agricultural fields due to the lack of male workers being sent to the war. The photograph titled, “Housewife Special,” found on the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center website, shows women boarding a bus, with tied-up hair and hats in hand ready to work in Marion County’s bean crop.^[iii] While these women are pictured ready to work, they are still called ‘housewives’, reducing them to one simple characteristic of their identity. A 1940 Oregon State Barometer article titled; “Driving Bulk Truck on Wheat Ranch Proves Strange Occupation for a Girl” explains that Doris Crow tends to be the “only girl hauling around Pendleton” (3), making her a unique example of unusual female occupations. While many women participated in occupational or familial agriculture, gender norms during this time discounted women’s ability to enjoy “unfeminine” labor. This article is considerably newsworthy during the 1940s because young women were not imagined wanting to work in agricultural positions unless absolutely necessary.

Women across America each had unique experiences during the war yet were continuously categorized as either a housewife in training or a housewife regardless of the women’s social or economic status. The war provided numerous job opportunities for women of all ages and races, but these positions were temporary. Manufacturers hired women to keep up with the workload while men fought in the war, reminding them of their true calling in the home. Maureen Honey’s article, “The ‘Womanpower’ Campaign” notes that women were increasingly depicted as housewives rather than working women despite women’s increasing presence in the workforce, encouraged through magazine and poster ads.^[iv] These housewives were eager to aid and assist their country during the war but were expected to keep up with child-rearing and housework. The idolization of home-making during this period seemingly stems from the morale-boosting comparison between housewives and frontline soldiers leading America to victory.[v] This propaganda tactic emphasizes the idea that women’s role during the war was to protect the home front through continuing childcare and housekeeping to provide normalcy for returning soldiers.^[vi]

Further endorsing housewives to work, ADEL Manufacturing Corporation released this ad in the Saturday Evening Post in 1944 which presents a mother in factory overalls talking to her young daughter wearing similar clothing.^[vii] The ad’s subtly sexist rhetoric implies that although women worked in key wartime industries, they desired to be housewives.^[viii] The ad assured women that their time working would not be wasted on insignificant tasks, but on skills that they could later utilize around the home after the war when women would be able to return to their tasks of child care and housekeeping.^vii This ad alludes to the idea that when needed, women will work but house-making is preferred, seemingly speaking for all American women.

American women in the workforce were not uncommon in the years leading up to World War II, but the numbers rose as more men were sent overseas. Marc Miller discusses the small town of Lowell, Massachusetts in his article, “Working Women and World War II,” pointing out the major push to get more women involved in the workforce, ultimately ignoring the working-class women of this area. But as the war progressed, new job opportunities for women opened up which provided a sense of occupational agency newly instilled in working women.[ix] Miller points out the “strong ideology prohibiting women from working” (60) similar or better jobs than men, which accounted for the number of women who willingly stepped down from their wartime jobs and returned to textile factories or tending to their household chores.

Oregon State University’s Home Economics program helped perpetuate gendered expectations stemming from national pressure to continue a sense of normalcy for returning soldiers. Social norms required women to utilize their feminine characteristics to find a sense of purpose which was typically child rearing and housekeeping while men provided financial support and physical protection. As young men were sent off to war, women were urged to join the workforce and assured that the nation appreciated their patriotic work, but they were also reminded through college courses and advertisements that women’s destined occupation was as a wife and mother. All the dedication and effort women gave to support their country during unpredictable times was only met with the constant reminder that women’s place is in the home even with a staggering number of female employees participating in the workforce before and during World War II.

Works Cited

Adel Manufacturing Corporation. “Mother, when will you stay home again?” May 1944, Saturday Evening Post. https://doi.org/10.2307/3346491.

“Active Home Management Girls Practice the Art of Housekeeping.” Special Collections and Archives Research Center (hereafter SCARC), Oregon State University. Oregon State Barometer, February 25, 1941″ Oregon Digital. Accessed 2023-06-07. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p570g.

Ava Milam, Frances Alexander. “Household Administration,” Oregon State College Course Catalog. Oregon State University SCARC. 1942-43. 347-349. Doris P. Adamson Scrapbook, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, SCARC, 1939-42. MSS Adamson.

“Driving Bulk Truck on Wheat Ranch Proves Strange Occupation for Girl.” OSU SCARC, Oregon State University. Oregon State Barometer, February 1, 1940, Oregon Digital. Accessed 2023-06-01. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p413n.

“General Statement,” School of Home Economics. Oregon State College Course Catalog, 1942-43. SCARC. 333.

Honey, Maureen. “The ‘Womanpower’ Campaign: Advertising and Recruitment Propaganda during World War II.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 6, no. 1/2 (1981): 50–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/3346491.

“Housewife Special,” SCARC. Oregon State University. Oregon Digital. Accessed 2023-05-30. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df70cm12f

Miller, Marc. “Working Women and World War II.” The New England Quarterly 53, no. 1 (1980): 42–61. https://doi.org/10.2307/365288.  

“Student Home Ec. Mentors,” SCARC. Oregon State Barometer, February 25, 1941″ Oregon Digital. Accessed 2023-06-07. https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p570g.

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[i] “General Statement,” School of Home Economics, Oregon State Course Catalog 1942-43, Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center (hereafter SCARC), 333.

ⁱⁱ Doris P. Adamson Scrapbook, Oregon State University SCARC, MSS Adamson.

^[iii]  “Housewife Special, Oregon State University SCARC website, https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df70cm12f.

^[iv] Maureen Honey, “The Womanpower’ Campaign: Advertising and Recruitment Propaganda  during World War II,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 6, no. 1/2 (1981): https://doi.org/10.2307/3346491. 50.

[v] Honey, “The Womanpower Campaign,” .

^[vi] Honey, “The Womanpower Campaign,” 53.

^[vii] Adel Manufacturing Corporation. “Mother, when will you stay home again?” https://doi.org/10.2307/3346491.

^[viii] Adel Manufacturing Corporation. “Mother, when will you stay home again?” https://doi.org/10.2307/3346491.

[ix] Marc Miller, “Working Women and World War II,” The New England Quarterly 53, no. 1 (1980), 57. https://doi.org/10.2307/365288.