The New Student's Reference Work/Domestic Art

Domestic Art, a subject of study to which the attention of teachers has been directed principally during the last decade, is usually held to include the various household industries and such art-work as may be applied in the home. There, however, is no reason in the nature of the term, why all the branches of domestic economy, including cooking, hygiene, nursing, etc., should not be included under domestic art. At present it is customary to speak of the latter group of studies as domestic science, an unfortunate distinction of terms. Let us first consider domestic art in its narrowest conventional meaning. Its field is large still, including, as it does, the place of the household-arts in the development of society with reference not only to their present but to their primitive conditions and the process of their evolution. Domestic art takes into account the place of the work of women in society and the artistic and scientific preparation which is desirable for the due fulfilment of that work. A college-course in domestic-art may include such technical subjects as braiding, netting, basketry, weaving and sewing, with the attendant dyeing and cleansing of textiles, drafting, pattern-modeling, dress-making, millinery and embroidery. It may also include the development of household-manufactures, such as textiles, with their cultural and economic effects; household-art, economics, organization and management; and art-work, for the purpose of cultivating taste and skill in designing for these crafts. This list is taken from the course in domestic art at Teachers’ College, New York, where fundamental courses in educational psychology, history and principles and allied courses in domestic science, English, geography, history, manual training and mathematics are also offered to students of domestic art.

Domestic science, which may be regarded as essentially one subject with domestic art, includes certain scientific studies in biology, physiology, hygiene and household chemistry; technical studies in the nature, production, manufacture and manipulation of foods; household-mechanics and sanitation, laundering, home-nursing and emergencies; and social and economic studies in history and household-art and economics. These studies should not obscure practical efficiency, but assist it. It is felt that domestic art and domestic science, as taught in elementary and secondary schools, may do much to improve social conditions and especially to educate foreigners into American habits and modes of life. For this reason it is apt to be one of the principal features of settlement-work; but its value is also widely recognized in elementary and grammar schools, secondary schools, normal schools and colleges.