Guide to the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Records, 1899-2006.

This series contains the records of the governing bodies of the Association and is divided into 11 subseries based on the type of governing group or type of record.

This series contains records of the various executive groups and boards of the Association. They are listed generally in chronological order.

There are few records of officers in the AAFCS records. These files largely represent their interactions with the Executive Director and national headquarters.

This subseries contains information on the Past Presidents' Unit.

The Council was the predecessor of the Assembly of Delegates and the original popular legislative body of the Association. This subseries contains mainly minutes and reports.

The Assembly of Delegates is the predecessor of the Senate. This subseries mostly contains meeting minutes.

The collection contains few records of the Senate, the current popular legislative body of the Association.

This subseries contains annual reports mostly from the 1970s onwards.

This subseries contains governance directories, which detail the leadership structure of the Association, and policy manuals and handbooks.

This series reflects the administrative operations of the national headquarters. The subseries reflect different offices or activities carried out by the Executive Director and the headquarters staff. The Association has reorganized many times since its founding, and this series tried to accommodate the fluctuating structure of the Association.

These files are restricted for 50 years from date of creation except with the permission of the AAFCS Board of Directors.

These records show the work of the Association in the area of consumer interests and standards. Preceding the list of general files in this subject are 4 sub-groups containing files on the Association's work with specific groups: the National Recovery Administration, Consumer Interests Committee, American Standards Association, and National Consumer Retailer Council.

These files largely originate from the office of the Executive Director and represent the Association's activities on a wide variety of topics.

The Association has been involved with international activities and groups from its inception. This subseries contains files on those activities as well as many files of Helen Strow and her interaction with the International Federation for Home Economics as a staff member of the Association. Files on the Association's work with organizations such the International Federation for Home Economics and home economics associations from other countries can be found in a later subseries, Outside Organizations.

This subseries contains information on the work of the headquarters staff and on the various headquarters buildings.

This subseries contains information on the Association's involvement with other organizations, both international and domestic.

This subseries contains files on specific programs or projects which the Association operated or with which it was involved. The largest groups of files are on HeadStart and the International Family Planning Project.

This series is comprised of three subseries followed by a listing of general annual meeting files. Within the general listing, there are separate subseries for files on the 75th anniversary and the name change and Scottsdale meeting in 1993-1994.

This subseries contains proceedings and information about the Lake Placid Conferences held from 1899 to 1908 that led to the founding of the American Home Economics. The collection does not contain the Proceedings for the 1906 conference.

The Eleventh Lake Placid Conference was held in October 1973 and attended by a select group of home economists whose purpose it was to discuss the future directions of the home economics profession. This subseries contains proceedings, conference materials, session recordings, and films.

This subseries contains annual meeting programs from 1909 to 2006, although the set is not complete. The collection contains few programs from the 1980s and 1990s. This subseries is followed by Pacesetter Dinner programs, Commemorative Lecture Series booklets, and the bulk of the subseries - general records of the annual meetings from 1912 to 2006.

The Association has had numerous committees since its founding. Those that have records in the collection are listed in this series in alphabetical order, beginning with "Acceptance of Home Economics Credits for College Entrance" and ending with "Training for Industrial Food Managers (Joint Committee with the Land-Grant College Association on...)." The first few folders in the series relate to the committees in general.

The terminology for these groups has changed a number of times since the Association's founding but their essential purpose remained the same - to bring together members with similar interests, vocations, or professional goals. The groups are listed in alphabetical order beginning with Art and ending with Textiles and Clothing. The largest groups of records are of the International Section and the Home Economists in Business. Individual groups may have changed their name a number of times since their founding, so an effort was made to list the group under the most recent or predominant name. The series also contains files of Carole Parrish who was the Association's staff liaison with these groups during the 1980s.

This series contains information on the interactions of the state associations with the national Association. Generally this consists of the affiliate application from when the state associations first affiliated with the national Association, related correspondence and reports, and the articles of incorporation with the Association when AHEA re-incorporated in Washington, D.C. State associations are encouraged to house their records with a relevant local or state repository. This series also contains files on the State Presidents' Unit.

Generally these files originated from the Publications department for use in publications. They are listed alphabetically. If a name is not listed individually, it is possible that the person may have material in one of the general letter folders at the beginning of each letter group.

Many of the photographs in this series originated from the Publications or Public Relations department of the Association and were created for use in the Journal, AHEA publications, or advertising. The series also contains many photographs documenting the Association's work with international family planning programs. Photographs of individuals generally can be found in Series VII. Biographical Files.

This series contains many types of audio-visual materials, many of which do not have research copies and therefore need to be reproduced before a patron can view them. Many annual meeting recordings are listed here but some can also be found in Series III. Annual Meetings and Conferences under the relevant annual meeting year. Many of the titles for materials in this series were copied from the reel or container and may not convey the origin of an item, such as whether it is a recording from an annual meeting.

Among the artifacts in this series are several versions of the Betty Lamp, the official symbol of the Association, and one complete and two incomplete sets of AHEA china produced in 1953. There is also a bound volume of memorabilia and historical items from the early years of the Association.

This series is arranged with the AHEA/AAFCS publications listed in the first half of the series, followed by publications collected by, but not necessarily published by, the Association. The collection does not contain a complete run of the Journal of Home Economics, but other copies can be found at Cornell University's Mann Library and on-line at http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/

This series contains materials by and about Ellen H. Richards. Materials of note are the extensive correspondence with Mary Hinman Abel, writings and publications by Richards, and the well-known "Mrs. Richards' Creed," sometimes known as the "home economics creed."

The materials in this series are not necessarily records of the Association but rather items that the Association and its members collected on the subject of home economics history. Some are historical objects, such as hand-sewing samples, pinking irons and recipe books, donated to the Association by individuals. This series also includes a group of speeches by significant participants in home economics; the speeches were collected by Nancy Leidenfrost.