Cornell home economists
were creative in the modes of communication they chose for reaching
an audience as wide and diverse as possible. Although their pedagogical
and outreach techniques changed over time, they were committed to
a fundamental purpose: to extend research-based knowledge in order
to improve the lives of the people of New York State.
The Farmers' Wives Reading Course, initiated by Martha
Van Rensselaer in 1900, marked the first outreach program established
by Cornell. Recognizing its success, home economists continued to
use print media, publishing in many popular women's magazines and
writing inexpensive pamphlets that were distributed widely. In addition,
they developed travelling exhibits in railroad cars that criss-crossed
the state in order to reach rural communities. Like the displays
of Farm and Home Week, an annual statewide event that brought thousands
of people to the Cornell campus, these traveling exhibits were important
social events that proved effective in educating the public about
the most relevant developments in domestic science. Extension workers
also traveled to local elementary schools with special youth-oriented
activities designed to engage and educate children as well as their
parents.
Home economists took advantage of new technology and began to
use radio in the 1920s. This "air college" was instantly successful
and remained an influential outreach medium through the 1940s. By
the mid-1950s, television began to eclipse radio as a source of
information, and once again home economists adjusted to change by
adopting television as a teaching tool in their effort to reach
a mass audience. Hazel Reed, '30, noted that Cornell home economists
demonstrated a keen ability to change both "program emphasis and
methods of delivery [in order] to meet the needs of individuals
and families in an ever-changing world."
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