ELLEN RICHARDS’S HOME ECONOMICS MOVEMENT AND THE BIRTH OF THE ECONOMICS OF CONSUMPTION

In 1899, MIT chemist Ellen H. Richards (1842–1911) instigated a series of annual “Lake Placid Conferences” (1899–1908) that became known as the foundation of the home economics movement. Richards’s first interest was in improving the household’s well-being by using sanitary and nutrition sciences, an objective that was passed on to the movement. However, by the 1920s, home economists rather identified their field of expertise as the “science of consumption,” emphasizing the idea of “rational consumption.” My aim in this article is to give an account of how this shift in focus came about, by telling the story of the home economics movement founded by Richards. I examine how the movement problematized consumption by highlighting its relationship, and perception of itself, regarding economics. I argue that the concept of consumption was central to the structuring of the movement from its beginning and allowed home economists to claim it as their field of expertise because, as they believed, economists were not addressing the issue.

Ellen Richards’s Home Economics Movement and the Birth of the Economics of Consumption

In 1899, MIT chemist Ellen H. Richards (1842–1911) instigated a series of annual “Lake Placid Conferences” (1899–1908) that became known as the foundation of the home economics movement. Richards’s first interest was in improving the household’s well-being by using sanitary and nutrition sciences, an objective that was passed on to the movement. However, by the 1920s, home economists rather identified their field of expertise as the “science of consumption,” emphasizing the idea of “rational consumption.” My aim in this article is to give an account of how this shift in focus came about, by telling the story of the home economics movement founded by Richards. I examine how the movement problematized consumption by highlighting its relationship and perception of itself regarding economics. I argue that the concept of consumption was central to the structuring of the movement from its beginning and allowed home economists to claim it as their field of expertise because, as they believed, economists were not addressing the issue.

Assessing and Implementing a Sustainable Holistic Planning System

In 2019, the New York Olympic Region received the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Communities Certification (gold) for a rural multi-jurisdictional region comprised of Lake Placid Village, North Elba Town, the Olympic Regional Development Authority, and the Lake Placid School System. Much of the work involved in this initiative was executed by 14 undergraduate students and two faculty members from Clarkson University working in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, and four local jurisdictions. The endeavor was successful and unique in several facets. First, it provided an experiential project-based education in the application of a sustainable holistic planning system, LEED for Communities/Cities. Second, it demonstrates the value of a university collaboration with a rural region and its communities. Third, it developed the first rural regional model for smart community planning that integrated multiple jurisdictions and stakeholders. Finally, it provides a replicable template for implementation and operation by other communities with institutions of higher learning. A variety of challenges remain, however, for emerging sustainable holistic planning systems in metrics development, civic and stakeholder engagement, determination of efficacy, and implementation optimization. Readers will emerge with an improved understanding of sustainable holistic planning systems, knowledge of multi-jurisdictional planning concerns in sustainability metrics, and insight into implementation of these systems as a pedagogical tool and partnership mechanism.

Ellen Richards e as "Ciências Domésticas"

Esse artigo pretendeu demonstrar como, longe de demarcar especificamente o surgimento da Economia Doméstica, a proposta de Ellen Richards e de suas companheiras indicou uma tentativa radical de dar status científico à área, aproximando-a da eugenia e promovendo uma reconceituação conservadora no sentido de cientificar os saberes e fazeres do mundo doméstico. Dessa forma, analisando especificamente os elementos de duas das mais importantes obras da autora, “The Cost Of Shelter” (1905) e “Euthenics” (1912), foi possível perceber como a proposta formulada pelas pioneiras do Lake Placid Club buscavam romper com as “artes mecânicas” e se aproximar do método científico das ciências exatas e biológicas, pela via da normatização e higienização dos espaços, sob a égide ideológica da eugenia. Reservadas as pontuais rupturas históricas dessa proposta, o artigo possibilitou perceber como os elementos centrais dessa área permaneceram inalterados por mais de um século, incluindo o modelo de Economia Doméstica implementado no Brasil e cuja extinção no sistema de ensino formal é evento recente.

Smokeless tobacco Olympics: the US Tobacco Company, the IOC and the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games

Throughout much of the 20th century, cigarette manufacturers have sponsored sporting events and used sports figures in advertising and marketing their products. The United States Tobacco Company (UST) became a sponsor of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, allowing the company to place the Olympic emblem on their television and print advertisements and on product packages. This paper reviews the history of UST’s 1980 Olympic sponsorship using records from the IOC, the Lake Placid organising committee and internal tobacco industry documents. At the time, UST was seeking to expand the market for smokeless tobacco products, experimenting with new products and portraying their products as an alternative to smoking. At the same time, commercial sponsorship was becoming increasingly important to the future of the Games. At the time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was struggling to implement a policy prohibiting tobacco sponsorship of the Olympic Games. This episode was to be the last time a tobacco company was named an official sponsor of the Olympic Games. However, while subsequent editions of the Olympic Games have adopted policies restricting tobacco industry sponsorship, the reach of these policies is limited across any Olympic organisations. The lack of a comprehensive policy on tobacco advertising and sponsorship associated with the Olympics continues to pose a challenge to efforts to remove tobacco from the Games.