"A Home Away
From Home"

      The Home Management House was built in 1929-30 as a lab for the home economics department.  Built in the style of a large home – interior design by students and faculty – it was intended for use by eight senior students at a time.  Considered a model home for training at the time, other colleges requested copies of its architectural plans, according to college archives. Local architect E. H. Eads designed its exterior in Spanish Eclectic style.
      “Home economics was one of the founding academic options of OCW’s ‘industrial institute’ beginnings,” says President John Feaver. “Along with secretarial training, or ‘commercial sciences,’ both were considered proper spheres of technical and vocational training for women.  While home economics remained a very important program throughout the OCW period, it is significant to note its early commingling with the college’s broader liberal arts purposes.  
      While the vocational content of domestic arts and sciences aimed to produce ‘wise and happy queenship in the kingdom of the home,’ a 1910 catalog proclaimed, it was never separated from the rigors of a curriculum that offered education ‘so liberal and comprehensive, so modern and practical, as to satisfy the demands of our young women, whatever their ambitions.’” A granite marker telling the grand history of the Home Management House is being installed this spring on the front lawn.