Women in History in FSU Special Collections & Archives

Women's relationship to the home was reinforced frequently in literature. Books written for and often by women focused on their roles as wives and mothers. Genres relating to housekeeping, childrearing, marriage and etiquette were popular subjects and are well-represented in FSU's collections. 

Cookbooks and Herbals: An interest in cookbooks and household management is a legacy from FSU’s earliest years as a women’s college. Cookbooks are held in our Rare Book, Florida and Scottish collections. The cookbooks in this digital collection offer recipes, advice, and practical household management. As such they offer insights into women's lives during the period of their creation and use. 

Finding aids are tools that help a user find information in a specific record group, collection, or series of archival materials. Examples of finding aids include published and unpublished inventories, container and folder lists, card catalogs, calendars, indexes, registers, and institutional guides. The finding aids below connect to archival documents in FSU's collection. 

Florida Home Economics Association Records (MSS 2005-017): The Florida Home Economics Association Records are historically significant because they document the history of a statewide professional organization that developed instructional programs for families and institutions for the purpose of improving living conditions and homemaking.

FSCW/FSU School of Home Economics Florida Extension Services Collection (MSS 2005-016): This small collection documents the history of the Florida extension service program from its beginnings at the Florida State College for Women (FSCW) / Florida State University (FSU) School of Home Economics. The collection includes reference materials about other statewide agricultural extension service agencies and home economics, articles about Florida 4-H Clubs and the history of Florida home demonstration work, and publicity brochures about Florida home demonstration work published by the Florida State Home Demonstration Office at FSU. It is historically significant to researchers studying the cooperative extension movement in Florida and the United States and its relationship to higher education programs.