County Council of Home Demonstration Clubs scrapbook

In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, establishing the Cooperative Extension Service, whereby county agents would call on farm communities to teach farmers the latest agricultural technology and to also teach home economics to women and girls. Home Extension Agents made quite an impact on the often isolated communities they served, many of which were without electrical service, telephones, or even rural mail delivery.

Women as well as men were targeted in the federal government's efforts to institute rural improvement programs. Female home demonstration agents became familiar figures in rural communities. The clubs they organized provided training not only in nutrition, hygiene, and child-rearing techniques but also in craft skills useful to home-making and developing home industries. Handmade baskets using native materials such as pine straw were popular. Many women made rag rugs. However, not all crafts produced by home demonstration clubs were "folk" (i.e., representing a line of unbroken tradition) but many were. In fact, the home demonstration club functioned as a forum for the transmission of folk skills in many communities already deeply rooted in traditional activities.