Long before the formation of the Department of Home Management and Family Living in 1951, the home economics program prominently featured a concern for the welfare of families and consumers. Abby Marlatt expanded the required curriculum with courses in the “Economic problems of food supply,” which discussed the purchase and manufacture of foods as well as pure food laws; “Household management,” which included topics like the organization of the household and the care of the house and family; and her own course “Humanics,” which covered issues like the development of the individual from infancy to adolescence, problems of hygiene and mental development as influenced by heredity, and habit formation. Courses such as these were part of the newly established Department of Foods and Administration in 1924.

A student plays piano for children, probably in the Dorothy Roberts Nursery School

The Department’s course offerings in these areas grew as faculty increased. After the Dorothy Roberts Nursery School (later renamed the Pre-School Laboratory) moved to campus in 1927, students observed children as part of their Humanics course. This type of work was expanded after the introduction of the first child development course in 1943. Similarly consumer and family economics courses were added throughout the years. In 1944, May Cowles taught the first family economics course on campus.

Kathryn Rice Beach teaching a consumer economics class in the 1950s

Formed in 1951, the Department of Home Management and Family Living included courses in these two subdisciplines and areas such as housing and home management. Over the years, the two strands became more clearly defined as Child Development and Family Relations, and Family Economics and Management. With the increasing professionalization of home economics and the development of new majors, such as Family and Consumer Economics in the mid-1960s, interest grew in a more formal division between the two, one that would give each greater prominence.

Consumer science students at the resource library of the Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Division, c. 1975

It was not until the 1974 reorganization, however, that the faculty of Home Management and Family Living were transferred to two new departments. Consumer Science, headed by Louise Young, was designed as professional education for leadership positions related to the consumer interest in government, education, business, and the media. It was also intended to further the School’s goal of preparing educated consumers. Internships in areas such as the State Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection provided students with hands-on experience in consumer affairs.

Child and Family Studies maintained its focus on preparing students for careers in early childhood and preschool and kindergarten teaching, while it also broadened its scope with courses such as “Sex differences, sex roles, and society” and “The Afro-American Family.” Both departments reflected social and professional changes in the next several decades. The Retailing major moved from the Department of Environment, Textiles, and Design to the Department of Consumer Science in 1993. In 1999 to better reflect its shifting curriculum, Child and Family Studies changed its name to the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

A student reads to children in the Pre-School Laboratory in the 1970s