Finding aid was updated in 2023.
Permanent University Archive public records are available for research, and are subject to state, and in some cases federal freedom of information laws. In compliance with applicable state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, FERPA and HIPAA, specific records that are legally protected, sensitive, private, or confidential are exempt (not subject to disclosure) and closed to protect individual privacy. Access to paper records will be granted after a professional review of the records occurs based on regulations in state and federal laws. Contact Special Collections and University Archives well in advance in order to access these records.
The Department of Household Arts was first mentioned in the University of Oregon catalogues in 1917 with the creation of the department and the appointment of Lillian Tingle as head. Tingle held degrees in various home economics-related courses including cooking, dressmaking, and laundry, obtained from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She taught high school classes in Portland in the early twentieth century and was a prolific writer on home economics issues, includin food storage, camp cooking, and more in Oregon prior to and during her tenure at the University of Oregon.
The University stopped offering upper-division classes in the Household Arts in 1919 and instead referred students to Oregon State University. The University of Oregon continued offering lower-division courses well into the 1970s. The department was renamed the Department of Home Economics in 1932.
This collection contains the personal and office files of Lillian Tingle, dating 1897-1916. Lillian Tingle was appointed the first department head of Household Arts in 1917. Included in these records are certificates and letters of support for Lillian Tingle, personal correspondence, a hand-written recipe book, papers related to the Clean Market Campaign of 1905. Also included are letters and reports from the family and friends of students on dinners the students were required to host as part of their classes. The reports note such things as the food served, the place settings, the timeliness of the service, the quality of the food, the topics of conversation, the cleanliness of the kitchen and serving area, the number of dishes still needing washing, and the comments of the guests.
Other materials including records documenting the department's history and programs and biennial reports were destroyed in a flood on March 4, 1982.