Ellen Richards House Girls Learn Practical Home Work

This story was published by The Daily Ypsilanti Press on Thursday, May 3, 1933. Some exceptionally interesting work has been done in the Ellen Richards house of the Home Economics Department during the past college year. Over seven hundred dollars has been spent on improvements and new furniture, and a new system established there under the direction of Miss Faith Kidoo, head of the Home Economics Faculty which enables work of a broader scope to be accomplished. A complete new dining room set was among the things purchased. For the kitchen a new gas range was bought and new linoleum was placed on the floor. Besides these things new beds were secured including mattresses. A fine new washing machine was also purchased. For the living room the class has purchased a large davenport, and the floors of this room were varnished by the students. Finances for this project were secured through the home economics lunch room together with some money received from the college. Before selecting the new furniture the Home Economics class visited Detroit and Ann Arbor to get an idea what to buy and then returned here because they felt they could get more value for the money which they had than they could elsewhere. The selecting of the furniture was made the subject of study and was taken up in class discussions where such things as cost, kind and practicability were considered. Besides purchasing the furniture the girls painted and varnished parts of the house without aid. The system under which the students work at the practice house is to have the house occupied by seven girls at a time. They must be seniors in college unless there is a vacancy and a new set of students is taken every quarter. At the present times, Miss Mabel Stanhope of Hart is the pioneer student there. Although getting credit for only one quarter Miss Stanhope has lived at the house during the whole college coarse. This is because it so happened that there was always a vacancy for her to fill. These seven students have a systematized way of going about the art of housekeeping in order to make the atmosphere of the place more home like one of the seven girls is appointed ‘house mother’ Her duty is to take charge of the buying which she does on Saturday. She also computes the cost of keeping house and superintends the six so called ‘House Daughters.’ Each one of the house daughters has her special duty and in order that the unpleasant work is not done by the same person for the whole quarter each week the girls change duties for this way practiced in housekeeping is gained from every angle. As an example of the work accomplished by the students’ costs of meals were given by Miss Kiddo. The average cost of breakfast per person is 9 to 11 cents lunch 13 to 15 cents and dinner 20 to 25 cents. To prove that for this price good meal can be prepared she gave the following menu for dinner: Browned beef stew and dumpling, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, perfection salad. The meals are always served but the person serving sits at the table with other diners. This Miss Kiddo states is to get away from the old idea of class and also to make it seem more home like. Miss Kiddo declared that it would be splendid if more cottages co8ld be established and run by the student co-operatively because of the enjoyment derived from such a system. “The girls value the Ellen Richards house more than they do their sorority,” she concluded.