Massachusetts Association of Extension Home Economists Records

Background on Massachusetts Association of Extension Home Economists

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Cooperative Extension Service in Massachusetts began as a means of spreading agricultural research and practice from the academy to the people of the Commonwealth, but early on, extension agents recognized the need for a comparable support for farm homes. By 1915, extension agents in Massachusetts began to offer County Home Demonstrations to provide up to date information on home management and nutrition, and by 1918, the Extension Service had appointed agents to every rural county in the state, a process propelled by the food emergency of World War I.

At the annual conference of Extension Service Workers in December 1929, a group of agents met to consider forming an organization to support these home demonstration workers, leading to formation of the Massachusetts Home Demonstration Agents Association (MHDAA) in June 1930. Offering agents an opportunity to exchange information, plan collaboratively, and eventually, to set standards for evaluating home extension work, the MHDAA adopted a mission of providing encouragement for members to improve their skills as home economists and adult educators.

Over the years, the MHDAA has continued to evolve as the need for broader and more effective communication became more acute and as the profession responded to social and cultural changes in the status of women and the home. The MHDAA joined the National Home Demonstration Agents' Association (NHDAA), which had been formed in eight years earlier, and after the NHDAA changed name in 1965 to the National Association of Extension Home Economists (NAEHE), the Massachusetts group followed suit, becoming the Massachusetts Association of Extension Home Economists (MAEHE). Reflecting further evolution of the profession, the NAEHE changed its name in 1995 to the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Science.