Today In History: Living On $1.25 a Day

It's interesting to think that back in 1936 faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University, including nutrition instructor Clara Mae Taylor, produced research -- and an exhibit -- showing that medium-sized families could live on as little as $1.25 per day. Foods that made up the daily menu included specfic amounts, or rations, of staples: milk, bread, rice, flour, potatoes, carrots, onion, cabbage, sugar, butter, hamburger, cheese, egg (one egg), and coffee. Further, that the media recognized the need to cover this important topic during The Great Depression, a decade marked by global economic and political crisis that would lead to the Second World War. The War Years, or 1940s, would necessitate contiunuing eyes on the food budget -- and enhanced awareness of the importance of nutrition education, a field pioneered by Mary Swartz Rose, Professor of Household Arts from 1910 to 1923, and Professor of Nutrition from 1923 to 1940, at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Mary Swartz Rose co-created the program in Nutrition at TC with Henry Sherman, a Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University over ninety years ago, and, in doing so, she became the first full-time person to develop a program in nutrition at an American university. Rose conducted extensive research on nutrition and dietetics; designed the first nutrition laboratory devoted solely to training students in this field; and trained others in her life's work. Her research involved bringing this knowledge to the elementary schools while looking holistically at communitities.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Columbia Tells How 5 Can Live on $1.25 a day: Teachers College Exhibit Displays Sample Meals Based On Average Prices: Lists Reducing Menus Explains Importance Of Vitamin B for Children. (1936, Jan 22). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Week's Meals For 5 Planned For $8.88: Golden Rule Association Gives 21 Menus For Families In Needy Circumstances.  (1932, Nov 20). New York Times (1923-)
• Holt, J.  (1941, Jun 15). Balancing the Diet. New York Times (1923-) 
• Holt, J. (1943, Jan 19). News of Food: Family of 4 Can Be Well Fed on $1.22 a Day If Only the Simplest Sort of Food Is Eaten. New York Times (1923-) 
• Americans Eat High Compared With the Subjugated Peoples: Teachers College Exhibits Rations of a Wave, of Allies in Japanese Internment Camps and of Norwegians. (1943, May 15). New York Times (1923-) 
• The Home Institute Staff (1946, Sep 15). Nutrition in the Classroom: Good Eating Habits Can Be Learned in the Schoolroom Along With the Three R's. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Anderson, H. J. (1949, Jun 14). Feeding Rats Teaches Pupils Facts of Diet: Teachers College Project at P. S. 54 Weans Children From Hot Dog-Coke Menu. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Nickerson, J (1950, Jun 10). News of Food: Learning What to Eat and Why in Schoolroom: Studies of Nutrition at P.S. 54 Favored By the Children: Nutrition and Arithmetic Teachers Also Learn. New York Times (1923-) 
• Barclay, D. B. (1951, Oct 13). Tests On Children Show Food Needs: Teachers College Experiments Indicate Youngest Use Most Energy Per Pound. New York Times (1923-) 
• Clara Mae Taylor-Olson: Professor, 89. (1988, Jan 15). New York Times (1923-) 

Tips:

• Rose, Mary Swartz. Feeding the Family. Rev. ed. Norwood, Mass.: The Macmillan Company, 1925.
• Rose, Mary Swartz. The Foundations of Nutrition. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1928.
• Rose, Mary Swartz. A Laboratory Hand-Book for Dietetics, by Mary Swartz Rose. London: The Macmillan Company & Co., Ltd., 1913.
• Taylor, Clara Mae. “Nutrition Education—A Challenge to Educators.” Teachers College Record (1970) 48.8 (1947): 1–7. 
• See 100 Years: A Centennial Celebration of the Program in Nutrition at Teachers College. For images of the exhibit at the Offit Gallery in Gottesman Libraries, Spring 2009, see here.

Images:

• 1919: Rose Measuring Children At the Morningside Nutrition and Homemaking Center, Courtesy of Teachers College Columbia University.  From 100 Years: A Centennial Celebration.
• 1916: Rose Publishes Feeding the Family,  Courtesy of Teachers College Columbia University. From 100 Years: A Centennial Celebration.

One wonders how much it costs to feed a family of five with a good, balanced, nutritious diet in today's world ... in New York City...?

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