McLean County, Illinois - Chapter 30: Home Bureau, 1924

One of the modern developments of McLean county which indicates its progress is the permanent organization of the McLean County Home Bureau, composed mostly of farm women and women from the rural communities who work together for the promotion of the best interests of their homes and families. The organization had its inception in the work of the women in the world war, and took on its permanent form in 1918, when the name of the McLean County Home Improvement Association was taken. This name, however, was shortly changed to that of the McLean County Home Bureau, which is still maintained. The organization is now in its sixth year of successful existence. McLean county was the eighth county in Illinois to form a Home Bureau. It is the only county which has constantly since it started employed the same field secretary, or as she is known, the home adviser, in the person of Miss Clara Brian.

Mrs. Spencer Ewing of Bloomington was the moving spirit in the organization of the Home Bureau, and acted as its first president. She continued to serve for two years and a half, then was succeeded by Mrs. Homer R. Johnson, who filled out Mrs. Ewing's last year and served two other years. Mrs. F. L. Wakefield of Heyworth is the present president (1923). Mrs. Homer R. Johnson was the first county secretary, being succeeded by Mrs. Jennie Barlow, and she in turn by Mrs. Charles Yancey of McLean, the present secretary. The first treasurer was Mrs.

Allen Brown of Normal, who was succeeded by Mrs. William L. Moore of Bloomington, and she in turn by Mrs. W. E. Clark of Bloomington. The last and present treasurer is Mrs. Frank L. Washburn of Bloomington.

The county organization comprises 26 branches, one for each township, and there being one branch for Bloomington city and one for Bloomington township. The financial backing of the Home Bureau is included in an annual budget of $5,500, of which sum $1,500 comes from the federal government; $1,000 is appropriated each year by the county board of supervisors, and the remainder, $3,000, is secured by individual contributions in the form of annual dues of $1 each from the members. It is a unique fact that in the six years of the bureau's work, the memberships have been maintained by the township units without any special drive for membership. At no time has the real work of the employed home adviser been diverted to solicitation for funds to maintain the organization. The executive management of the bureau is composed of the roster of county officers, together with one director for each unit, these composing the executive board. The headquarters of the bureau is in the building leased by the County Farm Bureau in Bloomington. Miss Brian, the home adviser, has her office there, with an office secretary to assist her. There were about 1,400 members in 1923, and the same number had made up the organization for the past few years, following the larger figure during the war.

The work of the Home Bureau is varied, as the name of the organization indicates; its aim is to make better homes and more efficient home-makers. In its second year, a series of courses of study for women was outlined and submitted to the different units for consideration. Each unit votes on which course it shall take, and the majority picks the course. This later is succeeded by other courses in turn. For instance, one course is on meal planning, and seven months of study is devoted to this subject. There have been two schools of instruction carried on in home millinery. A course in the making of baskets of all kinds from crepe paper rope was carried on, and many women became very proficient. There have been demonstrations in the uses of the pressure cooker, and sanitary methods of canning foods in tin were among the other subjects dealt with. The course for home nursing includes seven lessons. There is a course in meal planning with seven lessons. The course in sewing and textiles deals in practical dressmaking, artistic dressmaking, undergarments, dress forms, and experiences in dyeing materials. There is a second sewing course, in which adviser and local leader work together in demonstrations on cutting and fitting. Home accounting and equipment is the subject of one course. Home and community life is the general topic for another course of five lessons. Preparation of food is the subject of study in one course.

The Home Bureau publishes a monthly bulletin of four pages, which is supported by advertising patronage of merchants. This has been one of the most effective agents of the bureau's publicity work. The newspapers have devoted liberal quantities of space to work of the Bureau through all the years.

A well organized campaign for the teaching of the value of hot lunches in schools, especially in the rural districts, was carried on for some time, and had its results in the general introduction of this valued feature for the proper care of children of the schools.

That the Home Bureau may be of practical benefit in other than the rural districts is shown in its work in Bloomington, where in co-operation with the Day Nursery and the Federation of Churches it carried on a series of classes in home cooking at the Day Nursery, for the benefit of women of that section of the city who lacked opportunities which more favored sections enjoyed to learn of modern home methods. The Day Nursery furnished the equipment, the Federation of Churches the money, and the Home Bureau the instructor. Two years these classes have been in successful operation.