Finding Aid of the Jane S. McKimmon Papers, 1910 - 1945, PC.234
Abstract
Jane Simpson McKimmon (1867-1957), daughter of William and Anne Cameron Simpson of Raleigh, was a pioneer in the home demonstration field in North Carolina. This work was an outgrowth of the Farmer's Cooperative Demonstration Work, organized by Dr. Seaman A. Knapp in Texas (1903) to aid farmers and agricultural workers. She was selected, in 1911, as one of five pioneer state home demonstration agents to develop a similar program for improvement of the lives of rural women and their families through education in home economics. In the same year a joint program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, and North Carolina State College established an extension service in 14 counties in the state. Formation of Girls' Tomato Clubs was one of the first projects and from these canning clubs developed the home demonstration movement in North Carolina. Under the leadership of Mrs. McKimmon the North Carolina Home Demonstration Service was soon recognized as a model program and her ideas and methods spread throughout the nation and abroad. The papers include letters, reports, questionnaires, booklets, pamphlets, bulletins, leaflets, programs, invitations, menus, newspaper and magazine clippings, desk calendars, forms, and photographs relating to Jane Simpson McKimmon's work with home demonstration and canning clubs.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Jane S. McKimmon Papers
- Call Number
- PC.234
- Creator
- McKimmon, Jane Simpson
- Date
- 1910 - 1945
- Extent
- 6.400 cubic feet, 7.290 gigabytes
- Language
- English
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Access Restrictions
Available for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], P.C.234, Jane S. McKimmon Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Collection Overview
The papers of Jane McKimmon of Raleigh, state home demonstration agent (1911-1936)
and assistant director of extension for N.C. State College (1922-1936) include letters,
reports, questionnaires, booklets, pamphlets, bulletins, leaflets, programs, invitations,
menus, newspaper and magazine clippings, desk calendars, forms, and photographs. Her
narrative and statistical reports on girls' canning clubs (1911-1924) and on home
demonstration work (1916--1936) contain lists of county agents; reports on work with
Negroes (1917-1936), including separate reports and photographs from Mrs. Dazelle
F. Lowe, district home agent for Negroes; and items concerning marketing, clothing,
food conservation, war work (1917-1918), and a farm housing survey (1934). Other materials
include form letters to county agents and girls' club members (1914-1917); some photographs;
programs, bulletins, and brochures on Housewives Convention (1913), boys' short course
(1919), fairs (1919), and the clothing program (1933-1934); plans for work with needy
families, using volunteer aid under the N.C. Farm Relief Plan (n.d.); and an outline
of project plans for 1942. Also in the collection are her radio talks, addresses to
professional conferences, and a report on work of county home demonstration agents
during the influenza epidemic of 1918; scrapbooks of clippings and "Conceit Books"
(1913-1914) containing articles about her; photographs and biographical information;
summary of activities of N.C. Home Economics Association, 1917-1933; letters of appreciation
from white and Negro county agents, farm women, 4-H and girls' clubs; and letters
of support from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and from colleagues in North Carolina and
other states, including Samuel A. Ashe, Josiah W. Bailey, Dr. E. C. Brooks, Dr. Frank
Graham, Dean J. W. Harrelson, Dr. Charles Laughinghouse, Col. Fred A. Olds, Clarence
Poe, Martha Van Rensselaer of Cornell University, and Leonard Tufts. Desk calendars
(1915-1944) record travels, meetings, conferences, and sometimes discussions and plans.
There are also booklets from tomato club members (1911-1916) and answers to questionnaires
about home demonstration clubs (1929).
Form letters from Dr. McKimmon, "Asst. in Tomato Club Work" and "In Charge of Girls,
Demonstration Work," include letters to prospective club members welcoming them, requesting
samples of canned goods, giving instructions, urging completion of record books, and
notifying them about canning bulletins are pasted into the scrapbooks. Other letters
are addressed to county agents by Dr. McKimmon, as State Agent in Home Demonstration.
Many of the materials in the collection have been pasted or otherwise adhered into
scrapbooks. The majority of the miscellaneous bulletins, forms, and reports (1913-1938)
found in the scrapbooks relate to canning, instructions for public demonstrations,
price list of Girls' Canning Club products, recipes, and canning club reports. Among
the printed material are a circular from the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment
Station, Raleigh, "Some Important Diseases of Tomato in North Carolina," canning club
recipes by Rosalind Redfearn, North Carolina Canning Club Recipes, and a bulletin
from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, "The Home Canning of Fruits and
Vegetables," by S. B. Shaw. Informational or instructional material includes a list
of products for sale by North Canning Clubs, purchase contract, rules for State Fair
exhibits and prizes, directions for using order book for sale through merchants, plan
for cooperative marketing of North Canning Club products, list of circulars in Canning
Club and Home Demonstration work issued by the Washington office, suggested programs
for semi-monthly meetings, constitution and by-laws of North Carolina Home Demonstration
Clubs, North Carolina Canning Club Prize List (State Fair, 1917), list of articles
required for canning demonstrations, and list of agents for home demonstration work
in North Carolina (1915).
Some of the bulletins included in the scrapbooks are: The American Home Economics
Association, April, 1927; The Health Bulletin, July, 1929; and the North Carolina
State Alumni News, December, 1929. Notice of a new N.B.C. Land-Grant Colleges Radio
Program, July 25, 1931, new Adult Education Extension feature "Service Goes to Work
in the Home" features Dr. McKimmon's participation. A diary entitled "Pages from Nocahea's
Diary," April 14, 1917 - March 24, 1933, records the activities of the North Carolina
Home Economics Association. The Association was composed of Home Demonstration Agents,
High School teachers, and teachers in College Departments, and the diary was written
by Ellen Brewer. A Resolution by the North Carolina Public Health Association recognizes
the services of Dr. James M. Parrott, Warren H. Booker, Mrs. James S. McKimmon, and
Mrs. O'Berry. The cover of the Carolina Co-operator, Volume 13, No. 5, May, 1935,
carries a picture of Mrs. McKimmon "Mother of Mothers". The papers include a badge
for the Third Triennial Conference, Associated Country Women of the World, Washington,
D.C., June 1-6, 1936.
Articles by Dr. McKimmon were clipped from newspapers in Raleigh, Greensboro, Goldsboro,
Winston-Salem, Fairmont, Kinston, Manteo, Asheville, Wilmington, Jackson, Warrenton,
Elizabeth City, Whiteville, Monroe, and Benson, among others. Many carry notices of
demonstration workers' meetings and farm and home tours, as well as many topics: Farm
and Home Week (State College), electricity on farms, budget and money plans and problems,
library facilities for farmers, research benefits, farm women markets, earnings for
Christmas season, farm agent's life, dressing and clothing suggestions, home and ground
improvements, beautification of land along the highway, training home demonstration
workers, balanced diets, 25th Anniversary Sampson Club, club women attendance at London
meeting, visit to New York World's Fair, making furniture for the home, and farm participation
in the live-at-home program. Some of the articles found in the papers are: "Dress
to Bring Out Your Good Points,""The Dependable Family Garden,""The Romance of Southern
Barbecue,""The Farmer and His Wife in a Joint Planning of the Farmstead" (Southern
Planter, December, 1936), and "A Pioneer in Organizing Farm Women."
Radio speeches include one made at Washington, D. C., July 25, 1931, one made over
WPTF, October 5, 1932, "Living at Home in North Carolina," and in May, 1934, "Highlights
of Twenty-two Years in Home Demonstration Work," and "Farming for Living." Speeches
delivered on other occasions are: "Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home
Economics, State of North Carolina," at the American Home Economics Association, Des
Moines, 1925; "Information to be Considered in Planning a Specialist's Program" and
"In Light of Development of Vocational Education, What Changes Should be Made in the
4-H Program" at meetings in Texas and Mississippi; "Developing Leadership Among Farm
Women Through Systematic Training" at the Extension Section, Association of Land Grant
Colleges and Universities, Chicago, November 13, 1933; "Farm Women's Marketing in
North Carolina" for Farm and Home Week, 1933; "Readjusting the Extension Program in
the South to Meet the Changing Conditions and Needs of the Farm Home" at an agent's
conference, December, 1935; and "Twenty-five Years of Home Economics in North Carolina,"
State Home Economics Association. There is also a copy of Report of the Home Demonstration
Section of the Southern Regional Extension Conference, Houston, Texas, November 11-13,
1936, delivered by Dr. McKimmon as chairman of the committee.
Arrangement Note
Series include: Canning Club and Home Demonstration, 1911-1927; Home Demonstration Annual Reports, 1925-1937; Tomato Club Booklets, 1912-1915; Questionnaires, 1928-1929; Scrapbooks and Associated Materials, 1913-1942; Typescripts of Reports, Articles, and Speeches, 1911-1934; Scrapbooks of Newspaper Clippings, 1912-1939; Conceit Books, 1913-1944; and Daily Reminder Desk Calendars, 1915-1944.
Biographical/Historical Note
Jane Simpson McKimmon, daughter of William and Anne Cameron Simpson, was born in Raleigh, November 13, 1867. Educated at Peace Institute in Raleigh, she received her technical training at Simmon's College, Boston, followed in later years by a B.S. degree from North Carolina State College in 1927, a M.S. in 1929, and an honorary L.L.D. in 1934 from the University of North Carolina.
Mrs. McKimmon was a pioneer in the home demonstration field in North Carolina. This work was an outgrowth of the Farmer's Cooperative Demonstration Work, organized by Dr. Seaman A. Knapp in Texas (1903) to aid farmers and agricultural workers. She was selected, in 1911, as one of five pioneer state home demonstration agents to develop a similar program for improvement of the lives of rural women and their families through education in home economics. In the same year a joint program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, and North Carolina State College established an extension service in 14 counties in the state. Formation of Girls' Tomato Clubs was one of the first projects and from these canning clubs developed the home demonstration movement in North Carolina.
Under the leadership of Mrs. McKimmon the North Carolina Home Demonstration Service was soon recognized as a model program and her ideas and methods spread throughout the nation and abroad. She served as Home Demonstration Agent for 25 years (1911-1936) and was also Assistant Director of Extension for North Carolina State College from 1922 to 1936. Her services were recognized locally and nationally. Dr. McKimmon received an invitation from the President off the United States to attend a meeting of the President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, Washington, December 2-5, 1931. The University of North Carolina conferred an honorary L.L.D. degree in 1934 and the National Honorary Extension Service fraternity voted her its highest distinguished service award in 1937.
Mrs. McKimmon died December 1, 1957.
Contents of the Collection
1. Canning Club and Home Demonstration,1911-1927
scopecontent:
Letters in these records include one from Martha Van Renesslaer, Ithaca, New York, June 23, 1913, requesting information on extension work and ordering tomatoes canned by Girls' Clubs. Another is from Lewis E. Theiss, Muncy, Pennsylvania, November 28, 1917, seeking information on North Carolina marketing plans and exhibits on preserved goods for an article on food conservation.
Reports include annual reports of Home Demonstration and Girls' Clubs (1916-1924), report of the home demonstration agent in Davidson County (1918) and of the district agent in unorganized territory, reports of Negro and white home demonstration agents (1926-1927), and an annual report of county extension workers. There are typescripts of a preliminary report of home demonstration work in 1919 written for the Commissioner of Agriculture and another entitled Lists of home demonstration agents cover the years 1915-1923. Early history of the program is found in a list of counties organized for home demonstration work, November 1911 to Spring, 1912, and a summary of home demonstration work in North Carolina, July 1, 1917 to July 1, 1918.
Typescripts of articles include: (published in Country Gentlemen, June, 1917), (1918), and There is also a typescript of a speech delivered to the American Home Economics Association at Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, July, 1915.
Circulars, bulletins, and reprints from the agricultural extension are: and
Newspaper articles announce a program for Housekeeper's Week (1920) and tell the story of Mrs. McKimmon's work with girls in canning.
- Container Count
- 1 Box
2. Home Demonstration Annual Reports,1925-1937
scopecontent:
These reports (typescripts in notebooks) cover: list of agents, plan of work, county councils, changes in counties and personnel, county-wide instruction, finance, goals and accomplishments, state staff, agents' training, administrative conferences, Director's conferences, publicity, and statistics. Major headings (some with subheads) are: Farm Women's Short Course, Annual Club Girls' Short Course, Team Demonstrations, Foods and Nutrition, Clothing, Home Management, Home Furnishings, Better Homes in America, Home Health and Sanitation, Health, Beautification of Home Grounds, Home Gardens, Home Poultry, Home Dairy, Home Marketing, Arts and Crafts, Encampments, Encampments for Women, Fairs and Judging. A section on includes the State School for Negro Agents, Food Preparation, Nutrition, Food Conservation, Clothing, Home Management, Home Gardens, Poultry, Home Dairying, and Beautification of Home Grounds.
- Container Count
- 6 Boxes
3. Tomato Club Booklets,1912-1915
scopecontent:
Booklets made by members of Girls' Tomato Clubs give accounts of raising, canning, and marketing tomatoes. These are made by children as young as ten years and by adult club members. They cover every section of the state, including counties organized for home demonstration work.
- Container Count
- 7 Boxes
4. Questionnaires,1928-1929
scopecontent:
Questionnaires were issued to secure information for Mrs. McKimmon's thesis. The questions asked for the selection of the most successful and least successful clubs, listing reasons for selection, number of meetings, average attendance, number participating in program, social meetings with neighbors, community projects - i.e. fairs, beautification of grounds - undertaken. Another questionnaire listed the answers received to the question: Why you went to meetings of your home demonstration club? Answers were to be checked according to relative importance. Additional questions asked the distance from the club meeting place, whether the road was good or bad, number of meetings held and attended, and reasons for absence.
- Container Count
- 1 Box
5. Scrapbooks and Associated Materials,1913-1942
- Container Count
- 7 Boxes
6. Conceit Books,1913-1944
scopecontent:
Articles on Dr. McKimmon and her work with farm women appear in , the (New York), the , , , , , , , and in the magazine and story section of the .
Dr. McKimmon's achievements are recognized in articles about receiving a degree at State College in 1927, election to a national scholarship fraternity, selection as Raleigh's representative as an outstanding professional in the national Professional and Business Women's Club contest, receiving an honorary LL.D. from the University of North Carolina, naming as Woman of the Year by the , recognition at a meeting of the Association of Southern Agriculturists, and her retirement after twenty-five years.
Included in these items are photographs of the Farm women's Institute at Grimesland, members of the Southern Educational. Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, Bread Campaign Workers, Granville County (1919), and girls at Simmons College, Boston. There are sketches of Dr. McKimmon written by F. H. Jeter for and one by T. E. Browne for the Business and Professional Women's national contest, as well as material on Dr. McKimmon assembled by Anne Pauline Smith. Appointments are to the State Commission for the Sesquicentennial Celebration, Philadelphia, June 1-December 31, 1926 and to the North Carolina Rural Electrification Authority for a two-year term (1935-1937) by Governor Ehringhaus. Programs include one for State College Commencement (1927), Fourth Annual Scholarship Day, State College (1929), and the 25th Anniversary of Home Demonstration Work in North Carolina sponsored by the North Carolina Federation of Home Demonstration Agents, July 30, 1936.
Her menu for the Live-at-Home Dinner by Governor Gardner, December 29, 1929, in honor of the Council of State and the Press Association of North Carolina is in these papers. Other articles relate to activities of club and farm women. The majority of the clippings are articles written by Dr. McKimmon on many subjects - home account keeping, food programs at the State Prison, book service for the rural population, women's marts, 4-H Club program for the American Legion, restoration of historic farm sites, clubhouse construction, seashore markets for farm women, and classes at State College.
Letters from county home demonstration agents, 4-H and Girls' Clubs, and councils of farm women all over the state telling of help derived from conferences, inspiration from speeches, suggestions from articles, gratification on becoming Master Farm Homemakers, and Negro home agents expressing appreciation for her encouragement and help. From all over the nation Dr. McKimmon received congratulations on awards and honors - in 1927 letters from Demonstration Agents in Louisiana, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas complimenting her work as chairman of the committee on arrangements for the 20th annual meeting of the American Home Economics Association in Asheville. In 1931 she received congratulatory letters on being awarded an L.L.D. from the University of North Carolina from Dr. E. C. Brooks, Dean Thomas Nelson, Dr. Howard W. Odum, Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, and others. Additional letters of recognition came from Home Demonstration Agents and Extension Service workers throughout the East when Dr. McKimmon was awarded a Distinguished Service Ruby by the honorary Extension Service fraternity in 1936. Dr. McKimmon's professional colleagues in other states also wrote requesting information on North Carolina programs and policies and expressing enjoyment in taking part in Farm and Home Week programs.
There is correspondence from heads of various divisions of the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture acknowledging her help in revision of annual report forms and plans of cooperation with the North Carolina Relief Office, and also letters praising demonstration sessions on marketing and articles in the Extension Service Review. Friends at home wrote of their interest and appreciation of her work - Samuel A. Ashe, Josiah W. Bailey, Dr. Frank Graham, Dean J. W. Harrelson, Dr. Charles Laughinghouse, Dr. William B. McNider, M. G. Mann, Colonel Fred Olds, Clarence Poe, and Dr. Hubert A. Royster.
- Container Count
- 3 Boxes
7. Daily Reminder Desk Calendars,1915-1944
scopecontent:
These contain appointments, meetings, notes on personnel, conferences, discussions with individuals, plans for courses, etc. In the latter years there are references to work on her history of the home demonstration program in the state.
- Container Count
- 7 Boxes
Subject Headings
Acquisitions Information
Transfer from North Carolina State College Extension Division, Home Demonstration Official Papers.