The idea that girls were repressed back in the crappy olden days is utter poppycock.

Setting the Table

Published on November 26, 2018

HOMEMAKING

A happy home is one in which all the members of the family take pleasure in sharing their experiences and their abilities. Your home may be one room, a small apartment, a modest cottage, or a large house with many rooms. Whatever the size, the happiness of the home depends upon the skill and kindliness of the people who live in it.

You have a golden opportunity to put into practice the Girl Scouts Laws and to show the members of your family that Girl Scouting is a part of everyday living. A big share in homemaking comes from small things, such as being courteous to the other members of the family, being kind and gay with the younger children, seeing small jobs to be done without being told, and doing the daily jobs cheerfully.

Homemaking is no longer done by guesswork. All the material that science and art have gathered are yours to call upon.

Homemaking is an art, a profession, and a business. It belongs to every girl and woman in some degree. Start now to train yourself.

pg. 161

The main sections of Chapter 10 in this crappy old book are are: Cooking, The Hostess, Housekeeping, Handywoman (which features an illustration titled, “Handy Tools for Home Use” and includes a jackknife, gimlet, file, rotary drill, a plane, and two different hammers), and Your Clothes (“silk and linen are pressed on the wrong side to prevent a shiny surface”). 

Turns out, in 1947 a Girl Scout could earn a proficiency badge in Handywoman. This is important because to be promoted from Second Class GS to First Class GS, one must earn 12 proficiency badges, four to six of which must come from the same program field (e.g., Homemaking). Keep in mind that these are Intermediate Girl Scouts– ages 10-14.

So what would be required of a 12 year old girl to earn a Handywoman proficiency badge in 1947? 

To earn this badge, do eight [of 15] of these activities.

A few of my favorites–

Learn how to paint furniture (lead paint!)– Refinish a small table– Learn to read the gas, electric or water meters, and to compute the costs– Assist in making a bench, shelf, rabbit hutch, dog house, knife rack– Inspect your home for minor repairs and, with your family’s permission, make them with household tools– Learn how to rewind and reset the spring of a roller shade– Describe a situation when the gas, etc. would need to be turned off; learn to do it– Demonstrate your ability to use and care for tools useful in any home– Learn to put up drapery fixtures, cup hooks, towel rods in wood or plaster– Find out how and why window screens, storm doors, awnings are stored

As they say, it was a different time. And most assuredly it was. Though I have to say, I do not miss roller shades and I’m glad cup hooks have gone by the boards.