Tomato Clubs [1]
Tomato Clubs
Tomato clubs, promoting the involvement of young girls in finding ways to increase the production of agricultural crops, were started by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture [3] in 1911 at the prompting of the U.S. Department of Agriculture [4]. Each tomato club member was challenged to grow and can as many tomatoes as she could on one-tenth of an acre of land. Girls in Guilford County [5] started tomato clubs through the efforts of educator Jane S. McKimmon [6], who held canning club "short courses" at Elon College [7] and Peace Institute [8], teaching the proper methods of sterilizing and sealing cans. By 1916 thousands of cans of tomatoes and other foods had been produced. McKimmon's efforts eventually led to a vigorous network of 4-H Clubs across the state.
Additional Resources:
Tomato Clubs, The History of Home Demonstration and 4-H Youth Development in NC, North Carolina State University: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/greenngrowing/essay_tomato_clubs.html [9]
Finding Aid of the Jane S. McKimmon Papers, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives & History
Image Credit:
McFarlan Club girls, Anson County, picking cotton, 1927. Image courtesy of North Carolina State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Available from http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0001052 [2] (accessed August 28, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Wright, Marilyn