Cornell Cooperative Extension on the Onoñda’gegá’ Nation, 1916-1920
As early as 1916, home economists and extension agents affiliated with Cornell University instructed Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih (Haudenosaunee) women within the areas of nutrition, sanitation, and home management. Extension work began on the Onoñda’gegá’ (Onondaga) Nation and quickly spread to other Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih communities at Akwesasne (St. Regis), Ta:nöwöde’ (Tonawanda), and Ohi:yo’ (Allegany). The scientific-based projects shared with Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih women initially revolved around food conservation and preservation. Additional projects focused on implementing time- and resource-saving technologies, such as fireless cookers and home-made gummed-tape dress forms.
Rural Education & War-Time Food Programs
From 1916 to 1920, Gertrude Bower ‘16, temporary food conservation agent and recent Cornell graduate, taught Onoñda’gegá’ women how to preserve and can vegetables. At that time, home economics extension was greatly influenced by World War I (1914-1918). In fact, Cornell's female faculty worked with the United States Food Administration (USFA) to develop a nationally coordinated program that portrayed food conservation as a form of patriotism. This is reiterated within photographs of homemaking demonstrations given on the Onoñda’gegá’ Nation, whereby patriotic paraphernalia was prominently displayed. Decorating Onoñda’gegá’ community spaces with the American flag and star-spangled banners exemplifies how extension agents not only worked to transform rural women into "patriotic keepers of the kitchen and the nation's food supply," but also suppress Indigenous sovereignty.
Canning Vegetables on the Onoñda’gegá’ Nation
Image 1: Onoñda’gegá’ women at a canning demonstration on the Onoñda’gegá’ Nation, circa 1918
Image 2: Onoñda’gegá’ women canning vegetables in Temperance Hall, circa 1918
Image 3: Mrs. Andrew Pierce Sr., née Lovina George (Onyota'a:ka, Turtle Clan) presenting a hot meal to a group of Onoñda’gegá’ children on May 20, 1920.
Courtesy of Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, College of Home Economics collection #23-2-749, box 39.
Onondaga Conservation Club (OCC)
As a matrilineal society, Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih women are given important decision-making positions concerning land use and community welfare. This includes overseeing the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of The Three Sisters (beans, squash, and corn). Hodinǫ̱hsǫ́:nih views on land ownership and management were thus in direct conflict with the education purported by extension agents and Cornell's home economists that viewed farming as the sole responsibility of the landowner, rather than that of the community or women. For these reasons, Mrs. Lovina Pierce Sr., née George (Onyota'a:ka, Turtle Clan), among other Onoñda’gegá’ women may have formed the Onondaga Conservation Club (OCC) in 1917.
Through the OCC, Onoñda’gegá’ women were able to negotiate how they engaged with the cost-saving measures Bower demonstrated in Temperance Hall. From 1917 to 1920, they carried out extension work in spaces largely controlled by community members. For instance, meetings and demonstrations were, at times, held within or on the lawn of personal residences. In these settings, it is highly unlikely that the American flag or the Homemaker’s Creed would be prominently displayed like those hosted by white demonstration agents in Temperance Hall.
As president, Mrs. Pierce Sr. was also involved in the organization and dissemination of home bureau work across the county. In 1919, she gave a traditional cooking demonstration and lecture during the county’s first annual Home Bureau Association meeting whereby she demonstrated how agriculture and cooking were both viewed as forms of domestic labor by the Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih.
Image: Onoñda’gegá’ home bureau members on the Onoñda’gegá’ Nation from Cornell Extension Service News, Vol. 2, April 1919.
Following the summer of 1920, very little engagement nor mention of the OCC is documented within the county’s home bureau newsletter. However, this doesn’t mean that Onoñda’gegá’ women no longer engaged in home bureau work. In fact, Cornell faculty and administration began to explore the possibility of receiving state funding to support the development of a special extension program for Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih youth on Cornell’s campus.
Archival Collections
“Farm Program: Onondaga Reservation,” Box 1, Dr. Earl Bates papers, #21-24-1605, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.
“Gertrude Lovell, née Bower,” Box 174, Deceased Alumni Files, # 41-2-877, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.
Onondaga County Cooperative Extension Records, 1919-1959, #3437, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.
“Memorandum on the Employment of Dr. Earl Bates,” Box 1, Dr. Earl Bates papers, # 21-24-1605, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.
Additional Sources
Berlage, Nancy. “Home Bureau and the Science of the Separate Spheres.” In Farmers Helping Farmers: The Rise of the Farm and Home Bureaus 1914-1935. Edited by Nancy Berlage, 123-157. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State Press, 2016.
“Community Notes,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, June 1919, 5.
“Community Notes,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, June 1920, 7.
Delormier, Treena, Kahente Horn-Miller, Alex M. McComber, and Kaylia Marquis, “Reclaiming Food Security in the Mohawk Community of Kahnawà:ke through Haudenosaunee Responsibilities,” Maternal & Child Nutrition 13, no. 3 (2018), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12556
“Home Bureau Meeting,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, May 1919, 7.
Horn-Miller, Kahente. “Otiyaner: The ‘Women’s Path’ Through Colonialism,” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice 29, no. 2 (2005): 57-68.
“Indian Conservation,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, August 1919, 5.
Lewandowski, Stephen. “Diohe'ko, The Three Sisters in Seneca Life: Implications for a Native Agriculture in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.” Agriculture and Human Values 4 (1987): 76–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530644
“Original Americans Like New Methods,” Cornell Extension Service News, April 1919, 39.
Pierce Long, Jill, personal communication, October 2022.
Smith, Ruby Green. The People’s Colleges: A History of the New York State Extension Service in Cornell University and the State 1876-1948. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1949.
“The New Association,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, December 1918, 1.
“What Onondaga Women are Doing,” Onondaga County Farm and Home Bureau News, September 1919, 9.