The Sanitation Bulletins

A forgotten chapter in the College of Human Ecology’s public health legacy

What did public health outreach look like before vaccines and antibiotics? Between 1900 and 1920, faculty in Cornell's Department of Home Economics developed an ambitious answer: science-based sanitation bulletins designed to bring practical disease prevention methods directly into the homes of rural New York families. Tara Pearson, PhD student in Human Behavior and Design (Design and Environmental Analysis) and 2025 recipient of the College of Human Ecology's Graduate Archival Research Fellowship, immersed herself in original source material from Cornell's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections to reconstruct this largely forgotten initiative. In this curatorial talk, Pearson presents her findings from course lists, faculty correspondence, bulletins from the Farmers' Wives' Reading Course, and letters from participating women, revealing how pioneering Home Economics educators translated cutting-edge scientific understanding into guidance that everyday communities could put to use. Her research speaks not only to a pivotal moment in public health history but also to enduring questions about how institutions and communities can work together in times of scientific upheaval.