In 1922 the United States embraced a nationwide campaign of

home ownership Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, c ...

, modernization, and

beautification Beautification is the process of making visual improvements to a town, city, or urban area. This most often involves planting trees, shrubbery, and other greenery, but frequently also includes adding decorative or historic-style street lights and ...

because of a critical shortage of homes in the years right after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. This was the Better Homes Movement, which was initiated in the pages of the Butterick Publishing Company's household magazine, ''

The Delineator ''The Delineator'' was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name ''The Metropolitan Monthly.'' Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was publis ...

'', under the editorship of Marie Mattingly Meloney. The campaign celebrated home ownership, home maintenance and improvement, and home decoration as means of motivating responsible consumer behavior; it also expanded the market for

consumer products A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but t ...

. Annual local campaigns — or "better homes demonstration weeks" — encouraged people to own, build, remodel, and improve their homes and distributed advice on creating home furnishings and decorations. In 1923, another department publication promoted ethnic and racial homogeneity by urging potential home buyers to consider the "general type of people living in the neighborhood" before making a purchase. President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

and Secretary of Commerce

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

kicked off the first Better Homes Week in October 1922 for the National Better Homes Advisory Council. The campaign centered on the 100th anniversary of

John Howard Payne John Howard Payne (June 9, 1791 – April 10, 1852) was an American actor, poet, playwright, and author who had nearly two decades of a theatrical career and success in London. He is today most remembered as the creator of "Home! Sweet Home ...

’s song ''

Home! Sweet Home! "Home, Sweet Home" is a song adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera ''Clari, or the Maid of Milan'', the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne. Bishop had earlier pub ...

''. The Better Homes Movement received broad support from both government and industry. Vice-President Calvin Coolidge served as honorary chairman of the Advisory Council of Better Homes in America, and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was president of its board of directors. To commemorate the Better Homes Movement, a replica of Payne’s

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

home in Long Island, New York, was built on the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

lawn in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

More than a million people visited the Payne House, and newspapers across America promoted other small Colonial Revival cottages like it. Because of the patriotic and national sentiment of these years so soon after World War I, many of the model homes exhibited various Colonial Revival architectural elements. Newspapers often published designs of modest homes that were affordable and attractive to encourage new home construction under the Better Homes program. The ''Guidebook for Better Homes Campaigns in Rural Communities and Small Towns'' shows how the campaign sought to communicate its ideas. ''School Cottages for Training in Home-making'' shows how high school courses incorporated the ideas of the campaign. The movement sought to educate consumers, but it also served the interests of powerful groups and organizations: The connection between the campaign's educational and commercial concerns is illustrated by Hoover's essay "The Home as an Investment" in the ''Better Homes in America Plan Book for Demonstration Week, October 9 to 14, 1922''. See also: "''Homemaker-Consumer Life in Washington, D.C., 1922-23''"The Library of Congress American Memory Website: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/coolbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(amrlm+mk03)) from the Anna Kelton Wiley Papers.

Notable Members

C. Louise Boehringer Cora Louise Boehringer (1878 – September 11, 1956) was the first female superintendent of schools in Yuma County, Arizona. She has been called "the mother of the Arizona educational system". In 2008 she was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hal ...

, State Chairman, appointed in 1928 by Herbert Hoover

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Better Homes In America Movement Defunct American political movements