Who Shall Meet the Foe If Not She? Women’s Participation in the Movement Leading Up to the Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906, As Seen Through the Pages of Good Housekeeping

Abstract

This paper examines women’s participation in the movement leading up to the Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906 through a close reading of Good Housekeeping magazine between the years 1885 and 1907. The piece offers a lengthy chronological overview of Good Housekeeping’s coverage of the problems of food adulteration and misbranding. Not only did the magazine campaign for state and national legislation, but it instituted its own certification system for pure foods as well. The paper also explores Good Housekeeping’s relationships with other actors in the pure food, drink, and drug movement, including women’s clubs, temperance advocates, and Harvey Wiley. Articles and editorials in Good Housekeeping illustrate various themes emphasized by women pure food reformers, such as moralism, faith in science, and the idea that pure food was uniquely a woman’s issue. This paper suggests that Good Housekeeping’s longstanding interest in the problems of pure food, drink, and drugs lends credence to historians who argue that women were a vital part of the campaign for a federal law from the very beginning.