Little Machines in Their Gardens: A History of School Gardens in America, 1891 to 1920

Abstract

“Little Machines in their Gardens: A History of School Gardens in America, 1891 to 1920” explores the rise and decline of the school garden movement in the United States. The paper first documents the early history of the gardens and establishes them as a national phenomenon that weaves together Progressive governance, the Back to Nature Movement, and early education reform. The paper then seeks to explain the sudden demise of the school gardens after 1920 by exploring the changes in American urban life and the nature of the professions that promoted the gardens