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Prior to the Industrial Revolution in America, the family was mainly an economic unit that lived together. Often extended family would also live with a family, especially in the more rural areas Sometimes included nonfamily members who cared for house and children. Once old enough, children were often sent off to help other families.
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Men were going away from the house for work as family roles became more defined. The middle class and modern family -- consisting of a breadwinning husband, housewife, and children -- emerged during this time.
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Ellen Swallow is born Swallow Farms after the Industrial Revolution -
In 1870, Ellen Swallow graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-history-of-economic-thought/article/ellen-richardss-home-economics-movement-and-the-birth-of-the-economics-of-consumption/59F5DF4FCB70A362734A8E9890CE2E28#:~:text=FROM%20SANITARY%20SCIENCE%20TO%20HOME%20ECONOMICS%20(1870s%E2%80%931890s),-Ellen%20Richards%27s%20maiden&text=Her%20work%20in%20hygiene%20and,by%20germs%20in%20the%20home.
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Throughout her life Ellen Swallow-Richards continued to study and educate people. It was her point that hygiene should be taught in schools that eventually lead to the development of Home Economics. Ellen Swallow-Richards believed that at the very least, people should know how to stop the spread of disease by germs in their houses
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After Vasser College Ellen set her sights on applying to MIT. At this time, women were not allowed to earn a degree from them, but 2 years after applying she was given permission to take the exams for entering the bachelor's degree program. She was always denied the opportunity to get her doctorate (Moore; Asay).
She went back to MIT to get a second bachelors at MIT and Master of Arts at Vasser College -
Ellen Swallow married Robert Hallowell Richards in 1875. Robert Richards was the chairman of MIT's mining department. https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/ellen-h-swallow-richards -
In 1876 the Women's Laboratory was established at MIT through her unending ambition to continue women's education. Three years later, in 1879, she as finally recognized as an assistant instructor there, although she still wasn't receiving pay.
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Ellen Swallow-Richards wrote a book "The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning: A Manuel for Housekeepers" which used her scientific knowledge on topics like good nutrition, pure foods, proper clothing, physical fitness, and sanitation. She spent a lot of her time working for better discipline of home economics.
https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2014/08/ellen-swallow-richards.html -
in 1908, at a Lake Placid, NY conference, the American Home Economics Association was formed, putting Ellen Swallow-Richards as it's very first president