Program

NYS Historic

Subject

House, People

Location

142 Cuba Hill Rd, Huntington, NY 11743, USA

Lat/Long

40.85433, -73.35376

Grant Recipient

Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association

Christine Frederick was a prolific researcher, author, lecturer, and consumer advocate. Her work focused on the science of housekeeping, from the basic tenets of cooking and cleaning to efficient practices and modern appliances. Christine conducted experiments at her country home, “Applecroft,” in Greenlawn, Long Island. In her model kitchen, she tested nutritional recipes, product quality, and methods to standardize daily tasks.

In 1916, she appeared before the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. to support the Stephens-Ashurst Bill, which aimed to protect consumers from false advertising and price cutting by manufacturers. She also promoted home economics curricula for schoolchildren of all ages. Her work coincided with the suffragist movement and World War I, which she frequently referenced as the impetuses for economizing women’s valuable time and families’ limited resources. In the August 8, 1918 issue of The State Journal, Christine described the need to revolutionize the home:

Women must mobilize their housekeeping today just as other industries are being mobilized. The first step is to reorganize housework and do it with greater conservation of time, effort and materials. Think of the average kitchen where women spend around 80 per cent of their time. Why, often a woman takes 50 steps just to hang up a skillet! Or she bends her back over low tables and sinks, or uses the wrong tool, or one in poor condition, or wastes time by not planning her work beforehand. She uses her own knuckles and muscles where it would be far more efficient to use an improved mechanical labor-saver like a washing machine, or a dishwasher which washes the dishes of two meals in about 10 minutes.

As a nationally recognized “household expert”, Christine also worked as an editor for the Ladies’ Home Journal. Throughout her career, she wrote several books, including The New Housekeeping: Efficiency Studies in Home Management (1913) and Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home (1915), which were influenced by her personal experiences as a wife and mother. Christine remained active as an interior designer in Laguna Beach, CA in the years leading up to her death in 1970 at age 87.

As of 2021, the marker commemorating Christine Frederick stood outside her former home at 142 Cuba Street, where she conducted her home efficiency experiments.