Date of Award:

5-1931

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family, Consumer, and Human Development

Committee Chair(s)

Alice J. Englund

Committee

Alice J. Englund

Abstract

It was early in the life of primitive man that he felt the need of a home to protect and shelter his family. This home, if he lived in the tropics, was a tree house or if he happened to be a mountaineer, a cave. In either case it consisted of one room only, where all the activities of the family group took place.

From this very primitive home we have a gradual evolution taking place until we have some of the convenient, well planned homes of today. They not only afford protection and shelter, but it is here that the child receives his first lessons in health, citizenship, and opportunities for self-expression. The effect of the home on the child is told by I lse Forest1. "Bad housing is a serious limitation upon the educational possibilities of the home with regard to the pre-school child; poor sanitary conditions directly endanger his physical health. Overcrowding, at best, encourages poor habits of living; at worst, it endangers morality; and it cannot fail to do some damage from the standpoint of hygiene". The influence of the home on its members cannot be overemphasized. "2No external feature of man's life is more important to his growth in character and comfort than is his home," writes R. E. Thompson.

Libraries are full of literature dealing with the planning and beautification of homes. The government has issued bulletins and committees have studied housing conditions throughout the United States, but very little actual planning has been done for the small wage earner. As a result, housing conditions for the upper income groups have improved rapidly, but progress in bettering the home of the family of small income has been slow, in comparison.

The average farmer of low income is continually trying to increase his capital by putting what he has accumulated into land, farm buildings, and farm equipment in preference to his home. It is this group that is in need of help in the matter of housing. Besides being restricted as to income, they have less contact with the outside world, and with men engaged in other professions. Many are unable to realize the demoralizing effect of the severe handicaps under which they are housed. In rural districts, people do not feel so keenly the pressure of keeping up with their neighbors in having a better home. The homes are too far separated to show an outstanding contrast.

The mother who works all day in a kitchen in which the work units are too widely scattered, the working surfaces too low, and where there is a backward routing of her work, is too tired to spend much time in enjoying and supervising her children. The same lack of opportunity to develop individual tastes and talents will be experienced by every member of the family that is not well housed as to privacy and comfort.

It is therefore hoped that this thesis will be of practical value in raising the standard of the rural home in Utah.

The purpose of this study is:

  1. To plan and furnish a home which is practical for the average size Utah rural family on an annual income of $1350.00.
  2. To plan suitable methods for financing the building of this home.

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