School Gardens (1900-1944)

Historical context

School gardens, past and present, connect students to nature and provide opportunities for student engagement in their communities.

This set highlights various school gardens and youth gardening programs in the first half of the 20th century, and in various places across the United States. This document provides additional context and resources.

Culturally relevant pedagogy considerations

Students can consider the communities where they live — rural, suburban, or urban — and the gardens, green space, or agriculture present. Why is gardening important in all of these communities? If your school has a garden, make connections between your garden and school gardens of the past, including the students tending the space and the food grown. How do these gardens look similar and different across time, and across different parts of the country?

This set was compiled by Angela Bianco, fourth-grade teacher in White Bear Lake.

Classroom ready resources

Learning About School Gardens (Elementary)

School Gardens to School Lunches (Elementary School)

New York school children making a garden

Date: 1900
Creator: Bain News Service
Type: Photograph

School garden, Muskogee Oklahoma

Date: 1917
Creator: Lewis Hine
Type: Photograph

Gathering crops from school gardens, Pittsburg

Date: 1918
Creator: American Red Cross
Type: Photograph

Join the United States school garden army

Date: 1918
Creator: Edward Penfield
Type: Poster

School gardens produce for market, Clayton School

Date: 1918
Creator: American Red Cross
Type: Photograph

School garden, where work is play

Date: 1919
Creator: Keystone View Co.
Type: Photograph

War gardens over the top

Date: 1919
Creator: Maginel Wright Barney
Type: Poster

School garden, Gee’s Bend Alabama

Date: 1939
Creator: Marion Post Wolcott
Type: Photograph

Working in school garden, Gee’s Bend

Date: 1939
Creator: Marion Post Wolcott
Type: Photograph

Victory Garden planning, Girl Scouts

Date: 1943
Creator: Ann Rosener
Type: Photograph

Children’s school Victory Garden, New York

Date: 1944
Creator: Edward Meyer
Type: Photograph

Contact

Meghan Davisson (meghan.davisson@mnhs.org), grant director

Disclaimer: Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.