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.