Available courses at the University of Delaware, circa 1940-41

This is the cover of the thick volume that served as the course catalog at the University of Delaware in 1940-41, when my grandmother was a student there. She was enrolled at the Women's College, but also took some classes at Delaware College¹, as she majored in biology en route to an eventual career as an allergy technologist, after the war.

Here's a sampling of some of the classes that were available at the University of Delaware at this time:

Delaware College

(Key to abbreviations: Ag Ec = Agricultural Economics, AgM = Agricultural Mechanics, Agr = Agronomy, AI = Animal and Poultry Industry, Ba = Bacteriology, Physiology, and Hygiene, Bibl = Bibliography, CE = Civil Engineering, Soc = Sociology)

• Ag Ec 302 — Farm Management. The problems of organization, coordination and management of the enterprises of the farm.
• AgM 202 — Field Machinery. An introduction to the fundamental field machines with emphasis on principles of construction, adjustment, repair, and care.
• AgM 402 — Farmstead Equipment. Operation, design, and care of water, sewage, heating, and refrigeration systems on the farmstead.
• Agr 321 — Soil Management. The classification, conservation, fertilization and management of soils.
• AI 427 — Dairy Cattle Management. The fundamental principles of dairy farm husbandry including questions of feeding, breeding, management, sales, advanced registry testing, cost of milk production, etc.
• Ba 407 — Poultry Diseases. A study of the infectious diseases of poultry which are of great economic importance to the poultry industry.
• Bibl 102 — Use of Books and Libraries. A survey of about 200 of the more important dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, catalogs, bibliographies, and reference handbooks together with training in their use and instruction in the compilation of special bibliographies. Lectures with problems to be work on a laboratory basis.
• CE 341 — Highways. Economics, principles of design and methods of construction of different types of roads and pavements.²
• Soc 304 — Criminology and penology. A study of the backgrounds and causes of crime, together with a survey of the penological measures which have been and are being used to meet this social menace.
• Soc 309 — Race Relations. A survey and analysis of American race relations. Consideration is given to the problems arising from the presence of such groups as the Negro, the Indian, the Oriental.

Women's College

(Key to abbreviations: Ec = Economics, Ed = Education, FA = Fine and Applied Arts, HE = Home Economics, M = Mathematics)

• Ec 309 — Money, Credit and Banking. An analysis of the theories of money, credit, and banking and their relation to prices.
• Ed 202 — Introduction to Teaching. A survey course designed to acquaint the student with important aspects of organized education as a major social enterprise and to lay the basis for later professional study for those who may wish to prepare for the profession of teaching.
• FA 101 — Elementary Design and Color. A study of the elementary principles of art structure and color theory with special emphasis on their application to everyday life. Practice in original design.
• FA 241 — Bookbinding and Tooled Leather. Background of past processes and present day tendencies in bookbinding and tooled leather. Creation of original designs worked out of each of the above crafts, making and decorating of books, portfolios, bags, etc.
• HE 102 — Elementary Meal Preparation. The fundamental processes underlying the selection and preparation of foods, their function in the diet, processes of cookery, food production, distribution, and manufacture. Preparation and serving of simple meals.
• HE 313 — Clothing Problems. Family clothing problems at various economic levels, tailoring, children's clothes.
• HE 422 — Family Life. A study of the principles underlying successful family life; parent-child and sibling relationships; the family's leisure; the family as teacher and interpreter for its younger members.
• M 446 — Higher Algebra.³ Matrices; bilinear forms; linear equations; quadratic and Hermitian forms; symmetric and Hermitian bilinear forms; linear transformations; invariant factors and elementary divisors.⁴

Related posts

• Photos of the University of Delaware, circa 1937-41
• 1914 Delaware College junior prom group photograph

Footnotes

1. There is some overlap, especially in the areas of general education, among the classes that were offered by Delaware College and the Women's College. So it's likely that many of those classes were co-ed at that point.
2. If you're interested in the history of American highways and their construction, you should check out The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift.
3. "Elective for Seniors of sufficient mathematical maturity."
4. I don't know what any of those things are. I would have stuck with the chickens or Use of Books and Libraries.