Mabel Hyde Kittredge

Mabel Hyde Kittredge (September 19, 1867 – May 7, 1955) was an early 20th century home economist and social worker who is best known as a crusader for school-lunches and an author of books on household management.

[5] Kittredge became a household adviser because she believed in the importance of the home in national life and because she was shocked by the conditions in which many immigrants lived.

[4] Under the umbrella title Association of Practical Housekeeping Centers, she established the first of several "model flats" in a New York City tenement in 1902, declaring: "If household administration is to take its place in the front rank with the other professions of the day, educators as well as women must wake up and realize that the whole housekeeping question is dependent upon scientific management, efficiency, skilled labor, and effective tools.

"[6] Her 1911 book Housekeeping Notes: How to Furnish and Keep House in a Tenement Flat was a compendium of household management lessons taught in these centers, and her 1918 book The Home and Its Management offered practical advice on thrift in furnishing a home as well as in shopping for daily necessities.

Papers relating to Kittredge's work with the Commission for Relief in the period 1915-18 are held by the Hoover Institution Archives in Stanford, California.