Skip to Main Content
Michigan State University

School Gardening in the early 1900s through today: BOE Documents

Primary source materials and information about gardening within K-12 schools in the early 20th century through today. Now a part of the AgNIC network!

School Home-Garden Circulars

Seventeen School Home-Garden Circulars were published by the Bureau of Education from 1915 through 1917. They are listed below in numeric order.

The title of each links to the MSU School Gardens Digital Collection page for it. To open the digitized pdf of the item, click on the word "open" beneath the pdf icon in the upper left sid of the page.  

To view the catalog record of an item, conduct a search using the title in the MSU Library catalog using Encore.


Instructions for school supervised home gardens, School Home-Garden Circular 1
February 1915, 4 pages

A course in vegetable gardening for teachers, revised ed., School Home-Garden Circular 2
January 1916, 4 pages

The winter vegetable garden, School Home-Garden Circular 3
September 1915, 3 pages

Organic matter for the home gardens, School Home-Garden Circular 4
September 1915, 2 pages

Hotbeds and coldframes for home gardens, School Home-Garden Circular 5
February 1916, 5 pages

Raising vegetable plants from seed, School Home-Garden Circular 6
February 1916, 4 pages

How to make garden soil more productive, School Home-Garden Circular 7
February 1916, 6 pages

Planting the garden, School Home-Garden Circular 8
February 1916, 3 pages

Part played by the leaf in the production of a crop, School Home-Garden Circular 9
February 1916, 3 pages

A suggestive schedule for the home-garden work in the south, School Home-Garden Circular 10
January 1916, 4 pages

List of publications for the use of school home-garden teachers, School Home-Garden Circular 11
March 1916, 14 pages

School home garden results of 1916, School Home-Garden Circular 12
January 1917, 13 pages

Garden projects in seed planting, School Home-Garden Circular 13
December 1917, 5 pages

Flower growing for school children in the elementary grades, School Home-Garden Circular 14
January 1917, 4 pages

Part played by the root in the production of a crop, School Home-Garden Circular 15
January 1917, 4 pages

Home gardening for town children / Anna Howard Shaw, School Home-Garden Circular 16
January 1917, 3 pages

Possibilities for school-directed home gardening in Atlanta, Georgia, School Home-Garden Circular 17
October 1917, 7 pages

Additional BOE documents

School Gardens / E. Gang. Report of the commissioner of education [with accompanying papers], 1899. Chapter XX, pp 1067-84.

Agricultural Education, including Nature-Study and School Gardens / James Ralph Jewell. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin 2, 1907. 142 pages.

School and Home Gardening, Chapter XV. Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1916, Vol. 1. / J. L. Randall. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, 1916. p. 259-270.

Gardening in elementary city schools, Bulletin, 1916, no. 40 / Chester Deacon Jarvis. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Education, 1916. 74 pages

Garden clubs in the schools of Englewood, New Jersey. Bulletin, 1917, no. 26 / Charles Orchard Smith.  Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, 1917. 44 pages.

Cycles of garden life and plant life: A series of projects in nature study for elementary schools / Florence C. Fox. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education Bulletin 15, 1925. 108 pages.

Home and School Gardening, Chapter XVII. In: An educational study of Alabama. United States. Bureau of Education, United States. Office of Education Bulletin, no. 41, 1919.

A vegetable gardening syllabus for teachers / Gowans, Ethel. United States. Bureau of Education, 1915. [Later republished, slightly revised as School Home-garden Circular 2]. 12 pages.

The winter vegetable garden (prepared in the Division of School and Home Gardening). United States. Bureau of Education, 1915. 12 pages.