Catherine Beecher (1800-1878) dedicated her life to the elevation of women’s lives. To provide girls with an education equal to that available to boys, she was instrumental in starting a number of schools for them in the East and Midwest. However, Beecher was probably more influential as a writer than as an educator. Her Treatise on Domestic Economy went through 15 editions, made her name a household word and was the springboard for articles and sequels. The most popular of these was The American Woman’s Home, written with her sister Harriet Beecher Stowe, the famed author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

In all of her writings, Catherine Beecher sought to replace the standard views of women—“nervous, sickly and miserable”—with a positive and energetic woman able to confidently take charge of any household and wield a benevolent influence on the moral well being of all within. Her dedication to improving women’s lives through education and domestic reform played a large part in laying the foundation for domestic science, which would later become the field of Home Economics.