based on the number of leaflets it published, the united states department of agriculture was very concerned with the lives of rural americans. several concerned the garments of country folk and were authored by clarice louisba scott (1899 - 1989). unfortunately, i have been unable to find much information about her, so i'm not sure how involved she was with the pattern drafting of the garments presented in her publications.
the scott-authored leaflets span about a twenty year period from 1937 to 1957, one leaflet about judging the quality of mens' suits being revised in 1963, and are interesting to study with regards to how the united states government was advising its rural population to deal with difficult times. there was the recession of 1937 before world war two, and then there were the post-war problems that arose from pushing women out of the jobs held by men before the war. more often than not, this meant a return to home making.
the leaflet pictured here titled "child's self-help overall" was published in 1948, the very early days of the post-war baby boom. there is nothing implicitly propagandistic in its copy with regards to the roles which women were being expected to return, but i honestly can't see a man from this period of time giving a rat's ass about its pointers. other media from the time, the hoover aero-dyne advertisement for example, was not so subtle, and i can't help but to see this leaflet in that context.
i would imagine that there would have been a series of patterns produced in conjunction with this leaflet to be sold at local fabric or department stores, maybe andrea over at unsung sewing patterns has an example in her extensive pattern library. her recent post made me think of the u.s.d.a.'s leaflet series and inspired this post.
