United States School Garden Army

School Garden Army recruitment poster by Edward Penfield (1918)

The United States School Garden Army (USSGA), was founded by the Bureau of Education[1][2] in 1917 during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson's.[3] Wilson described gardening as "just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon"[4] and opined that "food will win the war".[5] The USSGA was set up to encourage gardening among school children, in the hopes of preventing a potential food scarcity after World War I.[6] Funding for the entity comes from the War Department.[5]

The Bureau of Education distributed manuals and guides (featuring data on soil health)[7] across the nation to children ages 9–15[8] and their teachers. By Armistice Day, a large number of American children had answered the call to become "Soldiers of the Soil".[9] War Gardens are now known as Victory Gardens.[10]

  1. ^ Dooley, Yvonne (2017-01-25). "The School Garden Army in the First World War | Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business". blogs.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  2. ^ United States School Garden Army, Bureau of Education. "Join the United States School Garden Army". War Posters – World War I. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  3. ^ Schumm, Laura. "America's Patriotic Victory Gardens". HISTORY. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  4. ^ "Join the United States school garden army – Enlist now | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  5. ^ a b ""Food Will Win the War," 1917 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History". www.gilderlehrman.org. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  6. ^ Resources, University of California Agriculture and Natural. "United States School Garden Army, ca WWI". ucanr.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  7. ^ Hayden-Smith, Rose (2007). ""Soldiers of the Soil": The Work of the United States School Garden Army during World War I". Applied Environmental Education and Communication. 6: 19–29. doi:10.1080/15330150701319453. S2CID 144111531 – via Research Gate.
  8. ^ "MSU Libraries". MSU.
  9. ^ "Soldiers of the Soil – United States School Garden Army — City Farmer News". cityfarmer.info. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  10. ^ "A short history of the victory garden, or how to get through the COVID-19 crisis by planting your own food". Los Angeles Times. 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-29.