Guest Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald, Dec. 1, 2025 (#221)

victoria0327
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The Alba Bales Home Management House is located on the campus of North Dakota State University, Fargo. In its day, this beautiful three-story living laboratory effectively gave home economics coeds everyday homemaking experiences prior to having received their BS degrees. Remember--the 1950s was the "decade of wives, mothers, and clean houses."

Our tour guide is Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald, Dean of the College of Human Sciences and Education, retired. This fun chat will be a walk down memory lane for many NDSU coeds. It was for Jackie and Janine whose home economics curriculums required the memorable experience of the home management house.

From the house's inception in 1917 to its rededication in 1954 to its retirement in 1986, countless young women who studied home economics experienced life "in the house." Perhaps, you had been one of them?

What is your favorite memory? Can you recall any scandalous stories from the weeks you lived in the Alba Bales house? If this living classroom could tell some stories of impropriety which occurred within its walls, what would they entail? Dr. Fitzgerald enlightens us on that topic!