Home Canning & Drying of Vegetables & Fruits, Victory Edition, 1919

Historical/Biographical Note

Historical/Biographical Note

Victory gardens were originally called war gardens during World War I (1914-1918). President Woodrow Wilson called on Americans to plant vegetable gardens to ward off the possible threat of food shortages in the United States and in Europe.

Charles Lathrop Pack was chosen to head the National War Garden Commission. He and others developed and distributed war garden pamphlets to teach novice gardeners about soil, compost, and crops. Coinciding with national rations on meat, sugar, fat and flour, these widely distributed pamphlets also instructed gardeners on how to prevent food waste and promoted food storage, seed-saving, canning and preserving.

The US sent 20 million tons of food overseas by July 1919. According to the 1919 pamphlet War Gardening and Home Storage of Vegetables, the War Gardens of America produced food "which helped establish the balance of power between starvation and abundance" in Europe during the final two years of the war.

Sources

Johnson, Sarah Wassberg. (2023, March 15). World War Wednesday:The War Garden Guyed (1918).The Food Historian, Food History Blog.www.thefoodhistorian.com/blog/world-war-wednesday-the-war-garden-guyed-1918
National WWI Museum and Memorial. (2026). Victory Gardens in World War I, Sow the Seeds of Victory. www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/victory-gardens-world-war-i
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. (n.d.). Gardening for the Common Good.//library.si.edu/exhibition/cultivating-americas-gardens/gardening-for-the-common-good>.