From Catherine Beecher To Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice Sarah A. Leavitt

A
C [' L T [ R ",1
CJ
HIJTORY 0 .
DO JI I~ \ II C
~_ l r
Acknowledgment, xi
Introduction, 1
Chapter 1
Going to Hou ekeeping: Creating a Frugal and H Home,
CIUlpter 2
The of the Dorniologi t: Science in the Home, 40
CIUlpter 3
Americanization, Model Home, and Lace Curtain , 73
Chapter 4
Modern! m: No Junk! I the Cry of the New Interior, 97
Chapter 5
Color I Running Riot Character, Color, and Children, 126
Chapter 6
Our Own North American Indian : Romancing the Pa t, 14
Togetherne and the Open-Space Plan, 171
Conclu ion, 195
Notes, 207
Bibliog raphy, 229
Index, 245
"Martha Stewart's bigge t fan" S
UA volume of Univer al Ready Reference" 13
UA Chri tian House" 23
Hall furniture 26
The parlor a how room 29
House floor plan, 1 0 SO
Parlor interior, Denver, olorado 32
Parlor interior, Gandy, Nebra ka 33
Kitchen torage plan 54
"One woman power kitchen" 55
Corning test kitchen 59
Hou e plumbing y tern ketch 61
"A properly plumbed hou e" 62
"Wicker, reed, or gra furniture" 6
" hiny, waxed and polished linoleum floor" 70
"Living room of the model flat" 79
Practical hou ekeeping center cour e card 2
Cleaning day at the model flat S
Interior view of Gwenthean Cottage 4
"How a bedroom wa improved"
Home economic El Rito Normal chool 90
Turki h cozy corner 99
Craftsman living room 100
"Steel hou e" living room 10
"A new world through chemi try" liS
"Type offurniture that hould be avoided" 116
An "ill-proportioned, overloaded mantel" 119
Display of wedding gift 120
"The virtue of elimination" 12S
"Adju tment to the size oflittle children" ISO
"A room to her elf" ISS
Room "for Man and Boy" 136
"Diagram of a color wheer IS9
be e;h IT'd at r aal

.. olor i at I a t half of th attractivene " 146
Mi ion furniture I5S
Parlor interior ~ ith a avajo rug 156
Vantine' Wonder Book 161
•
The New England kitchen 162
"Early American fire ide group" 164
olonial artifa arrang d in a hom 16
A "do-it-your elf" ouple 174
.. ouble duty in Ii ing-dining- n . ment" 1 0
ba ement "re rom" 1 1
.. cale guid for planning furniture arrangement" 1
Floor plan for an L- haped open pa e 1 .;
Dayb d a an example of onvertible furnitur 1 6
.. ommand-po t kit hen" 1
D ep in a Sftie kit h n plan J90
Martha tewart' Entertaining 19
x [ Illustrations ]
I
of the dome tic advi or in this book would . pprove of my

own hou e decorating hi tory. It' been a long time ince I taped pho-
to of movie tar to the walls, but the level of entiment in my a ort-
ment ofbri -a-brae would have made the e worn n ga p. With apolo-
gie , therefore, for my own colJections of "junk," I'd fir t like to thank
the hundreds of dome tic advi. or who e book I read for being bold
in their critici m and 0 full of idea.
This project va tly improved by a re ear h fellow hip from the
Winterthur Mu eum, Library and Garden in Winterthur, Delaware,
which gave me time to read through an extensive collection of ad-
vice manual and to be among exciting and energetic holar. Spe-
cial thanks to Shirley Wajda, and al 0 to Pat Elliot, Margaret Welch,
and Neville Thompson. Thanks to Brown Univer ity for funding much
of my research with a Fellowship. Thank to the Inter-
library Loan taff at the Rockefeller Library at Brown Univer ity,
Norlin Library at the Uni er ity of olorado, and the Boulder Pub-
lic Library, and to photo and pecial collection archi i ts at orn-
ing Incorporated, the Denver Public Library, the Nebra ka tate Hi -
torical ociety, the Center for Southwest Re earch, Hagley Mu urn
and Library, Winterthur, and the Colorado Chautauqua A 0 iation.
Thank you to Sian Hunter and the editorial staff at the Univer ity of
North Carolina Pre for being intere ted in thi project and for guid-
ing it along with grace and optimism.
Thi book cou ld not have happened without the con tant and tep-
by- tep of 0 many important people in my life, e peciaBy dur-
ing the pa t ten year ince I started graduate choo!. Thi include
who watched the newspapers, magazines, and televi ion show
and ent me information about Martha Stewart, and tho e who en-
dured Martha's Superbowl hors d'oeuvre, homemade cracker, and
other experiment. Mo t importantly, thank you to my family: my par-
ent Lewi and Judy Leavitt, my brother David Leavitt, and my grand-
mother ally Walzer.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the teacher I've had over
AL Ie r recr 'Jk be ser rmc! (Tal fIaill

the year, Mr. Schaeffer, M . Kohler, Mr. Brumm, and the
late Elizabeth Palmer at Madison We t High School; Patricia Hill,
George Creeger, and Michael Harri at Wesleyan University; and
Robert Emlen at Brown University. special thanks to Mari Jo Buhle,
who believed I could finish the dis ertation in the mountains and who
made this project infinitely better with her comments. Thank you to
Richard Meckel and Patrick Malone for their help with this and other
project. Many other have served as mentors and teachers in ales
formal capacity: I would particularly like to thank Dione Longley and
Gail Fowler Mohanty for teaching me about material culture, muse-
um , and how to be a hi torian.
A special thank is due to my incredible graduate chool reading
group, the Female Mutual Improvement ociety (FMJ ). Early mem-
bers Laura Brigg and Marie Myer and especially Sarah Pur ell,
Laura Prieto, Chri sy Cortina, Donna Curtin, and Jane Lanca ter have
read thi book at variou tages and have always good advice
and encouragement. For her help with this manuscript and for many
happy adventure , both and otherwise, I would like to thank
Marla Miller. While at Brown, I had the great fortune of r:neeting
people who enjoyed television, field trips, and dinner partie as well
. higher education. Thank to Su ie Castellano, Sara Errington, and
Marie Myers (nob dy ever had better graduate chool roommates)
and to Abuelo, Bruce Bauer, Bill Capin ki, Kim
Jay Chervenak, Matthew Coffey Li a Davis, Briann Greenfield, L. E.
Hartmann-Ting, Dave laia, Colin McLaren, Laura Prieto, arah Pur-
cell, Ed Rafferty, Rebecca Smith, Mark Trodden, and Grant Wil on
for the general festivities during my five years in Providence.
While working on thi book, I spent a lot of time not working
on the book, and I am indebted to many people who shared vari-
form of entertainment ranging from hike in the Rocky Moun-
tain , to Fat Tire at Bullfrogs, to cooking extravaganza, to board
games. Though the e people have not read book, they were in-
trumental in its eventual completion. Thank you to my oldest and
dear t friend Jessica Feierman and Ruth Friedman, and to Anita
• Amy Johnson, Dana Rhode, Stephanie Morgan, u annah
Beal -Simon, Michelle Elisburg, Kim Gayle, Laura Schiavo, Beth
hakman Hurd, Mamie Reichelderfer, and to my cou ins Sarah Walzer
and John Barrett, and Becky and Keith Walzer-Goldfeld. Thanks to
Dan and Erika Drezner, and Shaun Kennedy, Liz Skramstad,
the NIST happy hour folk especially Su ie Youn, Jim Booth, Gene
••
Xli [ Acknowledgnumts J
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

I
Hilton, Donna Hurley and ae Woo Nam a well a to Jeff and

Severine Hutchin , Nancy Lee Miller, Kay Oltman, Martha Vail, and
Janet McFarland, who all helped me feel at home in Colorado.
And, finally, thank to Jay, who me out the we k I wa up-
po ed to tart working on my propo aI, married me the
week after I turned in the di ertation, upported me (emotionally and
financially) while I revi ed the manuscript, and probably know more
about . advice manual than I do. Thank you for the unfail-
ing encouragement and good cheer, and for haring my enjoyment of
magnet-worthy field trip from od house, to coal mine, to brewer-
ie , to the peppermint room. Most importantly, thank you for teaching
me that, de pite my abiding love for material culture, the be t thing
in life are not thing.
• ••
[ Acknuwiedgments ] XIII
AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlClr-atenaal
•
AuteursrechteliJk beschermd materiaal

The organizers of the 1996 Rhode I land Flower and Garden Show
landed the perfect gue t speaker for their annual luncheon. Held on
a bright but chilly New England February afternoon, the event took
place at the brand-new Westin Hotel and Conference Center in down-
town Providence. The lunch itself, at eventy-five dollars a plate,
would be gourmet fare, but it was not the rea on for the large crowd.
The guest speaker provided the appeal. Women from all over the re-
gion, along with a few men, gathered in the banquet hall where table
decked with early pring daffodil pre ented a celebratory scene. In
the nearby conference hall, exhibitors presented a mind-boggling ar-
ray of tree ,shrubs, garden landscape projects, and exotic flowers. But
for now, the lucky lunch guest turned their eye to the tage. Enter
Martha Stewart.
The topic of her lecture wa the garden at her Westport, Con-
necticut, home. The program was to include a slide show filled with
befores-and-afters, meant to excite the member of the audience with
her stunning arti tic ense and the beautiful projects for which she was
beginning to become famou . A few minutes before the slide show wa
et to begin, the projector broke down, and a voice announced that the
speech would be delayed. Thi wa my chance. I approached the head
table and introduced myself. I wa writing a dissertation on the his-
tory of dome tic-advice manual , I explained, and I wa intere ted to
know if she thought of her work as having hi torical precedent. In the
cour e of thi brief encounter in the glittering ballroom of the We tin
Hotel, Stewart readily conver ed about the role of history in her work.
Stewart di played a remarkable knowledge of the history of dome -
tic advice. She cited several names of nineteenth-century advi or and
noted that she had some of their work in her office, which she referred
to from time to time for her magazine. Her assistant, sitting next to
her, affirmed that Stewart loved to read from the old manuals and got
many of her story ideas from them. Indeed, over the year Martha
Stewart Living had featured then-and-now stories of the changes and
continuities in American decorating. Stewart herself thought that the
AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

hj tory of dome tic advice and hou ehold arrangement wa worthy
of eriou attention. he wi hed me luck!
a Martha tewart afi ion ado my elf, I felt a kin hip with the
women at the luncheon, even if a a graduate tudent th exorbitant fee
had all but precluded my attendance at thi fea t. I wa a longtime sub-
crib r to Martha tewart Living, had prepared her speciaJ-o ca ion
hor d'oeuvre for a recent uperbowl party, and felt I had good cre-
dential to peak to her. Though I tried to ee her from an intelle tual
p r pective, I could not help but be influenced by my (often ecret)
love of her work.
In fact, I had been featured in a new paper tory that morning about
the up oming vi it from the dome tic diva. The article, "Mad about
Martha: tewart' Rhode 1 land Fans Try to Live Her Way," featured
everal local women who called them elve Martha tewart' .
upporter . Linda McGowan "make doll, bottle vinegar and dries
flow r ," claimed the photo aption under an image ofa miling woman
holding a teacup and urrounded by craft of her own creation. Bet y
o e made hristma ornament out of old handelier. My role had
b en to comment on the hi torical continuity of Stewart' work in
order to provide ome ort of context for the dome tic fervor weep-
ing Rhode 1 land. Reporter Keren Mahoney Jone noted that, for her
subj t, ·'all thi dome ti ity fill the free time that you ha \ hen
you ar not working," even though all the women featured had full-
time job .2 'There i a lot of hao in the world today, chao that we
can do nothing about (or feel like there is nothing we can do about it).
But we can do omething about our home .'"
Jon had put out a all for Rhode 1 land r to write to the new -
paper explaining their devotion to Martha Stewart. he r ceived doz-
ns of re pon e ,including orne in hand-made envelope tamped
with unique design. "1 find the magazine [Martha tewart Living]
both informative and u eful," wrote one woman. "Many of the idea
in the magazine are very practi al and for everyday living, but
orne are ju t plain fun to look at read and maybe even daydream
about a little." Another reader noted that "we u ually dine on Corning-
war rather than Lenox but oh! Fanta ies are wonderful:'" The e
women a tutely identified Stewart' writing as dome tic fanta y.
The Rhode and other who share their devotion to Martha
tewart know that Stewart i a bu ine woman. They u d that
he ha a taff of de igner and gardener to help her and
that the idea he bring forth usually need to be adapted a cording to
2 [ hltroduction ]
A '~I SC' IT'd

, I f
This Rhode [ lallder, "Martha t.ewart's biggestfilll,' showed ciffher projtcts to the
Providen Journal-Bulletin ill /996. (photo courtesy Provid n e Journal)
budget and life tyl . They harbor no illu ion that th ir hom ouid
conform to her televi ion- et image of the perfect hou e. But they ap-
pre iate her idea. They want to make their live or at lea t their day-
dream, more deli iou more unique more decadent, more inviting.
They want to have home and familie that re pect their effort and
that benefit from their up r i ion. After the talk and the luncheon,
Martha held a book igning in another part of the hotel. Participant
waited in line for everal hour . Many brought homemade proje t to
hare with tewart, orne a gift, orne' a evid nee of their
devotion. Admirer from afar, the e women now had th han e to
hare their dom ti fanta' with other women and with tewart. At
the end of the twentieth century, middle-cla American worn n re -
ognjzed dome ti fanta yand incorporated it into their live. Martha
tewart had authorized them to dream.
Martha tewart and her various project owe a great deal to hi -

tory. he and her taff continue to learn from old de ign book, pat-
terns, color , recipe, and other guideline . They u De gla
and old Pyrex mixing bowls, antique bucket and retro offi furni-
ture. Clearly, they have a lot of re pect for the dome tic advi or who
came before them. However, though the talf of Martha tewart Omni-
[ Introduction ]
AL Lr rc r Ik be s r r I n III
media may understand their debt to the mo t of Martha' fan are
not familiar with th genealogy of dome tic advice. ince the I so ,
many dome tic advi or have paved the way for merican, particu-
larly middl Ameri an women, to under tand the me age and
promi e of Martha tewart' work.
Dome tic advi ors have alway remained engaged in their culture
and aware of important' Over the year, they helped educate
women about anitation and de ign, about patrioti m, religion, and
the family. Their dome ti create the idealized i ion
of hom held by 0 many Arneri an . Looking at the theme of do-
me ti advice over time, it be orne clear that Martha tewart
joined an ongoing about dome ticity that ha panned over
a entury. Hundred of women in everal generation have written
dome tic-ad i e manual ,regardle of the ever-changing bound a
between women and the home. The ubjects di cu ed in d . ~
advi e manual have remained remarkably con i tent over time, en-
com . va t change in the role of women in American .ety.
Dom ticity, in it many different form , tran cend hi torical period
and continue to be m aningful to generation of American women.
Martha tewart ha a hieved almo t complete media aturation.
he appear daily in her own televi ion how on both cable and
n twork tel vision, and monthly at the new tand in her magazine
Martha Stewart Living. he al 0 appear regularly on the radio, in the
new paper, and in per on at pecial event around the country. Her
Kmart line bring her to one audience, and her lavi h wedding idea
to another. Her web ite provide live chat, bulletin board where vi i-
tor an idea, and a direct link to h r catalogue, Martha by Mail.
It i almo t im to claim that he ha not addre ed a need in
American culture for dome tic advice.
But thi need i not new. Indeed, her particular genre of advi e ha
a long hi tory, and our ne d to li ten to her ha precedent. tewart
ha joined an ongoing di cu ion about furniture, window, and deco-
rating. Thi book, in e ence a genealogy of dome tic advice, locate
Martha tewart in a hi torical context of writing about the home
that ha been important to American ultur for more than a entury.
Thi book inve tigate cultural theme in dome tic advice for the cen-
tury between 1 50 and 1950, empha izing the period between 1 90
and 1940; it begin with om earlier work and anticipate Martha
tewart' ri e to prominence in the 1990 . The theme of morality,
ience, Americanization, and moderni mare een from the point of
4 [ Introductio1l ]
Al.tCl.r _ ccrtel1lk bcscrcr'llClI" atenaal

view of dome ticitl. Later chapters explore the intere t in exotic, hi -
toric culture a expre ed through decoration and through
the rise of " in the 1950 . The empha is on the fifty
year between 1890 and 1940 demonstrates the relationships between
the home and the rise of formal education and profe sionalization for
women, as well as the dramatic influence of consumer culture in con-
tructing expectations for the household in that period.
Furniture, curtains, and bathroom fixture do not have inherent
qualities of morality or character. Dome tic-advice manual give the e
items cultural significance and characteri tic. Just as a cigar i never
really just a cigar, a living room can never be just a living room. The
ofa and the pictures on the wall, the items on the mantelpiece, and
the rug on the floor, all these things combine to form a picture of the
family. But who decides what that picture looks like and what it
Domestic advisors, from their position as social commentator , have
pent the better part of two centuries translating the meaning of fur-
niture and living rooms to the American public. Their manuals and
magazines, newspaper column and trade manuals in truct American
on how to better understand their furniture, . wall treat-
ment , fireplaces, lighting fixtures, flower boxes, and bric-a-brac.
Just like advertisements, domestic advice works as a kind of fun-
mirror, distorting reality to show a society as orne people wish
it could be.5 But most of the advice wa never followed. The writing
of dome tic advi ors demonstrate cultural ideals, not cultural realities.
Domestic advice cannot provide evidence about actual home decora-
tion or what the majority of women thought about parlor sets. Instead,
the erich ource illustrate the ways in which cultural ideal could
be embedded in household furnishings and ornamentation. Domestic-
advice manuals have always been the stuff of fanta y. Their historical
value lies in uncovering the way certain women understood the con-
nection between their homes and the larger world. At its most funda-
mental level, the true domestic fanta y was that women held the power
to reform their society through first reforming their homes.
American domestic-advice manuals emerged in the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries from women's writing in cookbooks
and etiquette manuals. Americans began by importing their hou ehold
advice from England, but oon began to produce what they consid-
ered specifically American advice. In fact, many early dome tic-advice
manuals, such as Lydia Maria Child's The American Frugal Housewife
(1828) and Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe' The Ameri-
[ Introduction ] 5
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! (Tal fIaill

can Woman's Home (J 69) included the word "Ameri an" in the title to
differentiate them from Engli h work on imilar ubject. American
began writing dome tic ad ice in the 1 SO and 1 40 be au e
the in litera y among women provided them with an
audience, and a ri e in a white population pro-
vided them with a bject: the home.
The middle- I American home in the mid-nineteenth entury
wa a crowded place. Newly available curtain ,rug, wallpaper ,
bed , and kitchen item filled the room , often to overflowing, and
women turned to dome tic advice in order to under tand their ur-
rounding . From mid-century on, dome tic advice became more read-
ily available. Ea tern . . from Bo ton to Buffalo to pu
magazine Home Monthly, Home Almanac, and Hou ekeeper' An-
nual ju t to keep up with the flow of writing about the home. By th
turn of the hventieth century, dome tic-advice olumn appeared in
10 al n w paper ,r gional . and full-length book . For mo t
of the p riod between 1 and 1950, the publi hing center for do-
me tic advice remained in Bo ton, New York, and, to a extent,
in Philadelphia. But citie like Denver, Detroit, and De Moin a1 0
6
publi hed dome tic-advic manual . The advice book ranged from
colle tion of imple hou ehold tip to fictionalized tom meant to
influence and in pire. The book could be along from friend to
friend, read aloud, or pa ed on to the next generation. They helped
middl -cla women navigat the confu ing con umer world and make
en e of their b longing.
Dome tic advice often went hand-in-hand with education for girl
and women. atharine Bee her, a mid-to-Iate-nineteenth-century do-
me tic advi or, b lieved in education for girl and opened her own
hool where he taught her about dome ticity. home
e onomic became a recognized field in the early twentieth century,
women found unprecedented profe ional employment in the field of
dome ticity. And, a the twentieth century progre ed and women be-
arne more invol ed in other field , dome ticity remained an impor-
tant part of Am rican popular culture in the form of adverti ement
and magazine . Dome tic education for women, whether formalized
by Becher or popularized by Martha tewart, ha remain d a vital
part of Ameri an life. Mo t American tudent tak home-economic
in public hool, learning how to care for their home and
familie . Dome tic advi or of the nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
6 [ Introduction ]

turie helped the curriculum topic, uch anitation nutri-
tion, and interior design, that are often till u ed today.
•
of the author of thi advice never became famou . How-
ever, orne dome tic advi or became hou ehold name in their day,
including Emily and other became important in their re pective
field, uch a Ellen Richard in home economic or Lillian Gilbreth in
time-and-motion tudie. Late-twentieth-century reprinting of Lydia
Maria Child and Catharine Beecher's work have made the e book
acce ible to a whole new generation, often to complement women'
hi tory reading Ii t at college and uni .ties. Mo t . advice
manual, however, re t today in the rare book room of Jjbrarie and
archive, their trong opinion muted by time. Some author, includ-
ing Mabel Hyde Kittredge, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, and Mary
Northend, enjoyed important career a home economi t teacher,
and author ,and their names are recognized today by their home com-
munities but not by the country at large. There i a building named
after Soph Bre kinridge at her alma mater, the Univer ity of
Chicago. Marion Harland appear on a women' heritage trail in her
home of Virginia. Harriet Spofford i remembered by many today
a an important writer of Gothic fiction, and Emily Genauer for her
1974 Pulitzer prize. All of the writers of advice, though they
had widely varying career, contributed to an important national dia-
logue about the home.
Why is dome tic advice so compelling to American women? Th'
book will begin to answer that que rion, which eem to intrigue 0
many cultural critics at the beginning of the twenty-fir t century.
Martha tewart' is part of a legacy that ha taken different
over the decade , but that has con i tently brought the promi e
of dome ticity to of American women. "So mu h ha been
written on hou ehold and dome tic affair ," wrote Eunice Bee her in
1 79, "that it may eern to many a worn-out topic, about which nothing
more ofintere t can be written. But 'the hou ehold; a we interpret it,
i an inexhau tible theme.'"
[ Introduction ] 7

GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING:
CREATING A FRUGAL & HONEST HOME
·Why: says Helm, "[ have tJwughi qfthe eclat qfthe e1Igagement, and
thm the buying lots qf things and having them IlUJde up in the very latest
tyle, and the cards, the cake, the presents, and the bridesmaids. [ shall have
a1l elegant veil and a white silk, and be married in church, and have three
aratoga trunks, and a wedding triP, and-well, that's asJar as I've gone.
I suppose after that one boards at a Iwte~ or has to go to Iwusekeeping, and
I'm afraid it would be drea4fuLLy humdrum. But no more so thanflirting
with one and another year after year, and seeing all the girls married I!fr
"For my part, • said Miriam, hi have not leaked at all this style and
preparation that HeLm describes, because 1 know 1 cannot ajford it. But I
have thought I sJwuLd like a Little home all to myself, and 1 would keep it
as nice as I could, and 1 wouLd try to help my husband on in the world, and
we should have things.finer only as we could really alford it. Atul l should
want my home to be very happy, so that all who belonged in it felt that it
was the best place i1l all tite world. I slwuld want to gather up all the good
that I couLd everywhere, a1ld bring it into my home, as the bee brings aLL its
spoils to the hive.•
"And 1,· said Hester. ·warn to make myself a scholar, and I shall marry
a scholar, and we shall be happy in learning, a,ul in increasing knowledge.
A,ul he shall be my helper, atul l hall help him, atul so together we shall
climb to the top qf the tree.•
Vtmity. Love, ambition. These were the three Graces, which, incarnated
i1l my nieces. sat on my piazza. I said to thl!17L' 'Let me talk to you
eriously upon the subject qf a Home.·
- J uLia McNair Wright, The Complete Home

In Julia McNair Wright's 1879 domestic-advice manual, The Complete
Home, she took the voice of "Aunt ophronia" and di cus ed home-
making with her three nieces, Helen, Miriam, and He ter. Each niece
repre ented a certain ubset of American women. Miriam, as the niece
who wanted a comfortable, imple home where everyone would feel
welcome, represented the ideal of mo t dome tic advisor in the nine-
teenth century: the dome tic fanta y.
Miriam, the ideal housewife, provide a window into the of
advisors in the late nineteenth century. Her faulty cousins
He ter and Helen are useful counterpoint becau e they help illu -
trate the pitfalls that domestic advisors worried about and continue to
worry about in the twenty-fir t century. Hester is too concerned with
her career and intellect and not concerned enough with her house and
family. In contrast, Helen i ob es ed with the frill and fancine he
imagine will accompany romance and conque t of a husband, but has
not topped to think about her home and her role in keeping that home
in the future. Only Miriam, the ideal, understand the true purpo e of
her life as a middle-cJas white American woman. She know that she
can only have what she can afford, and he want nothing more than
to ee her hou e a the embodiment oflove.
How did domestic ad vi ors such as Julia McNair Wright try to con-
vince their reader to act and live more like Miriam than He ter or
Helen? Through a long and teady campaign over more than a cen-
tury, hou ehold advi or have argued that women hould spend more
time in their homes, conform to certain ideals, and pend Ie time
in the wider world. They have consistently argued that women pay
attention to their finance and live within their means, not trying to
the neighbor through a false show of wealth. Mo t impor-
tantly, they have made the point that a woman's virtue and worth can
be found in the way she furnishes her home. Advi ors saw instructions
on the arrangement of the furniture and the type of wood u ed in the
parlor not only as ae thetic concerns, but as symbols of hone ty, faith,
and good judgment.
Domestic advice manuals originated in the 1 30s with the Victo-

rian era and it emphasis on home and family. Throughout the nine-
teenth century, books, newspaper , magazines, adverti ements, and
[ Going to Housekeeping ] 9
Alotelorsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

other public forums strengthened the onnection between women and •
the home. Dome tic advi ors, whether single, widowed, or married,
tended to be white, middle-cla women who had some personal ex-
perience with homemaking. They relied upon an audience of the newly
literate, white middle cla s, a population that continued to build in
Ameri a after] 00.' In 1840,38 percent of white American of school
age received orne kind of formal education. By the mid-nineteenth
century, most white women could read and write.i And women wer
consumers, too, making women' novels into the best seller of the
1 50s.s Women reader voraciou ly demanded con tant reprints of
sentimental favorite, as Charlotte Temple, throughout the nine-
, teenth century." The domestic-advice manual took advantage of this
new audience.
Lydia Maria Child wrote the first dome tic-advice manual for
American hou ewives. Her American Fntgal Housewift (1 2 ) wa al-
ready in it twelfth edition by 1 32. Lydia Maria Child wa a popu-
lar fiction writer who wrote hort torie, and the lyrics to a
till-famou ong called "Grandma' Thanksgiving." Born in Medford,
Mas achu etts, in 1 02, Child was educated at Mi s Swan' eminary
in Watertown and worked a a until her marriage to
David Lee Child in 1 2 . he edited the Jllvenz"le Miscellany, a children's
monthly periodical, for several year while establi hing her elf as a
writer and an abolitioni t in Bo ton. he became trongly identified
with the anti lavery cau e in New England and edited The Anti- lavery
Standard with her hu band during the 1840 . One of her more famou
projects wa editing the memoir of Harriet Jacob, which later became
Incidents irl tile Lift of a lave Girl (1 61).
Chi ld wrote about many different he wrote novel, in-
cluding HotJomok (1824) and The Quadroons (1 42). She wrote hi to-
about the Pequot Indian of New England and about the evils of
lavery. Her dome ti advi e manual, which he wrote relatively early
in her career, gave her some degree of notoriety, but dome tic advice
wa only a part of her long writing career in which the empha i was
alway on moral integrity.
Child' American Frugal Housewife wa filled with admonition
about indolence, frivolity. and wa teoShe focu ed on the needs of the
homemaker, but al 0 addres ed· not directly related to the home,
such a travel. Her evere attitude again t money on u eles
extravagance resulted in storie that addressed theme such as a family
who could not afford a vacation but took one anyway. "To make a long
10 [ Going to Housekeepillg ]

tory short," he wrote, "the farmer and hi wife concluded to go to
~uebec j u t to how they had a ri ht to put them elves to inconve-
nien e, if they plea 'ed, They wentj 'P nt aU their mon Yj had a wat h
stolen from them in the steamboat; were dreadfully off Point
Judith; came home tired, and dusty; found the baby ick, becau e Sally
had tood at the door with it, one chilly, damp morning, while she wa
feeding the chickens," 6 The tory went on, concluding that the farmer
and his wife would have been better off remaining at home, saving their
money and not leaving their children with tranger, Frugal Hou e-
wife i fiUed with uch tories of people who squandered away their
earnings in tead of using every moment and every cent to further the
cau e of the morally pure home,
Many women in the mid-nineteenth century took up Lydia Maria
Child' idea to address women's concerns through household advice,
Indeed, some of the author, including Child, Catharine Beecher, Helen
Hunt Jack on, and Sarah Josepha Hale were among the mo t influen-
tial women writer of the nineteenth century,6 Others al 0 had uc-
ce ful writing career, from Harriet Spofford, a popular fiction writer,
to Julia McNair Wright, a Christian reformer, The e women all cho e
the middle-cla female' connection to the home as one of the mo t
important subject, no matter what their other interests, They wrote
fiction and political treati e , travelogues and poetry, They led cam-
paigns for women' education, for abolition, and for temperance, And
they also wrote dome tic advice,
Often, women used fiction and writing about dome ticity a way
to deliver political message, Helen Hunt Jack on was an outspoken
critic of governmental poli y toward Native American, he wrote
cathing report , such as "A Century of Di honour; a ketch of the
United States Government' Dealing with Some Indian Tribe ," and
pent time in Colorado and California ob erving race relation in the
West, But despite her de ire to communicate her at levels a
high as the United State Congres, Jack on al 0 believed that ordi-
nary women could be an important audience for her ideas, Her Bits
of Talk about Home Malters ( I 79) merged the theme of per onal re-
ponsibility with a hou ehold-management text aimed at middle-cla
women,7 Jackson al 0 u ed fiction succe fully; her incredibly popu-
lar novel lUlmona (I 4) openly addres ed relation hip between the
Mexican , Native Americans, and Anglos in California,
Fiction for women and domestic-advice manuals shared many
ideals of "moral education," Sentimental novels throughout the nin -

teenth entury, uch a Hape L eslie (I 27) by Catharine Maria edg-
wick, The Wide, Wide World (1 51) by u an Warner, and The Lamp-
lighter (1 54) by Maria u anna Cummin , explored the Jive of young
girl in the ontext of religiou growth. The heroine of the e novel
experienced life change. uch a 10 ing their family and home, and
turned them into life les on . Writer of sentimental fiction explored
moral integrity through broad, often epic, plot line involving dozen
of chara ter . The popularity of fiction for women gave domestic ad-
. an audience that would under tand their work.
Many of the character in timental novel erved a ymbol
for religiou teaching. Domesti -advice manual would pick up on
thi onvention, but u furniture and carpet in place of character
a ymbolic teacher . In The Lamplighter, for example, Cummin u ed
a chara ter named Emily to repre ent religiou purity for Gerty, the
heroine. In one s ene, Gerty repre sed her natural in tinct to cry out
and compo ed her elf "at the sight of Emily, who kneeling by the ofa,
with hand . . . look d the very impersonation of purity and
8
prayer." Indeed, women writing about the home ified furniture
with qualitie such a "hone ty" and "purity" ju t a noveli t chara -
teriz d people a archetypal example of virtue.
The clo e connection with novel gave dome tic-ad vi e manual a
familiar lit rary form. This format probably helped wom n r ad r '
to under tand the emerging genre and to know what to expe t. The
dozen of domestic-advi e manual publi hed in the de ade after 1 SO
followed a clear pattern, bJi hed to g uide women readers through
th house. n extensive table of content emulated the novel's Ii t
of hapter ti Some author even u ed fictional character . Julia
McNair Wright wrote The Complete Home from the tandpoint ofmll -
ing and conver ation of the fi tional Aunt ophronia, with 0 casional
ommentary from ou in nn and Mary. The e fictional character
help d reader under tand the dome tic-advice manual.
Marion Harland in ommon ense in the Household one of the
mo t intimate writer. The fir t chapter of her 1 71 volume wa called
"Familiar Talk":
I wish it were in my power to bring YOll, the pro pective owner of
thi volume, in per on, a I do in pirit, to my ide on this winter
vening, when the bairnie are "folded like the flo k ". the order
for breakfa t committed to the k eping of Bridget, or Gret hen, or
hloe, or the plan for the morrow definitely laid in the brain in
12 oing to H ousekeeping]
A :~I Sf aal
A OF UXIVERSAL lEADY
}'Oll
•
m
Containing a Large Fund of Useful Information,

Facts, Hints and Suggestions
Upon the Various Topics Pertaining to Home Life,
INCLUDING
HOME DKOO R A7'l ON, llQ U'EHOLlJ MANAG EMEN7~

•
DOM]!", n o
AFFAIR. VOOKERY, L ADlE F ANOY WORK, MEDJOAl,
MATTEIl , F/.OIUUULTURE. ETIQUETTE. HOJ.fE
AMU, EMENTS, THE Nu R SERY, ARTIBT](J
.EMBROIDERY. DEOOf.A TIVE PAINT·
l N G. LA CK MAKING, THE TOI·
LET, THE Li.. UNDRY, ETO.
You:
NEW
F. 11 . . LUPTON, PUBLISHER,
Nos. 106 AlID 108 READE
tl!9O.
Many lau-ninetetnth-ctntury dorrustic advice lIumuals qffored a sputacularly wide

mnge o/'infonllalionfor 'WOT/lt1/. This volume.jor uampk, promised °a Io.rgefund 0/'
usiful info71nation" about domestic subjects mngingfrom horne decomtion toJWriculture.
The book, published in 1890. claimed to "include tvery SIlbject in which woman is
interesud, wherein infol'mation 0/' a pmcticalnature can be imparted through prinUd
instructions.· ( The American Dome tic Cyclopaedia, titk page; courtesy
The Winterthur Libmry, Prinud Book and PuiodiCill olltction)

that ever-bu y, but mo t indep ndent of women, the hou ekeep r
who "doe her own work." ... I hould not de erve to be your confi-
dant, did I not knov how often, heart-weary with di ouragement
... you would tell me what a dreary problem thi "woman' work
that i never done" i to your fainting ou1. 9
Harl and' intima y with her reader here emulated the entimental
novel in which author routinely placed the reader in the po ition of
the heroine. tO
Marion Harland created the intimate tyle he u ed with her reader
over e ral decade of writing. Born in Virginia in 1 SO, Mary Vir-
ginia Hawe Terhune (Marion Harland wa a pen name) began writ-
ing torie a te nager. Her many book included fictional torie,
u h a h r fir t work Awne (I 55), cookbook ,and even an autobiogra-
phy in whi h di cu ed her conAi ted feeling about lavery. Many
m mber of the Terhune family became influential writer. Daugh-
ter hri tine Terhune Herrick and Virginia Terhune Van de Water
al 0 wrote dome tic advice manual , Aid to the Young Housekeeper
( 19 ) and From Kitchen to Garrett ( 1912). Harland' b t- lling om-
m01l ense in the House/wid wa 0 popular that he oon revi ed it, om-
menting in the 1 0 introduction that th book had to b ompletely
r print d. "Through much and constant u e n arly I 0,000 opi
having been printed from them the tereotype plate ha e be ome
o worn that the impre ion ar faint and ometime illegible." II The
popularity of Marion Harland' work in the late nineteenth century
demon trated the power that dome tic-advice manual were b gin-
ning to have in capturing an eager audience of Ameri an women.
Be ide fiction the ookbook wa another popular genre of read-
ing material for American women in the early nineteenth entury. . 1-
though early ookbook look trange to modern eye beca of their
lack of parti ular in tru tion on mea urement , temperature, and
ooking time, the e book b ame quite popular in America. They
in Iud d tip on how to order and cook rtain cut of meat and on
how to mix up common rem die for tain removal or ill The
fir t cookbook printed in the new country, melia immon ' Ameri-
can ookeryof 1796, proudly u ed re ipe a "Indian pudding" and
"Johnny ake" that would not have been in luded in Engli h ook-
book of the period: 2 American dome tic advi ors, . ally in the
nineteenth entury, u ed the ookbook a a starting-off point for their
14 [ Goillg to lJollstkuPillg ]
A '~I SC' IT'd

hou ehold advice becau e of it familiarity to middle-cla American
women.
Lydia Maria hiId' American Frugal Housewife included many
recipe . She provided in truction on everything from meat to pa try,
including this recipe for chocolate: "Many people boil cho olate in a
coffee-pot; but I think it better to boil it in a killet, or omething
open. A piece of chocolate about as big as a dollar is the usual quan-
tity for a quart of water; but ome put in more, and ome Ie . When
it boil , put in a much milk a you like and let them boil together
three or four minu . It i much ri her with the milk boiled in it. Put
the ugar in ei ther before or after, a you plea e."" Child' book wa
•
in fact a combination vi e manual. A th cen-
tury wore on, fewer and fewer text would include until by the
twentieth century the text had become quite different. But for much
of the nineteenth century, dome tic- advice manual retained clo e .
to both fictional and culinary writing tradition .
manuals began to take a form in the mid-nine-
teenth century that would differentiate mo t of them from both novel
and cookbook. Catharine Beecher was an influential per on in making
thi tran ition. In her opinion, dome tic life wa more important than
any other of women's exi tence. She, more than any
other ingle per on before or after, poured her intellectual oul into
dome tic writing. Beecher wa born in East Hampton, New York, in
1 00 into a family that would make hi tory one of the mo t influ-
ential in the nineteenth century. Her father, Lyman Beecher, was an
important mini ter who traveled from Conne ticut to Ohio preading
hi religiou view. Her brother Henry Ward Beecher wa al 0 a min-
i ter, and her iter Harriet Beecher towe wa the be t-selling author
of Uncle Tom's abin.
Though the men in Catharine's family attracted a lot of attention
in religiou cir Ie , the Beecher women made their heard. ev-
eral other member of her family, including her . ter Isabella Beecher
Hooker and w Eunice White Beecher, al 0 wrote dome tic-
advi e manual. Eunice Bee her warned her reader that the right fur-
niture and decorative choice could "give an air of comfort and con-
tentment to your home," wherea the wrong choice "will make you
gloomy and di ati fied every time you ee" the failed decor"· he be-
lieved that her role a a dome tic advi or wa to help her reader deco-
rate their home "on corre t principle and on ure foundation ." 15
[ Going Lo Housekupillg ] 15
AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal fIaill

atharine Beecher p rhap made her trong t impa t in her
girl' chool, espe ially her Hartford (Conn.) Female eminary. She
trongly believed that admini trator of girl ' chool shou ld include
domestic education, edu ating women for their pre ' umed profe ion
a hou ewives and family caretaker. The introduction to American
Woman's Home explained why and her iter Harriet felt compelled
to write the book: "The author ofthi volume, while they ympathize
with every hone t effort to relieve the di abilitie and uffering of
ex, ar onfident that the hief cau e of the e evil i the fact that
the honor and dutie of the family tate are not duly appreciated, that
women are not trained for dutie a men are trained for their
trad and profe ion, and that, a the on equen e, family labor i
poorly don, poorly paid, and regarded a menial and di gra eful." '6
t the Hartford eminary. Beecher taught dome tic education, using
many of her own book a text. During the cour e of her life, he
wrote everal hou ehold-advice book , including Treatise on Domestic
Economy (1 41) and Mis Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper (1 78).
atharine Beecher' and Marion Harland's writing career
ext n ivelyon the role of women in the hou ehold, but other dome -
tic ad j or had xten ive interest outside of domesti ity. Elizabeth
llet, for example, wrote many books in addition to her New .yc/()pe-
dill ifDomestic Economy of 1 72. Be t known as a poet, Ellet wa born
in Aurora, New York, and moved to outh Carolina after her marriage.
poem earned her ontemporary recognition in American Female
Poets (1 58), which commented that" he i a writer of great re earch,
of qual kill and indu try." 17 She publi hed her first volum of poetry,
Poems, Translated and Origilla~ in 1 85 and continued to re earch and
write about varied topic, from travelogue to hi tories.' In fact, Ellet
i often de cribed a one of the earlie t women' hi torian becau e
he identified and tudied women for her book on women arti t and
women in th Revolution.
Women writer in the nineteenth century often wrote about
"worn n' ubject." Harriet Pre cott pofford, be t known for her
hilling Gothic roman e u has ir Rohan's Ghost (1 60), fo u ed her
efforts on hort storie with female ubject, including one called "Her
tory," whi h de crib d a woman driven to in anity by her marriage.
pofford, born in Calais, Maine, in 1 55, began writing hort . to
upport her family. he published the torie in Bo ton new pap rand
literary journals, in luding The Atla7ltic Monthly. Her dome ti -advice
16 [ Goillg to Housekeeping ]
AL.teL.rsrecrte, k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

manual Art Decoration Applied to Furniture appeared in ) 7 after he
had aIr ady '~lIn mllhjn~ uname for her elfin New ngl~nd lit rury
circle. Spofford b ame famou for h rd ' tori, my t ri ,
and ience fiction, but her dome. tic-advice manual erve a eviden e
that, a a female writer, dome ti ity wa an important ubject for her
to
Many influential women writers in the nineteenth century had
clo e tie to literary journal and magazine. arah Jo epha Hale wa
perhap the mo t important of the e, a her career a editor of the im-
men ely popular Godey's Lady's Book four decade, between
1 37 and 1 77. Hale, widowed with five children in I 22, began writ-
ing and diting to upport her family. She began at the Ladies' Maga-
zine of Bo ton, whi h merged \I ith Godey's in Philadelphia in ) 37. By
1 60, the circulation of Godey's had reached 150,000, making it one
of the mo t widely read women' magazine in the United tate in
it time. Godey's provided information for women on ubject ranging
from dre to architecture, and Hale was able to lend her upport to
other women writer by featuring their poetry and torie in her jour-
nal. She u ed her forum to prai e other dome ti advi or, u h a
Catharine Beecher for her work on training teacher .
Hale' dome tic-advice manual appeared early in her career. Her
The Good Housekeeper of 1 4 1 probably did not reach nearly many
people a Godey' , but it allowed her another way to ex pre her idea
about the home. Hale al 0 invol ed her elfin political and 0 ial '
of her day. he wa interested in women' i such a female edu-
cation, but al 0 fo u ed on patriotic cau e uch a fund-rai ing for
the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston to commemorate Revolutionary
War ervi e. Today, Hale i perhap mo t famo for her campaign in
1 63 to bli h Thank giving a a national holiday, but her influence
among women writer in the mid-nineteenth century wa probably
her rno t ignificant legacy.
By the end of the century, dozen of women' magazine a ro
the country offered version of Godey's Lady's Book advi e and litera-
ture. Many women' magazine included a ection called "ornamenta-
tion" or "Ladie ' Work Table" that printed patterns for . pcover and
or uggestions for creative needlework. The Home ircle
re ommended new u e for gold paint on pine bookca e '1ine or
arabe que pattern" in I 3, and The Housekeeper's Friend, printed in
Providence, Rhode I land, in 1 79, printed new de igns for "napkin "

and " ofa-arm ." 19 All of the e painstaking project , in the words of the
Home A/manac "immortalized 'home' and . ted with it all that i
table and good:' 20
Women wrote mo t of the dome ti ad ice in the nineteenth cen-
tury, but men did produce a few influential text. Eugene Gardner
wrote everal advice manual in the late nineteenth entury. He often
pointed out that hi wife provided "aid and en ouragement" for hi
text and that he truly that women had a much better 'en e of
hou e de ign than did men. Hi 1 2 text pur ued thi point through
an exploration of how a fi tional Jill de igned an exceptional hou e
after her hu band Jack had "proved a failure" at dome tic architectural
.gn. The preface to his revi ed edition noted that he got much of
th in piration for hi book from a woman: "On a recent vi it to the
young woman whose experien e and observation are contained in
thi book, I wa greatly plea ed to find her zeal and . t in dome -
tic ar hitecture unabated."21 Though Gardner wrote the book him elf,
he made a point of explaining in hi preface and throughout the text
that hi ideas had come from women.
Men certajnly did write about the in the nineteenth en-
tury. Engli h pattern-book authors and de igner uch a Andrew
Jack on Downing ad i ed people on the exterior of the hou e and on
certain Roor plans. Often, women's journals su h a Godey's Lady'
Book included architectural de ign by men. Other men took the in-
terior of the hou e as their ubject. Ea tlake, for example, pub-
lished Hints 011 HousehoLd Taste in in I 74, an erudite work on
the "mo t es entia1 principle of good de ign."22 This English dome tic
advisor, a fellow of the Royal In titute of Brili h Architects, exempli-
fied the role of male writer in early . advice, in that he wrote
the work for p arcrute t and interior de igner in of
ordinary women.
Women who wrote about the home (private sphere) a1 0 remained
onnected to and intere ted in the social i ue of their day (public
phere). In the econd half of the nineteenth century, important topic
that con erned women included uffi-age and the treatment of minor i-
tie. In an era greatly with women' right, dome tic .
knew that orne women would que tion their fo u on women' "natu-
ral" relationship to the home. "There is at the pre ent time an increa -
ing agitation," atharine Bee her wrote in her introduction to Ameri-
can Woman's Home, "e olving many theorie . .. a to woman' right ."2~
But Beecher held trongly to her belief that the "moral power" of the
I [ Goillg to Hou eku pillg ]

home uper eded all other calling for women. She did not believe that
"woman' rights" outside the home would improve women' live.
Beecher was not the only domestic advisor to openly (and
. ) the women's rights philo ophy. In 1871 , Marion Harland
"whi pered a word in your ear I don't care to have ve people
hear," which i ,"the humble home make[s] your sphere for the pre ent.
... Be sure you fill it full! before you seek one wider and higher."
Elizabeth Ellet, commenting in I 72 on the "rights" of woman, de-
clared that "if women from the highest to the lowest, were system-
atically educated to wield properly the great power [ the home] they
indubitably posse s ... they would have little rea on to complain about
power:··.. And Eunice Beecher, Catharine's si ter-in-Iaw, wrote in I 79
that if women would only view their work at home a more impor-
tant, "we should hear less of the 'restricted ph ere' of women; of lofty
intellect , great power and genius, dwarfed in the narrow precinct
of home life, or ... stooping to the drudgery ofhou ekeeping.... If you
are ambitiou ofleader hip, you can find it here ... in the home . .. you
may reign a queen."~ In another e ay on the ubject, Eunice wrote,
"We are tired and di gu ted with tho e women who are so greatly ex-
ercised in drawing comparisons between man and women .... There
is no ground for any comparison." 26
Emma Churchman Hewitt, associate editor of Ladies' Home JOllr-
na4 addre sed the "woman's issue" outright in her 18 9 Queen c!fHome.
Hewitt devoted an entire chapter to "occupation for women" in which
tackled the is ue: "And what is woman's sphere?" As a working
woman her elf, he mu t have had to deal with thi question on a per-
onal level. Hewitt, born in Louisiana in 1850, was a poet and nonfic-
tion writer who upported herself after the death of her hu band with
her writing and editing job . In Queen c!fHome, she noted that women,
to be succe ful hou ekeepers understand "baking, wa hing,
ironing, cooking, sewing; that i , four trades without the minor act
of dishwa hing, sweeping, du ting, etc." She concluded that woman'
phere "i the same as that of man, i.e., to do cheerfully and well the
work that comes to her hand, whether it be a pen, a surgeon' knife,
a dentist's drill, a pair of scissors or a broom."27 However, given the
title and ubject of her 528-page Queen c!fHome: Her ReifJ7lfrom lrifancy
to Age, From Attic to Cellar, it i likely that Hewitt preferred that mo t
women would choo e their association with the home rather than with
an ' out ide" occupation.
Dome tic advisors assumed that mo t white, middle-class Ameri-
AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

can women would be interested in their advice. They believed that
there would be an audience for their book becau e they believed that
most women truly felt a strong connection to and responsibility for
their homes. Many author' domestic fantasy wa that their books
would help all women ee the home in the way that they them-
elve did. Even Julia Wright' fictional character Hester, who, unlike
her . went to college, married a scientist, and had no children,
found housekeeping to be a fascinating subject. Though she herself did
not want a family home, he took care of other people . children when
necessary and taught her cou some decorating tips, peppered with
intellectual commentary.
In the nineteenth century, most domestic-advice manuals assumed
a white, audience their reader hip. This did not mean
that ad vi or were unaware of ignificant ocial inequalitie ; in fact,
many of the e women devoted their careers to ocial reform, abolition,
or other such movement. However, when it came to their fanta ies
of the ideal home, it i clear that mo t of them could only see a white
woman at the helm. They understood the need for all Americans to
have certain ba ic right, but domesticity was reserved for their own
kind .
Immigrant women often appeared as servant in manuals. Sarah
Josepha Hale expressed oncern in ] ++ that Irish women needed
much education in order to be "worthy to be the mother[ ] of Ameri-
can citizens," and admonished her reader to "teach her needlework,
and instruct her in reading and writing." 28 In the American context,
many advisor believed that servants were unnece sary. The book
Practical Housekeeping, published by a group of authors in Denver,
Colorado, in I 85, noted that "the model should not be large,
nor too fine and pretentiou for daily ... A great house, with its
nece ary retinue of ervants, i not in keeping with the simplicity of
a republic." ~9 Thi arne manual, however. med that the middle-
cia housewife would keep at least some hou ehold help. The author ,
noting that "the breakage of di hes in orne hou es is fearful," lamented
the hou ewife who was'" at heart" when her di hes broke, and
'1ittle comfort doe he get from Bridget, who replie : 'La, madam, it
was but a few of your di he , and sure I could not help it."' 50
Some advisor even addre ed the po ibility of physical contami-
nation of the by t immigrant . Although America experi-
enced its highe t levels of immigration at the turn of the twenti-
eth century, advisor noted the presence of immigrants in American
20 [ Goil/g to Housekeeping ]

home§ far earlier. §early as 1110, rhUadelphia cookbook author ~lira
. noted that" ervant women who have ju tome from Europe,
not infrequently arrive with contagiou di ea es, produced or fo tered
by the heat and dirtiness of the teerage' and a clean American female
i ju tifiable in objecting to the ri k of ha ing uch a bed-fellow:'"
Elizabeth Ellet noted that "Hou ekeeper are mainly dependent on
the Iri h and German emigrant, who a a rule are utterly ignorant
of hou ehold ervice." '2 Many advisors referred to a ervant generi-
cally a "Bridget" or another tereotypically Irish or other European
name to indicate, without aying 0 outright, that the ervant of
a different ocial clas than the mi tres of the home.
Julia McNair Wright, author of The Complete Home, u ed her fic-
tional character Aunt Sophronia to lecture her readers about proper
treatment of ervant . Wright, involved in many ocial-reform move-
ment including temperance, wrote many books about her Chri rian
devotion. Born in I 40, Wright connected her Chri tian belief: to her
belief: about running an ideal home. When di cussing ervant , Aunt
ophronia reminded her niece and other Ii er that: "We forget in
considering our servants our common womanhood; they are viewed
by u a chattel , a animated machine to perform for u uch and
uch offi e ,and, in regarding them, we forget the human tie, that God
h made of one blood all the nations of the earth." However Aunt So-
phronia al 0 believed that orne fundamental difference did exist be-
tween her nie e and their servants. "The Lord gave Martha [the er-
vant] to begin with larger hands, stronger muscle, and more simple
ta tes and surroundings than mine." "
Mo t dome tic-advice manuals included ome pa age about train-
ing ervant. Emma Hewitt noted: "Social problem are on tantly
cropping up, but the one which now agitate the country ... [i ] the
'Servant Que tion,' a it is now denominated." ' · Indeed, mo t advi-
sor eemed interested in addre sing the que tion. Hewitt went a bit
farther than mo t when he noted that orne er ant might have a -
pirarion : "Admitting that humanity i the arne the world over that
race, climate or olor make no difference, except, perhaps, in degree-
that the Lord implanted in every human oul ertain hope and
desire. ranging not 0 much in degree quality, according to theur-
rounding and refinement of the we can but admit that in
all heart, no matter the has been implanted the desire to . ome
day' own a home." M advi or , including Hewitt, limited their di -
cu sion of ts to a dedicated chapter, in this case " ocial Rela-
[ Goillg to Housekeeping ] 21
AL!e r rect" IJk be set" rmc! iTa! naill

tion ," and devoted the rest of their text to the middJe-class women
they perceived as thelr audience.
Domestic advi or in the mid-to-Iate nineteenth century, then, had

developed a tradition of fiction and culinary writing for women into a
new genre of household advice. During and after the Civil War, which
di turbed hou ehold aero the country, many hOll ehold manual
tre sed the ongoing relationship between women and their homes.
These books declared that the relation hip between women and their
furniture. drapery, and acce orie could illustrate the trength of
American value in the face of troubled times. By emulating fi tional
ideals. as Julia Wright' character Miriam, women could expre
their dedication to their new, united country.
The dome tic fantasy of mid-nil1eteenth-century America empha-
sized a close relation hip between women, home, and Chri tian ideal .
Dome tic advi ors believed that they could illustrate religiou and
patriotic value, uch as piety. honesty, and modesty. through furniture
and decorative accessorie . They wrote their texts to how readers
the way in which certain wood , certain fabric. and certain orna-
ments could influence family life. Domestic advi ors in the second half
of the nineteenth century wrote their texts, at least in part. to teach
women how to make houehold bring religion and patrioti m to their
families.
Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe included chapters on
"A Christian Family" and "A Chri tian House" in their 1869 text. A
daughter and si tel' ofProte tant they believed strongly in
a Christian belief structure. Their text illustrated the connection that
nineteenth-century advisors between women, the home,
and Protestant Christianity. "The family state. then, is the aptest
earthly tration of the heavenly kjngdom, and in it woman i the
chief mini ter," they wrote. But much of their early chapter dealt more
specifically with the Chri tian religion. "To intelligent, reflecting, and
benevolent women whose faith r e ts on the character and teachings
of Chri t there are great principle revealed by Him, which in
the end will ecure the grand result which He taught and suffered to
achieve. It is hoped that in the following these principles will
be 0 exhibited and illustrated as to aid in securing those rights and
advantage which Christ' religion aim to provide for all, and espe-
cially for the most weak and defenseless of His children."s6 The Beech-
22 [ Going t{) Housekeepill{f ]

•
-'
--
"In the Divine Jf/ord il is written 'The wise womall buildeth her house,'· wrole
Cothari/le Bteeller alld Harritl Bucher lowe in This imnge depicts a happ)1home,
marked wilh a cross where the rig'" values have promoted domestic bli s. Heading a
chapter devoled to hou ehold organization, the drawillg lillk mundnne t1i cussions qf
with all overarcl!illg Christiall value (Betcher and
American Woman' Home, 23)
er ' text wa filled with in truction for building kitchen cabinet, for
keeping room well-ventilated, and for hoo ing the right curtain fab-
ric. For them, id a arne out of a deep hri tian faith .
Call for hri tian home filled many of the dome tic-advice text.
Julia McNair Wright, a religiou hri tian her elf, had Aunt 0-
phronia tea h her nie e about the requirement of a hri tian home.
he di cu ed attendance at hurch and other outward ign of hri-
tianity, but fo u ed on the pre n e of religion in the home. "Be warm
[ Goillg to House/uepillg ] 23
A r aal
and en in your Christianity if you would commend it to your
families as a thing worth striving for," he sugge ted. "From the Chris-
tian home let 'the light of love hine over all.' Rich or poor in it ap-
pointments, it be cheery and kindly, fuil of common interest
and homely elf-sacrifices, and mutual confidences, and good order.
Nowhere else should things be more honestly what they seem. It is
only by home sentiments that home can be made into a place whereto
the hearts of children can be firmly bound."" Of cour e, given the
three niece ' different Miriam found thi advice palatable,
whereas Helen thought the admonition to honest home sentiment
taxing. "Oh. me," cried, "what a world of work it i to rear a family!
What a burden of res ss
Christian doctrine informed rno t dome tic-advice manuals. Evan-
gelical Prote tanti m was an important component of middle-clas
life in the mid-nineteenth centu ry59 Horace Bushnell, an important
theologian, wrote in 1847, "The hOll e, having a dome tic Spirit, hould
become the church of childhood, the table and hearth a holy rite."+o
This commentary corroborated the works of other popular
writers, such as Henry Ward Beecher, who agreed that home life wa
crucial to American culture. Although church going wa certainly im-
portant, the Victorian fixation on the family made the home an impor-
tant space for Chri tian values.
Magazine often provided pedal in truction for household arts
ide by' with more overt morality tale . By interspersing inspira-
tional Chri tian readings with ewing patterns, the editors suggested
that both had a restorative nature for home life. The HouseholdJourna~
for example, began a pecial · ection in 1860: "Our lady reader will
find their interest con idered," the editor wrote, through a ection
on "brief but comprehensive essay upon subject of intere t to every
family in the land." Thj ection included household decoration along
with essays on Christian living. One goal of The Home Circle was to
make Chri tian literature to women in the home. Advi or
u ed the in tru tions on ornamentation to teach their readers how to
keep their home morally and aesthetically pure.
Domestic advisors believed that home life could have significant
con equences for ociety. Helen Hunt Jackson's analysis led her to see
the improperly decorated and managed home a "a place from which
father fly to club, boys and girls to streets." +1 This vision of social ar-
rangements put the responsibility for community health and morality
on individual home , and thereby on individual women. "When the
24 [ Going to Housekeepil1g ]

neat home i chanOed for the untid one," wrote the editor of the
women' . journal Tile Home ircle in 1 :J, "on doe not wondtr .
much at the attractive power of the saloon."·'
The advisors' warning about imminent doom pointed to a sal-
vation through proper attention to the home, whereby the family,
and thu the whole nation, would pro per. The home was a
way to larger ocietal concern in a way that women could
under tand and perhap even re pond to. Dome ti advi or tran-
lated Chri tian value into hou ehold term. Mo t important wa the
directive to have only what you could afford and to refrain from what
would mu h later be caJled "keeping up with the Jone e ." Often be-
ginning with an explanation ofChri tian value, like the Bee her, ad-
vi or then went on to be more specific about how to expre tho e
value ( uch a hone ty) in the home.
Advi or tried to keep their reader on a moral cour e
they made recommendations for decorating the complicated nine-
teenth- entury home. There wa much at take. Hou ehold fill d to
overflowing with ornament, and furniture ran the ri k of u umb-
ing to an indulgent, showy tatu. Uphol tery, rug, curtain', paint, •
and wallpaper needed special direction. A Harriet pofford wrote in
1 7 , "The art of furni hing ... [shape] the family with the gentle
manners that make life 'er and plea anter to all."·"
The room-by-room sur ey of the ideal home began with the en-
trance hall, which" hould be furnished with an umbrella and hat stand,
H
and chair or hall eat "according to Elizabeth Ellet. The e direc-
tion for hallway furni hings helped to en ourage certain of be-
havior as 0 iated with "proper" culture. The furniture cou ld p ak for
the family, declaring that thi family believed it wa important to keep
dry in the rain, to obey the formality of wearing a hat, to leave a call-
ing card, and to provide gue t with a place to sit whiJe they waited
5
to be hown into the parlor." A family could u e furniture to
their value, which would be evident from the moment a vi itor walked
in the door. Ellet continued, "If there i a clo et for hanging up hat,
cloak &c., it should be near the door. Door raper should alway be
placed near the entrance."·6 This information broadcast the need for
vi itor to be welcomed and clean before they entered the home.
Dining room, de pite their obvious function, often provid d com-
plication. Laura Holloway Langford wa an author and poet who
wrote book about the First Ladies' live in the White House, and even
one book on the "Buddhist diet." In her 1 3 dome tic- ad vi e manua l
Alotelorsrecrte I k bescrer'TlClr-atenaal
i,leteenlh-ulltury hall fitmishillgs provided a place for visitors 10 hang their hats
and ouierwea r, to rut their umbrellas, alld tofix Ihemselve liP in the mirror before being
Settll by their hosts. This e.xampl./! illustrates a simple variety with slight arcJzileclurol
embellishtllt1lts. Hallfimliture might also include I/Iore h./!lvesjor St/wll items SUdl. a
gloves, boot brllslm, or calling cards. (Varney, Our Home and Their Adornment,
2 7; courtesy Tit./! FVilltertJlII r Library, Printed Book alld Periodical Collection)
Auteursrech lijk beschermd rraterra<ll

The Heartizstone; or, Life at Home, a HousehoLd Manua4 he outlined her
rlJl , for th Ifw 11- ganiz d home."11 Sh b r dining room
to be one of th most important rooms in the hou :
The dining-room is the tell-tale apartment of the whatever
it i, 0 is the parlor, the up-stairs room or the kitchen. Cracked
di he, oiled covers, dingy carpet these be peak one kind of
hou ekeeper, a neat clean chairs, and tidy ornament an-
other. The dining-room ought to be the plea ante t place in the
hou e; it i the meeting room \ here the family are expe ted to be
alway t at time, and where the event of the day
are talked over while the plea ant bu ine of eating i being di -
+8
•
Langford in isted there wa no need for a clock in the dining room:

"American do not require to be reminded of time at the table they
pend Ie at it than any other civilized people." She believed that fami-
lie hould u e the dining room only for "eating, talking and reading
[the new paper]."
Langford recommended a spar e dining room. She commented that,
"A bronze ornament for the mantel, and a couple .. . of vases, will be
sufficient in the way of mall articles of a trictly ornamental kind."
She accepted a "water-colored fruit pie e" as the only picture on the
wall, did not recommend "figured paper" for the wall, and in i ted on
"plain frame" for any picture. The walls of various room demanded
attention, and invited decisions about whether to cover them in paper,
paint, or decorate with picture or mirror . Laura Langford was e pe-
cially particular in her of the dining-room wall, which he
thought hould not have elaborate de igns; rather " triped pap r ...
and panel paper is more uited to uch room ."+9 In ontra t to the re t
of the home, the of the room reflected a ma culine ideal.
Although the woman of the hou e hould arrange the room, he did
not it at the head of the table.
Dome tic advi or often aw the dining room as the only "ma -
culine" room in a house. "The htl that all a he in
the dining-room will be tolerably ure that ... the wife hall have
all he wants in the drawing room," wrote Harriet Spofford in I 7 ./SO
Thi trade-off wou ld allow women to make the re t of the hou e more
feminine by ceding this one room. ertainly, in maller middle-cla
homes with no designated room such as a library or billiard room for
men to retire to after dinner, the dining room took on the ·gnifi-
[ Going to Houstkuping ] 27
cance of these rooms a a masculine space alongside the more feminine
parlor.
De pite commentary on other rooms of the by far the main
focu of mid-century advisor' moral cru ade wa the parlor. The
room, relatively new and certainly popular in thi era, occupied much
pace in mid-nineteenth-century manuals. Although the parlor tend
to be seen as symbolic of the Victorian era, it was a conte ted and con-
trover ial to contemporary ob erver . The parlor i an example
of the way in which advisors thought of rooms having moral value .
Clarence Cook, one of the few men who wrote about the middle-
cla home in the nineteenth century, commented that "r use the word
'Living-Room' instead of .Parlor: becau e I am not intending to have
anything to say about parlors .. . [ since] none but rich people can
afford to have a room in their et apart for the pleasures of
idlenes ."61 The parlor, then, worked as a way to get at those idea
of "vanity, extravagance and id leness" that Lydia Maria Child had
brought forth early in the century.
The parlor, in it original . entered the floor plan of American
home in the mid-eighteenth century. Many wealthy homes included
a "front," or "be t" parlor, filled with fold-top card tables, drop-leaf
breakfa t, or Pembroke table, pier table between the windows, and
many chairs. Fan1ilies often placed their furniture against the wall, and
moved it to the center of the room only when needed for entertain-
ing. Mirrors, curtains, and paintings ringed the walls. The even-piece,
uphol tered parlor suite became a main tay of the parlor by the 1860s
and included a sofa, an armchair, an armless '1ady's chair," and four
smaller chairs. Bright color often filled the room, on carpets and wall-
paper, curtains, and upholstery. The parlor was a ign of wealth, of
gentility, of the ability to include an extra room in the house just for
52
entertaining.
The "be t" parlor wa . more than a place for furniture; it included a
et of rituals a well. Rule governed the erving of tea and the style
of conver ation. M Women and men had different role to play, and the
furniture helped to dictate where they would . and how they would
interact. Filled with rich brocades, thick carpeting, and mahogany fur-
niture, the parlor was more than a room. It was a barometer of the
tation of the family. Certain woods, as mahogany, cherry, wal-
nut, and roewood. came to indicate wealth. Later in the nineteenth
century, new pro esses of veneering would enable the middle clas to
emulate the e wood, but the best parlors of the upper cla had only
28 [ Going to Housekeeping ]

I
I
Iw p, r/()r In III Iw frJ() /1 hdl 0 II .111

odey' Lady' Book provided il/ustrotion O/Jalley parlors,jallcy clothillg, alld olher
lemptotioll ill /he late lIillelemlh amtllry. This parlor iT/eluded a decoraltd ceiliT/g,
malchillg parlorfurllitllre, carpetillg, Iteavy dmpes, alld a portierl!, llll! doorwa curlaill.
Dome lic advisors would beJamiliar wilh parlors designed like tlli OT/e, dowT/ to 'he clock
alldjigurille 0 11 lite mallleipiece alld Ihl! plll1lt fond be/wemllll! willdow .
(G d y' Lady' Book Jalluary I 5J: 1/)
th real thing. Hor hair fabri , pri kly but fa hionable, over d the
of chair .
Middle-cia familie began to include parlor in their mak-
ing parlor furniture an e cellent xample of the new abllndan e in mid-
nineteenth- ntury 01 rica. Th room by definition wa extrane-
ou to the dai ly ur i al need of the family and exi ted only b au e
the family ould afford a room for how. It r a major lll-
tural hift fr 01 th p riod of th arly r publi . [n the Vi torian era,
the era of th parlor, middle- la familie a tuat d the marketpla e.
Their n ed produ d an indu try of furnitur manufa tur r , a v ell
a rnanufactur r of piano and organ and pi ture frame . Dom ti
advi or who wrot about the parlor truggled to bring thi embl m
of abundan into th ir definition of frugal hara t r.
The parlor would om to r pre ent th ultur of the Vi torian
era. Thi room b am a ymbol of the way in whj h p ople u
furnitur to demon trat th ir pia in th world. Th middl
populated the parlor with photograph ,portrait and print. They
demon trated their kno ledge of culture with piano rn . and with
e filled to overflowing. Knowledge ofletter and of the art
[ Going to Housekeeping] 29
Al t r cc~ II k beser r'llC1 r" 3tenaal

•
Designed by Philadelphia architects, this Iwuse was afXlilabk for sale ill the Stlbttr6s in
tht 1880s and illeluded"a parlor Iwvillg sliding doors.' Par/1m appeared in thejloor
plans ojmost rniddk-class Iwmes riflhe late nitteteenth century. The parlor, larger thall
otlter rooms in lite Iwme, would be on thefirst jloor and provide aformal placefor
entertaining. Godey's Lady's Book presenttdjloor pla1ts and houst eiefX/tions making
lite desiCJI of the home as important as thefashion and short stories the magazine
fiatured. (Godey's Lady's Book [November 1884J: 634)
virtually dripped from the wall and the shelve . The pride people
felt in their parlors was often demonstrated by the plethora of photo-
of familie and couples in busy rooms.6<o However, the
admiration of the general public for the formerly elite parlor wa not
shared by the dome tic advisors of the period.
so [ Going to HOftsekeeping ]

Dome tic advi or di agreed violently with the general publi on
the ubject of parlor. Althouoh many u iven b
advi e writer were followed, uch a · ugge tion on room arrang -
m nt and craft idea , the parlor wa one ubject that yed in the
realm of fanta y. No matter how hard they tried, and they did try, do-
me tic advi or ' fanta y of the implified, livable Ii ing room n r
replaced the appeal of th how parlor for mo t American famili .
Reader of dome tic advice may have tru ted that, in theory, th y ould
give up the parlor in fa or of a more honorable value sy tern, but they
continued to de orate their home in familiar, comfortable way, and
that in luded the fancy parlor we)) into the nineteenth and the turn of
the twentieth entury.
Parlor · varied in degree of luxury and appeared a ro the coun-
try in va tly different etting. Middle -cia . familie in large itie
uch Philadelphia, Chicago, and Denver had acce to richly uphol-
tered chair, gilded mirror, arpets, and wallpaper and urtai of
good quality. They hung painting on the wall and arrang d knick
knack, uch a va e and clo k , on their mantel . But the Victorian
parlor wa not only the ba tion of the rich and urban. Fronti r fami-
lie , home teading in ebra ka in the late nineteenth entury follow d
the rule, installing different wallpaper, fan y enter-table
lamp and cheaper fabric for the curtain ,perhap , but the g of
the room were the arne. When dome tic advi or criticized the par-
lor of the Victorian era, they looked not only to the middle- la -
dent of citie , but to the We t. Many merican brought
their parlor and all of it attribute with them.
In the waning of the nineteenth century, many ad .
looked at the be t parlor and criticized the values that eeped out
of th mahogany and hor hair. The parlor did not encourag family
or love, but fal e opulence. "Who doe not glan e back,"
wrote Lida lark on in I 7, "almo t with a hudder, at the old-
hioned time of tiff, uninviting room with old, dead wall [and]
hor e-hair furniture?" 60S
"The parlor should be the rallying point in daily family life," wrote
Su an Anna Brown in her I 1 Home Topic. he criticized the u of
the parlor a a Mbe t" room and ad ocated a "room in whi h center
the oul and throb the heart of home life." Thi re ommendation ad-
the of the room a a pace where the family's value would
be formed. u an Brown wrote e era! book about the home in the
nineteenth entury, ea h expre ing her frugal value. Her I S Mrs.
[ Goin.g to Housekeeping ] 51
AL Ie r recto IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

Families across tht country dtcoroltd their parlors with matching st!1 oJfu mihJre,
C1IrtaillS, display cabillets, lIlId bric-a-brac. This illterior photograph oJ a parlor ill
Dt'tlTNlr, olorado, is a1l u ample riff a1lcy parlor. that AmeriCl1lls cOlllitwtd 10 decorolt
well qfl.er domestic advisor recolllmJ!1/ded more simp/I! arrallgemJ!TIls. 1TUlldreds rif
photogrophsj u t like this 0111' tknwlISlmte Ihe predomillallce oJlhis type rifparlor
in Americall homes. (Phologmph by Harry M . Rhoads; courtesy
Dm ver Public Library History ol/telioll)
Gilpin's Frugalities \ ould help women by introdu ing "r mnant and
200 way of u ing them." Her thought about the middle- la parlor
expre ed thi theme, urging women to carefully ·der furni hing
parlor only "within truly within our " 66
Brown wrote about the parlor a if it ould per onify th hom .

About th room wh r it wa impo ible "to ha e a good time," la-
men . "They w r dark and di mal· they were fuiJ of ugly furniture,
badly arranged." In a properly arrang d room, "it did you good imply
to it ther ,"57 be au e the furniture created a po itive "heart" for the
hom . he de crib d the p rf; ct parlor t-up: "Leave pa e for the new
volume and the magazine upon th table, and for th bright evening
lamp; pa e upon the floor for the children' toy , and for them el e
to froli ; and let not e en the hone t dog or th g ntl at b ban-
Ie t they break or mar orne frail piece of fan y work . 0 hall
[ oing to HOllsekeeping ]
Al tCl r cc~ Illk bcscrcr'llC1 r- 'ltenaal

E vtll in a od hOllse in ebraska, lhe ideal oJlhe parlor helt! strang. The Hoaglantis
translated parlor convenlions sl/ch as pictures on lhe walls, patterned wallpaper, ClIrtains,
and a table witl! a white cloth and lalllp to theirfrontier hOIlle. Too cluttered to appeal to
dome tic advi or: , this lale-nineteenlh-century image reveals lhe widespread
appeal oJlhe parlor. ~ ourlesy ebraska tate Historical ociety)
we be kept from the worry and care of too many trea ure , and find
time for reading, for tudy, for play with the little one , and perhap
for practicing at time the almo t 10 tart ofplajn ewing."s The com-
pendium Household Conveniences, Being the Experience oj Many Practical
Authors of I 4 al 0 indicated that "carpet and furniture may be of the
late t tyles and co tly, and yet the room fail to be home-like."59 The e
manual pointed out that styli h furniture would not create the home
atmo phere without attention to it honest construction and loving
• •
orgaruzatlon.
To ombat the negative effe t of the parlor, advi or
out again t what they alled the " how-room ." Becau e they
wrote text for tho e who did not have home with two parlor, a
library, a drawing room, a nur ery, and everal bed chamber , they
found the parlor all the more insincere a a eparate room. When in-
venting their image of the moral home, advi or thought that each
room hould have a purpo e that related to the creation and u te-
[ Going to HOllsekeeping ] ss
AL Lr rc r Ik be s r r I n III
•
nance of the Christian family. The parlor, dedicated to entertaining,

card playing, and showing off . ver tea sets, did not fit into the pic-
ture of the moral home. Thi room, above all others, repre ented the
idle gentility that the advi ors cautioned again t. The how room, to
the dome tic ad vi or of the mid-nineteenth century, wa impractical
and 0 tentati ou and did not come from the "right" et of value. As
author Agnes Bailey wrote of the parlor in I 92, "It i lea t
u ed by the family, and in too many hou eholds [ it] i a clo ed and
awful place."6o
how room provided a good tool for American advisor to cham-
pion democratic value. The anti- how- room philo ophy held teady
in Ameri an domestic-advice manuals throughout the nineteenth cen-
tury. "I would trongly recommend [ to every young woman] , if he
wi h to pare her elf and her fami ly much di comfort, to avoid having
how-room ,"SI wrote Fran H arri et W hipple in 1 3 . In the 1870 ,
E lizabeth Ellet i sued a "warning to beware of howy, veneered,
vamped up furniture,"Si and in 1 3 Laura Langford Holloway advi ed
us
women to "do without your show drawing- room altogether. , The
dome tic ad vi or made a clear distinction between the kind of family
life that would en ue with a room (bad), and without one (good).
The e idea remained consistent throughout an entire century.
p ific lement of parlor decoration came under attack a ea rly a
Lydia Maria hild' 1 2 Frugal H ousewife. he recommended many
thing to a oid, uch a "Bru el carpet , alaba ter va es, mahogany
hair and marble " and uggested instead "Kiddermin ter car-
pets and ta t ful va e of her own making." 6+ The Brussels carpet,
often cited a the villain in the e text becau e it an example of
an exp nsive purcha e, first appeared in Belgium in the eighteenth
century. The arpet were produced on Bru sel loom with
Jacquard attachment in Philad elphia in the 1820S, but it wa many de-
cades before power loom made the carpets widely available to middle-
hou eholds. The Bru el carpet wa often invoked a the pri-
mary y mbol of middl e cla ' a piration to the upper class. Engli h
Kiddermin ter carpet , on the other hand, could be produced widely
in the United tates by the I 30s and were cheap and accessible to the
middle clas .65
The in of extra agance and vanity played prominent roles in
Lydia Maria hild' picture of moral corruption. "There is nothing in
which the extravagan e of the pre ent day trikes me 0 forcibly," he
lamented, "as the manner in which our young people of moderate for-
34 [ Going to ffousekeeping ]
AL.teL.r _ ecrtellik bescrer'TlCl fY atenaal

tune furnish their hou e ." She believed that by furni hing the home
with wood and fabric that they could not afford, a young couple'
"fooli s h vanity" would make the m "less happy, and no more respe t -
able:'"''
Harriet Beecher Stowe et up everal fictional cenario in which
show rooms proved to be the end of the happy family tate. The fancy
parlor stood as a direct antithesis to her rules for "Chri tian Living."
In her 1 69 "The Ravage of a Carpet," Stowe told the tale of a
life-loving family who pent mo t of its time in the room until
the of a fancy Brussels carpet. This purcha e eventually led
to removal of aJI bird and plants from the room (lest they on
the carpet), the shutting of the blinds (to prevent un potting), and
new furniture (to match the caliber of the carpet). Eventually the room
67
wa off and unu ed. Stowe's collection of stories entitled Hottse
mu1 Home Papers was an anthology of such occasion , with essay after
e say detailing the lives of families who became oppre ed by their
fancy hou ehold in which nobody wa comfortable. towe attacked
the furniture and the rugs a a direct cause of family dy function.
"The cheerfulne and . of your rooms," wrote Eunice
Beecher, "depend more largely upon the style and color of your car-
pet than upon the furniture." Carpets. indeed. provided an important
ubject for the advice manuals. Floor coverings demanded con tant
attention becau e they varied widely in price, tyle, and color. Eunice
Beecher proclaimed that the most important judgments to make con-
cerned and durable color ," becau e the sun would fade aJI but
the tronge t dyes, she recommended pecific color : "Bright, clear
. let and dark. rich greens usually wear well." 68 Expen ive carpet
enforced strict rule about food and plant in the room. advi-
or • then, did not endor e the fancy, expensive carpets with evanes-
cent color and instead wrote about the values inherent in choo ing
the practical floor covering.
Advi or con idered deci ions about the placement of picture on
the wall quite weighty. Laura Langford recommended some .
but cautioned "Do not hang one above another," becau e that made
69
du ting more difficult. Elizabeth Ellet thought the moral influence
of picture made them ind o ble to the home. She commented that
picture add to a room "an air of completeness, and a home look. ...
The subject must be uch as we can truly sympathize with, ome-
thing to awaken our admiration, reverence, or love." 70 Ellet thought
pictures on the wall could teach values and inspire families. Catharine
[ Going to Housekeeping ] S5

Beecher believed in "the educating influence of the e work of art,"
making even the wall a ite for learning."
orne advi or provided specific in tructions on acceptable wall art.
Emma Churchman Hewitt, for example, though he admitted pictures
could be expensive, encouraged their u e, but only under certain cir-
cum tanee . "Let me beg of you not to spend money on oil painting
or chromo . The be t picture for your purpo e will be alway black
and white, uch the Adolph Braun autotypes and photographs, or
Goupil' photogravure, in which a new proce produce re ults as
soft and rich a the etcher' point and acid. With these black and white
picture, one or two wat r-color will give beauty to your wails, but
even here you rou t know enough to be sure you are getting good
work."" Hewitt went on to recommend orne individual works, uch
"Mis Fidelia Bridgyr [ic] foreground sketche ." Fidelia Bridge
wa a painter, be t known for her watercolor of flower , bird , and
ms. Hewitt's recommendation indicated her preference for natu-
7S
ral, imple, botani al cenes.
Emma Hewitt's picture recommendation included comment on
the u e of certain frames. Believing alway in hone ty over fakery, he
cautioned again t lacquer. "Your . will look much better in plain
cherry," he noted, "or oak band, than in the cheap lacquered frame." 7.
atharine Beecher and Harriet B e her towe suggested that readers
make their own picture frames. After recommending certain "chro-
mo ," or color reproduction print of famou work of art, by Albert
Bier tadt and Ea tman Johnson, the Beecher sister noted that "these
chromos, being all varnished, can wait for until you can afford
them." Or, to demon trate creativity, women could "Make for yourself
pretty ru . frame in various modes." They gge ted humble
material as acorns, mo es, or ocean shell 75
When people made their own frame and furnishing , they could
determine the types of wood they . Dome ti advi or called into
que tion the of the wood lIsed in mas -prod uced furniture.
Factorie produced table and chairs made from cheap wood, but ve-
neered or tained to look a if the wood wa more expen ive. Advi ors
believed that such imitations diluted the moral power of the furniture
and cheapened (quite literal ly) the effect of the home. Ella Rodman
hurch a writer for uch literary publication Appleton's and the
Ladies Repo itory, wrote in her How to Furnish a Home in 1 1, "A pine
table i a proper thing, but a pine table that pretends to be black walnut
i an abomination ." he believed that the" incerity" of the furniture
36 [ Going to Hou ekeepillg ]

expr s e d itself thro ug h th In k of' veneered woods ornam nts g tu d
on, or ub tan es that, being one thing, pretend to be something el e."
If a hou ewife could not afford expen ive furniture, advi or warned
her to b happy with what she could afford, making her parlor
and mode t." 76
Eunice Beecher agreed that poverty was no excu e for d·
furniture: "If you cannot afford the mo t co tly furniture, there i no
rea on why you hould not endeavor to ecure article of neat and at-
tractive hape and color:·" he went on to describe the way in which
ta te wa more important than co tin choo ing a pattern for a carpet.
"A coar e, ungainly " she wrote, "will co t a mu h as a n at and
pattern ... with gra eful vine and flowers, true to nature:' 7
The di tinction Beecher made here wa between a pattern that imi-
tated nothing and a pattern that imitated the natural beauty of a living
plant. Reader would find therein a room de oration that would I a e
the family fe ling "happy and cheerful," in "nature" rather than in ar-
tificial and di hone t rendering of ab tract croll .
A cribing chara ter traits to furniture erved to demon trate that
the home could embody value. "Let no piece of furniture b bought
that i not olid and of honest strength and durability," wrote Agne
Bailey in 1 92.79 She sugge ted type of chair and
table, and wallpaper and draperies, but concluded, "whatever ... [ i ]
cho en, let them be thoroughly good of their kind." 80 Hone ty wa
an important value both in a patriotic (think of George Washington)
and Christian context in the nineteenth century. By relating honesty
to furniture, dome tic advisor managed to convey their mes age that
hou ehold goods ould tran mit alues. Emma Churchman Hewitt
cautioned that if a reader could not afford a "well made" parlor uite,
he "be t e chew' uites' altogether, and furni h [ the] hou e with odd
piece." he warned reader not to give up the earch for the proper
kind offu rniture. "Chair can be found in ensible plain form, and thi
i ju t what you m hunt for till you find it."
Advi ors overwhelmingly recommended ignoring fa hion in favor
of hone t furniture. It was much more admirable, in their e timation, to
have well-made, inexpen ive furniture than shoddy imitation of more
fashionable ware . Elizabeth Eller' di cu sion of bedroom furniture
noted that "mahogany, maple-wood and oak" would be the "best and
prettie t" choices for wood, but if the e were not available, the reader
wa to look for " ery serviceable, well-poli hed, stained wood imita-
. of all the e three." The unacceptable olution wa to find "very
[ Going to Housekupillg ] 37

common and trumpery imitation ... generally badly put together."
Even though these common chair might look like the fa hionable
wood varieti ,they "do no ervice," and Ellet di mi sed them a so
mu h "rubbi h." 8 1
In Julia M Nair Wright' Th.e Complete Home, unt ophronia often
I ctured her nie es about how to pend their money in the home. he
trongly belie ed that beautiful home often were the cheape t. In-
deed, "the lea t hand ome parlor that I ever aw wa a very expen ive
one not a book or engraving to be een. Staring, ill-painted family
portraits, whi h had ost a good price, deformed the wall ." In tead,
he in i ted that:
True b auty doe not b long to thing hov y and in ub tantial.
om p ople get cheap howy furniture and carp t , thinking that
a it i cheap they an afford more of it; while the truth i that the
more of it the wor e it look , and that a few good thing are far
better than a good many poor one . When we mu t g t heap thing
becau e we have but little money, then let them be very plain; for
nothing i uglier than cheap gilding ... if the thing are howy and
heap, the money ha gone for paint and gilding, which will oon
tarni h and crack off, the \ ood will warp, the glue prove treacher-
and our po se ion will be a .. reck. 2
d i or often commented on pecific type of place to buy fur-
niture 0 that the pie e would repre ent the right value . Because
they der d furnitur to be 0 important a ymbol of the family
morality, advi or p nt a great deal of time reminding their reader
"to have only what she can afford to haver' s' Thi important di tum
meant that th integrity of the hou ewife wa in que tion in the pur-
ha e of a pecific item in the di play of that item in the home. dvi or ,
then, reminded their readers only to hop at certain store. Elizabeth
Ellet re ommended "avoidance of all cheap, furnishing e tab-
Ii hm nt ." Thi aution s rved to encourage women to a oid th new
furniture warehouse and to stick to "good, old-e tablished hou e of
" 8" A Emma Whitcomb Babcock wrote in 1 4, "There is a
higher vi ion even in carpet buying."8h
The care with which room mu t be furni hed, papered, orna-
mented, and arp ted, 0 upied the page of many advice manual .
Designed for fir t-time home arranger , the e book provided an im-
portant introdu tion to the pecial ip Ameri an ulture had
forged between women and their a well a to the importan e
S8 [ Going to Housekeeping ]
AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal naill

of thi ubject for the national weU-being. In all of the dif-
ferent rule and recommendation about furniture, wall , and floor ,
the dome tic advisor took on the role of benevolent tea her di tat-
ing hou ehold arrangements and formation. Navigating through the
practical that, they believed, led to moral purity, the dome tic
advisor invented their ver ion of the fanta y home. Dom tic advice
wa a form of writing by women in the nineteenth century that al-
lowed for women them elve to be in control of a collective, female
moral de tiny. They contributed to a national dialogue about harac-
t r and it importance to their vi ion of ociety. Though the advi
wa not alway followed, it gave white, middle-cla women a com-
mon vo abulary and a place to begin their own journey with hom
(and moral) improvement.
Aunt ophronia, who advi her niece Helen, Miriam, and He ter on
the prop r way to run a hou ehold throughout Julia McNair Wright'
The omplete Home of I 7 ,believed trongly in the me ag of fru-
gal living. UI tried to im upon my niece from the time when
they et up ping for them elve that aying of Ci ero: Econ-
omy i in it elf a great revenue:' Throughout the book, ophronia
that aving money and having only what you ould afford
in your hou ehold were virtue to be admired. Following the line of
advice from Lydia Maria Child' I 2 book through advic in the
1 70 demon trate a clear of·· reque t . Aunt 0-
phronia' niece, like Wright' American women reader, had different
reaction to the stricture. Helen commented that "th 'work hard' and
the 'economize' would be equally difficult to me, for I hate both." After
li tening to Aunt ophronia' Ie ture, however, Miriam, the ymbol of
the frugal and hone t homemaker, concluded "I extravagance
with all my heart from thi time forth." 86
Aut u sr e ,bese IT'd nat r aal

THE RI E OF THE DOMIOLOGI T:
IE E I THE HOME
It may bl' asStlming too much to claim tllat the true standard if beauty
in hOllse-furnishings confonll$ strictly to tilat requiredfor the best sallitary
conditions, but, Stlrely, it is not extreme to declOT"t emphatically that tize
conventional tandard is for from being one eitller if beauty or if lzeafth.
Pure air and sunslzine, two essentials if healthJulliving, cannot be
obtoined inJull measure in the modern elaborately furnished hOllse. And a
COlll1lwn and gruwing mistake is this if u illg Ottr houses chiefly a a means
ifdisplaying tile objects which our tastes and our wealth permit us to
proalre, while we disregard thefar nwre important claims ifgood healtil.
But huw canfurnishing injure health?

aJ By preventingfree access iflight and air.
bJ By laying unlll!ce ary work on tile shoulder. iftile busy housewife,
so that tile proper ca re ifller home becomes a burden to her.
c) By forming catch-ails for dust. Dust is composed of many widely
different things: particle ifcarbon (soot), oj·granite, sand, or other minerai
matter; pollen ifjiuwers, bits ifplant stems, bark, leaves; manrlre, small
pieces ifhai~ dried skin, hreds ifciotiling, and microscopicfonns if
life uch a bacteria and Tnolds -tllese are some if tile almost i'!ftllite
po sibilities ifdust. Tile housekeeper'S concern is centered on tile
micro eopicfonn iflife in dust. Otlll! iftilese genns can attack the
humml body, ca/lSing disease.
- Ellen Richards and Marion Talbot, Home anitation

Ellen Richard and Marion Talbot included the e warning in their
early-twentieth-century, dome tic-advice manual Home Sanitation!
The advice represents a shift, at the turn of the century, toward do-
mestic advice with an emphasis on health and sanitation:' had
entered the home.
Richards and Talbot, in fact, recommended much the same thing as
their predecessors in the nineteenth century. They encouraged women
to rid their houses of unnece ary ornament, textile, and uphol tery.
They believed, just like nineteenth-century writers, that women
n
should tay away from «elaborately furnished hou es. That their mo-
tives were driven more by science than by Christian doctrine wa the
only difference.
What had happened in the decades between Julia McNair Wright's
nieces who learned about homemaking from their Aunt Sophronia and
the more methodical and often les personal style of Richards and
Talbot? How did the arne kinds of dome tic advice take on new mean-
ings about health and anitation? Catharine Beecher, Julia Wright, and
their colJeagues had certainly noticed and discussed sanitation in the
home. They believed in the importance of clean room and fre hair.
But they did not have, or feel the need to apply, a scientific vocabulary
to be their ideas. The dust and decay of textile and heavy uphol-
stery took on new significance as Americans began to learn about
germs and disease.
n
Advisors used the word " cience to bring a authority to their
texts and to their vision of the ideal home. The middle-cla women
who read and wrote domestic-advice manuals at the turn of the cen-
tury began to turn to cientifically ba ed way to under tand their
homes. American began to believe that science could solve every
problem and cure every di ease, and many saw the laboratory as a place
of hope for the future. Domestic advi ors appropriated the belief in
cience as salvation and turned it into a domestic fantasy for the new
century. They educated middle-cla women about how science could
make their home safer and cleaner, and how, therefore, their homes
ould become better assets to the larger ociety. Their advice turned
every home into a small laboratory, where women could control the
experiment.
[ The Rise of the Domiologist ] 4<1
AL rsr t I bE; (t IT'd atenaal

cience influenced fanta y. Women began to think about
the way in which their hou e could conform to new ideal and new
tandard of cleanline .2 ould vi itor ee the dirt? Wa the kitchen
a laboratory or an old-fashioned di a ter? Domestic advisors encour-
aged women to worry about di ea e a a way to encourage their con-
formity to the new regulation . Thi ver ion of domestic fanta y de-
manded that women be educated, and it gave them power ba ed on
that education. cience added new ibility to the care of the
home, but al 0 gave women new authority to prote t their familie
from danger.
[n turn-of-the-century America, cience everywhere. cien-
ti t began quantifying human nature, providing tati tic on brain
ize and on exual activity." New technology a tounded Americans,
gear, teel, and factory line filled the popular imagination with
images of cien e at work. Erector et becam popular in the 1910 ,
en ouraging children (e pecially boy ) to learn about how building
were made and how cientific principle were u ed to build citie .+ Uni-
ver itie began offering cia e in new field of ocial science, uch
a p ychology and The idea that anything could be ratio-
nally di analyzed, and experimented on caught the attention
of many women who brought that cientific attitude to the . n
of hom manag ment.
Helen ampbell wrote in I I that, "we are but on the thre hold of
the new cience." · arnpbeIl, who died in 191 ,would not live to see
many of the chang that th "new ien e" made in the field ofhou e-
hold management. However, her late-nineteenth-century dome tic-
advice manuals, Th.e Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking(l I), and
Household Economics ( I 96) introdu ed many ideas that he believed
would be important in the new century. ampb I),s work re t a
tran ition from the hri tian teaching of the mid-nineteenth century
advi or to the educated, cientifi advi or who would emerge in the
twentieth centu ry.
ampbell noted that he ould read both "poverty and luxury" and
"in telligence" through furniture. To illustrate the way in which furni-
ture election reflected upon it owner, Campbell stated: "In it inti-
mate relation to human life, furniture form a direct expre ion of the
la ,age, ex and condition of ervitude of it u er." According to
h r manual, hou ekeeper at th turn of the century displayed
litt! intelligence when furni hing their hom . Thi problem, wrote
ampbell in 1 96, "will be remedied when the household economi t
42 [ TIU! Rise of the Domiologist ]

ha voice in the hoi e ... of the home and it furniture."6 Cam
de ided that the problem he w in the home could only be 01 ed
by dome tic cienti
ampb 11 had a vari d car r of writing and advo a y. he taught
home e onomi at variou chool , including the Univer ity of Wi -
on in and Kan a State Agricultural College. In New York in the
1 0, he wrote a column, .. of Poverty," for the New York
Tribune ba ed on her experien e with the urban poor in that city. Her
1 91 Darkness and Daylight: Or, Lights and 1ladows cif New York Life,
a WonUln's Narrative cif Mission and Rescue Work in Tough Place , with
Per onal Experiences anwng the Poor in Regions cif Poverty and Vice u ed
interview and ob ervation to paint a bleak picture of the poor in e\!
York.' Helen ampbell participated a tively in Women' lub work
in New York and befriended many of the mo t influential women of
her time. She dedicated Household Economics to Fanny Baker Arne , a
charity organizer, and teacher, and to Charlotte P. Stet on,
(later harlotte Perkin Gilman), a writer and ocial reformer. At the
1 93 World' Columbian Expo ition in Chicago, ampbell took the
tage after Vas ar College hi tory r Lucy almon.&Di u -
i.ng the industrial condition of women and children, Campbell wa in
the company of women who had de oted their 1i e to and
improving the condition of American women.
Campbell treated the hou ehold a a space for rational, cientific
improvement. In The Easiest IVay, he di cu ed hou ehold ventilation,
drainage, and the chemi try of food. Her Household Economics ug-
ge ted the idea that women could no longer be expected to run their
h without the help of trained . alist :
More and more, we ee, the trend i toward . ·fi handling

of all that make up civilized living. The ingle hou ekeeper is at
a teadily i . g disadvantage. We are being pu hed often
again t our wi he and prote ting wildly a we go but till pu hed,
toward that combination which alone can light n burden , Ie en
expen e ,and make po ible for the majority the good thing known
now only to the minority. Thi bu ine of living i a i nee, nor
can anyone woman ma ter all it ountle s detail. The time ha
come for the work of the pe iali t, and the end of the mattering of
knowledge which thu . far ha been the allowance of mo t women .9
Campb 11 mirrored many nineteenth entury ad . in her b -

lief that hou work could be "lovely and noble." 10 Howe er, he al 0
[ T/~ Ri e cifthe Domiologist ] 43
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! lTal fIaill

thought that housework for women needed to be reexamined and that
women needed specialized training, even a . . education, in
order to understand all the parts that made up the proper home. "It
i time," he wrote, "that this bu of cooking and cleaning for
humanity should be transferred to the hands of experts:' II
Campbell knew that her wish was beginning to orne true. Ameri-
can econdary chool and uruversltie began offering coursework in
dome tic dence in the mid-nineteenth century. The foundation for
these program was the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1 62. Thi gov-
ernment program provided land for state universities that to
begin a program to train students for practical fields. According to the
act, universities would get money for "the endowment, support, and
maintenance of at . one college where the leading object be,
without excluding other cientific and cla sieal studie and including
military ta tic • to teach such branches of learni.ng as are related to
agriculture and the mechanic arts, in uch manner as the legislatures of
the tates may in order to promote the liberal
and practical education of the industrial classe on the several pursuits
and in life."I~ Land- grant chool promoted ubjects uch
agri uiture and engineering. The State College oflowa at Arne wa
the first to offer a cour e in "domestic economy" in 1871, and home eco-
IS
oon became one of the bas i offerings ofland-grant schools.
The federal government hoped that ubject would, after the
Civil War, help Americans rebuild with a population of trained pro-
Land-grant chools soon opened in every state. Faced with eg-

regation in the South, African American began to found their own
teacher training chool, and in 1890 a econd Morrill Act expanded
the land-grant program to include these black institu-
tions. " 1890 Institutions," including Tenne see State, Florida
A&M, and Prairie View A&M (in ), were located in the eventeen
theastern states where the original land-grant school had denied
to "colored students." A century later, in 1994, the Equity in
Educational Land-Grant Status Act authorized land-grant status to
twenty-nine college for Native American . Today, ea h tate plus the
Di trict of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Island ha
a land-grant university dedicated to "practical education."
The trend for home-economics education pread the coun-
try in the nineteenth century. By 1892, fourteen universities offered
courses in anitary science, household administration, dome tic sci-
[ The Rise of the Domiologist ]

ence, or home economics. The University of Chicago founded its in-
fluential Household Admini tration program in 1904, led by faculty
mcmbc.'s Sophon,sbu Br kanr:dg and Mar:on Ibot. Many oth r
college and new uni ersities followed, and by 1905 rno t land-grant
colleges had Home Economics departments. Ellen Richard ,a founder
of the movement, outlined its tenets: "Home Economics tands for:
Ideal home life of today unhampered by tradition of the past; The re-
ources of modern science to improve home life; Freedom of the home
from the dominance of things and their due subordination to ideal ;
That simplicity in material surroundings that will free the pirit for
the more important and permanent interests of home and ociety:·'·
Home-economics leader took familiar ideas, such a simplicity and
freedom from extravagance, quantified them, taught them to students
across the country, and made them important on a national scale.
Home economics became a standard subject in middle and second-
ary schools, as well as in colleges and universities. In the first few de-
cade of the twentieth century, advocates lobbied for saturation of the
country's public chool ,focu ing on the middle-school grade. Bring-
ing home economic to the public chools would bring the field to a
much wider range of people. Helped by federallegi lation promoting
vocational education, the second decade of the twentieth century saw
the implementation of a home economics curriculum in school across
the country. By 1938, the United State Office of Education found
that 76 percent of seventh- and eighth-grade girl attended home-
economics c1asses. 1h
The profe sionalization of home economics provided job opportu-
nities for many women. To make sure the field was respected as an
academic endeavor, home economists began a yearly meeting at Lake
Placid, New York, in 1 99, named their professional organization the
American Home Economics Association (AHEA), and began publishing
a journal.'6 The e tactic helped bring the field among other
social scientists, and it gave their articles, books, and newsletters an
academic authority.
Many home economist had tie to ulinary schools. Food
was an early branch of the field, and the study of nutrition helped
launch specialists in other home-related fields. Because women had a
traditional connection to food preparation, the kitchen was a logical
place to begin the .on of all the home arts. Fannie Mer-
ritt Farmer, in the dedication to her famed 1896 Boston Cooking ScJwol
Cookbook, still in print over a century later, praised the pre ident of the
[ Tlze Rise of the Domiologist ]
AL.teL.rc ecrtelilk bescrer'llCl ". atenaal

cooking chool for "her helpful encouragement and untiring effort in
promoting the work of cientific cookery, which means the elevation of
the human race."!7 The Bo ton Cooking School trained many women
in nutrition and ba ic food preparation and provided jobs for many
home economi ts as teachers.
Maria Parloa wa an early teacher at the Boston Cooking School.
Her advice manuals, Parloa's Young Housekeeper and Home
Economics: A Guide to Household Management, both published in the
1890s, probably reached a wider audience because of her connection
to the fir t Boston Cooking · chool cookbook and because of her con-
tribution to magazineuch a Good Housekeeping Most of her pub-
Ii hed works were cookbook, including Appledore Cookbook (1872 ),
Camp Cookery ( I 7 ), Miss Pa,.{ca's New CookBook () 80), and Miss Pm'-
loa 's KZ:tche1l COmpalllfJ7l (1 7). She taught her reader how to use the
new la cooking device , how to re temperature, and
how to can fruit. Her texts made u e of the new technologie ,and he
al 0 offered helpful kitchen olutions:
How to arrange the cover of the aucepans i alway a problem.
There i nothing to hang them by, and one rarely ha shelf-room
enough for them. r have found that a long rack, uch as is placed
under the meat when roasting in the oven, is an excellent contriv-
ance for holding these covers. Place it in one corner of the helf, and
the edges of the covers between the bars, arranging the cover
according to the largest at one end, and the smallest at the
other. This little convenience economizes both pace and time, for
a cover can be found or replaced without a moment's delay.18
Friendly and accessible, the home economists attempted to bring ra-

tional thinking and practical olutions to the kitchen.
Padoa, born in I 4S, wa part of the beginning of the home-
economic revolution. he enjoyed mall fame in late-nineteenth-
century Bo ton, even being written up in Good Housekeeping magazine,
which many of her articles on home management. The Good House-
keepi1lg"Notable Nothings" column of February 1890 provided an inti-
mate look at Parloa: "Picture to a woman a little above the
ordinary height, and ju t tout enough to look comfortable, a plump,
ro y face, frank, friendly hazel eyes, and dark hair a little prinkled
with gray, rolled back moothly from a broad forehead. She always
seem happy and jolly." Her own home, claimed the article, "is what
46 [ The Rise ojthe Domi%gist ]

every home ought to be. An expre sion of her elf. It is in a lovely loca-
tion, near Franklin Park, and it abound in light and sun hine."19
In the econd half of the nineteenth century, when Maria Parloa wa
teaching ooking in Bo ton, it wa still unu ual for women to be con-
idered authoritie in ubjects. Parloa gave lectures all
over New England, beginning in New London Connecticut, in 1 76.
he gave cooking lessons at Chautauqua summer chool and other
adult- education center all over the country. Parloa enjoyed ucce
both a writer and a lecturer, in part becau her field wa dominated
by women, both a teacher and tudent. Women achieved
in home economics, and they continued to widen the definition of the
field to include anitation, ewing, and other subjects, well as food
preparation.
Ellen wallow Richard ,one of the founder of home economic ,put
her effort into creating a place for women in the ience. Richard,
born in Ma sachu ert in 1 42, graduated from Va ar College and
began her cientific career at the Ma achu ett In titute of Tech-
nology (MIT) where he became the first woman tudent to graduate in
1 71. he oon began teaching at MIT, eventually being appointed in-
tructor of anitary chemi try. Richard establi hed a Woman' Labo-
ratory at MIT in 1 76, welcoming other women into the newly emerg-
ing field of domestic science."O During her long career,
worked on several major project, including a water-sanitation tudy
that led to new tandard for ewage treatment in he
al 0 worked for a fire-in uranee company, tudying hou ehold venti-
lation, and wrote more than a dozen book . Later in her life, he joined
with other to form the organization that would become the Ameri-
can A ociation for Univer ity Women, an important re ouree for the
growing number of women in college aero the country.tl
Ellen Ri hard and other women cienti t in the late nineteenth
century r alized that the ubje t they tudied could have practi al
applications in the hou ehold. Richards' technical paper and book,
uch as Notes on Industrial Water Analysis: A Survey oursefor Engineers
(190 ), had a dire t connection to her books about the home, su h as
Horne anitation: A Manila/for Housekeepers (191 1). While her tudyof
water was meant for a pecific, educated audience, Home anitation had
a wider appeal for ordinary women. he believed that women ien-
ti t could achieve important things in the lab, but he al 0 thought
they had a pecial respon ibility to watch over and protect their home
[ The Rise ofthe Domiologist ] 47
AL Ie r reet' IJk be set' rmc! !Tal fIaill

from danger caused by poor ventilation or sanitation. The first female
graduate of MIT, the founder of home economi s, and the inspiration
for countless women cienti t , Richards shared her ideas about home
fu with women acro the country.
Richards was an important role model for aspiring home econo-
mi t5 at the turn of the century. Sophoni ba Breckinridge and Marion
Talbot, both important domestic advi or, followed her into home eco-
nomic and created their own place in the field . ophonisba Pre ton
Breckinridge wa born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1 66, and returned
home after college to become the fir t woman to be admitted to the
Kentucky bar. LegaJ practice was not to keep her interest for long,
however, and she soon moved on to get her Ph.D. in political
ence at the University of Chicago, where she also graduated from law
school. Despite these advanced degrees, her interest turned to home
economics, and she spent eight years teaching at the University of Chi-
cago in the Hou ehold Administration department.it
Political activitie consumed much of Breckinridge's career in Chi-
cago. She became involved in ocial-welfare programs, edited ajournal
called odal cience Review, and helped organize variou . civic groups.
he joined the Women' Peace Party, the National American Woman
uffrage Association, and the Children' Bureau. She also worked with
hi ago's Immigrant' Prote ti L e ague, the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, and Hull Hou e, an important
ettlement hou e in Chicago. Participation in 0 many ocial cause
till left Sophonisba Breckinridge time to write, and she authored
more than twelve book, including a household-advice manual that he
o-wrote with Marion Talbot.
Marion Talbot wa involved in the early-twentieth-century
professionalization of home economi . She tudied with Ellen Rich-
in Boston and taught at Richards' choolof ping, which
opened in 1 97. Richard had hoped the chool would teach immi-
grants to be good but oon gave up on that idea and
began to concentrate on teaching educated women the cientific prin-
ciple of household management. The hort-lived school had two pur-
to tea h women the basics of home economi s and to provide
opportunitie for women teachers. Talbot u ed the experience to
launch her own career in teaching; he soon left Bo ton to become the
first dean of women at the University of Chicago.
Talbot believed that higher education for women could solve the
problems of contemporary home life. In The Modern Household ( 1912),
4 [ Tile Rise 0/the DomioLogist ]

coauthored with ophoni ba Breckinridge, she wrote: "We hope that
the tatement and u in the following page, upplemented
• •
will ilh r Y I} ~ t Iy f II tudy

classes, and students of social onditions in college and
to find way by which the household of moderate income and with
children may realize it . . .. as an organized group of human
being :'is Talbot believed that by reading her book and by tudy-
ing together, women could begin to olve ome of the problem in
home life. She specifically cited "the increasing frequency of divorce,
the lowered birth rate, the multiplication of hotels and tenement , the
increase of public place of amu ement, and the of familie ,
either temporarily or permanently, by husband and father ."1+ The e
worries were imilar to the concerns of the nineteenth-century do-
mestic advi or . However, wherea Child and Beecher addre ed the e
problem in term of their hri tian beliefs, Talbot and her colleagues
believed in the power of higher education and science.
Women uch a Richards, Breckinridge, and Talbot had public ca-
reer and wrote many book . However many Ie er-known home
economi t around the country al 0 published household-advice man-
ual . The e text appeared throughout the 1910 and 1920s, with in-
crea ing numbers in the 1980s. For example, Mary Lockwood Mat-
thew , dean of Home Economics at Purdue University in Indiana,
. hed The HOIl e and its Care in 1926. Matthews offered her book
"for use in the enior high chool and the junior college, or by the
homemaker who practical information on the e matter ."25
Maude Richman Clavert and Leila Bunce Smith publi hed their Ad-
vanced COIlr. e in Home Making in 1989 with a forward by Boletha Fro-
jen, upervi or of home-economic education, State of Florida, and
26
in ular pervisor of home-economic education for Puerto RiCO.
These are on ly a few of the dozens, perhap hundr d , of available
home-economic texts in the early twentieth century.
Home- economic textbooks had a tandardized form. Mary Lock-
wood Matthews's book of 1926, for example, included ba i informa-
tion about certain types of furniture. "A . g table is designed for
a woman' u e," he explained. "It is a low table with drawer beneath,
pporting a mirror or series of mirrors before which the woman it
on a tool or low-backed chair de igned to match the dre ing table.
The mirror hould be rectangular or quare in hape."'7 Matthew
went on to de cribe the kind of articles that could be placed on a
dres ing table. She then led her reader on a room-by-room tour of the
[ The Rise oJlhe DomioLogisl ] 49

hou e, outlining rule of di play and arrangement. "When the dining
room table i not in u e," he in i ted, "all di he and table linen hould
be removed and a doily should be placed at the center, on which may
be et a bowl of flower or orne attractive piece of ilver or china." tS
Mo t home-economic text of the 1920 and 19S0 gave r ad-
vice. Their domestic fanta y wa the well-ordered home, arranged ac-
cording to certain prin of organization.
Home e onomi t from all over the country had acce to article
written by their for national journal· and new letter. In-
deed, mo t tate univer itie with Home Economic department pub -
li h d their own bulletin and new letter. The e included more local-
ized information and per onalized advice. Margaret M. Ju tin and
Lucille 0 born Ru t, dean and profe sor of home economic at Kansa
tate Univer ity, made u e of the e ource. In their introdu tion to
Home Living ( 1935), they recommended that their reader "gradually
build up apr onal olle rion of Hom E onomic bulletin from the
tate College, tate Univer ity, United tate Department of Agricul-
ture, and good article from the hou hold magazines" and that thi
library would "help you solve your problems of home Iiving." t9
In 1935, the New York tate College of Home Economic publi hed
its tenth annual report. Flora Ro e, the director of the college, noted
that most homemaker "are not alway con ClOU . . . that a soiled
rug, an inconvenient kitchen, a tired-out worker, or a plintery floor
may be re ble directly or indirectly for increa ed poverty or ill
health."so Through home bureaus in thO . countie in New York
tate, Ro e and other believed that women could learn fir thand how
to clean up their rug, fix up their kitchen , and exchange the plin-
tered, old-fashioned wooden floor for linoleum. The ew York col-
leg ' annual report, like those from most tate with ignificant rural
population , betrayed a trong belief in the power of home economic
to olve mo t every 0 ial problem. The 1935 report pointed out that
home-economic teaching had help d rural New Yorkers get through
the Depre sion. They agreed that "home Economi should be of great
ervi e in the of civilization." SI
Dome tic advi or tried to make home economic and
v n fun. Ethel Pey er' 1922 hou ehold manual heating the Junk Pile:
The Purdza. e and Maintenance oJHouselwld Equipments appeared first in
erial form in the women' magazine House and Garden. Her book edu-
cated women in the language of electricity and "vacuum cleanere e."
he coined the word "domiologist" to mean ·'home cienti t." Pey er
50 [ The Rise of the Domiologist ]
AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal flaill

I
compared the work of . t to the health profe ion when he

said they practiced ital efficien y" in the home. She quite elf-
u ed word like" cienti t" and "ho pita!" to relate her do-
52
me tic texts to the ideal of home economics. However, Pey er, who e
other book cover d the hi tory of mu .c and opera, wa not a home
economi t, and he claimed her "book i in no way intended to be a
book on household efficiency, in the usual sense of the world it i no
religio-culinaris, no dome tic Baedecker."5s Instead, her text brought
home economic out of the academy and tried to make it friendly.
Many advisors agreed with Pey er that the ideas of home cience
hould be acce ible to all women, e en if they did not tudy home eco-
nomic formally. Mo t home economists, indeed, believed that women
hould learn about all the branches of industry and life that affected the
home. A Peyser noted in 1922, "Neither the employment of women in
war-work nor the radical chaJJenges of the ultra-femini t ha altered
the fundamental fact that the home i women' realm."" In the early
twentieth century, home economi t and other ld '
began to broaden that realm through civi and community effort and
by peaking to women a corporate pon or . Their effort continued
through the rest of the twentieth century, and even today.
"The hou , in it evolution of related indu trie ,i the par-
ent of the tate," wrote Helen Campbell in her Household Economics
of 1896.56 She believed that women who under tood the working of
their home would be better prepared to under tand the laws that af-
fected their homes, such as and electric regulation and food ani-
tation. She argued that women hould learn about everal ".
all growing out ofhou ehold life and need ." S6 To Campbell, home eco-
nomic wa "the link between the phy ical economics of the individual
and the ocial economic of the state." '7
Domestic advisors understood that the home could be a way for
women to participate in national debate and policy making. They felt
that women, con idered to have experti e in only limited area, needed
to focu on the home in order to be heard in the larger publi arena.
In 1912, Marion Talbot and Breckinridge de cribed how
women' influence over the ho hould in lude influence over
. government group and indu trie .
The hou ekeeper hall be pre ent either in her own per on or in the
per on of her agent where the food of her family i prepared. She
mu tin pect the farm from which her milk is brought to the city, the
[ The Rise ojlhe Domiologi t J 51

dairy in whi h it i prepared, the train on whi h it i transported,
the enter from which it i di tributed. he mu t take part in the
de i ion a to th tandard required, the method of enforement de-
vi ed, the rate at which that tandard hall be rai ed . .. . When he
ee how her pre en e i needed in all the place which have been
named, she "will ari e and go" to the polling booth , to the city hall,
to the factory, to the chool ... to all the place where those who
pr pare and rve h r food and mak her clothing work and Jive ....
All of this will grow out of her realization that a woman' pre ence
i demanded throughout the range ofintere t which con titute her
home. s
cienti t believed that women under tand the

and technological a pect of their work, alway keeping the focu
on the hou ehold. On e women under tood thi , they n eded to
that knowledge beyond the home. The home formed only one piece
of a larger puzzl in which active made with the help of
the new scien e , became e sentia\. Women, a manager,
could play increa ingly important role in thi new social order.
Talbot and Bre kin ridge called for political participation by women.
" he will appropriate the ballot a dome tic nece ity," they wrote
in 1912, eight y ar before national suffrage for women.S9 However,
they ou hed th ir pro uffrage po ition in dome tic term, b Jieving
that worn n the ballot becau of their natural intere t and r -
pon ibility for home life. The hi tory of home economi i compli-
cated its proponent believed both in the trong onnection
b tw n women and th home and in the parti ipation of women in
new indu trie and political group. The pre nee of in ivi-
lead rship role, uch as ophon' Breckinridg in Chicago, and in
corporate leader hip role , uch a the home t of Corning
Gla Work and rmour Food ,brought women new career opportu-
nitie . But the home, now a plaee of ience and technology, remained
women'
Kitch n efficien y be arne the fo u of many women' lub around
the ountry. Th popular magazine The Modern Priscilla founded the
Pri ilia lub of Dome tic ience for E eryday Hou ekeeper . Writ-
ing about the lub in 1915, dir ctor Grauel claimed that
"wom n ar growing more n ible ea h day in the ele tion of th ir
working tools and the management of their workroom ." ..0 Experi-
ment tations blo omed in the 1920 and r mained popular for ev-
52 [ The Rise of the Domiologi t ]

eral decade . tation brought the ideas of domestic advi or
more authority becau e the publi could view their experiment and
und r s tnnd the:r result .
Christine Frederick ran a model kit hen alled the Apple roft Ex-
periment ration at her home on Long in the 1920 . Frederick,
born in 1 S, graduated from Northwe tern University in 1906. he
opened her experiment tation after marrying, having children, and
on idering the problem of homemakers firsthand. During the 1920 ,
Frederi k toured the United tate and Europe, giving lecture about
home efficiency and management. A con ulting hou ehold editor for
the Ladies' Home Journal for nine year , Frederick an wered up to a
thou and letter weekly from women a king question about "device
and appliance with which to make po sible thi 'new hou ekeeping.'''41
She u ed her "experiment tation" to demon trate which new appli-
ance could be useful for hou ewive and which would not end up
aving women time in the kitchen.
Frederick te ted many different kinds of kitchen and home product
at Applecroft. One of these, a pulley-operated cellar icebox, eliminated
the need for women to keep walking up and down tair .+~ Other in-
cluded labor- aving device and new kitchen arrangements. "Hou e-
keeper will be rpr "he wrote, "how it i to make
over their own into 'Efficiency Kitchen " and how and with but a
few change they can convert them into modern step- aving and ani-
tary 'home work hop .'''+3 Thi e say, a promotional pie e for "Voll-
rath ware' kitchen acce ories, made efficiency eem ea y and
Frederick u ed pple roft a a way to teach her If and other women
how to operate efficient kitchen through experimentation and
he publi hed diagram of efficient kitchen and en ouraged
to change their own to conform with her
Chri tine Frederick' em . on efficiency wa part of a larger
movement for cientific management that b came popular in the
United State in the 1920 and 1930 . Lillian and Frank Gilbreth,
along with Frederick Taylor, led the movement for cientific manage-
ment in the United tate. Taylori a efficien y wa olloquially
known, concentrated on making the factory workplace more efficient
Taylor' Principle rif cientljic Management of 1911 had been to
organize management hierarchie . By eeking to under tand the dif-
ferent per onal rea on for variou work-related a tions, they hoped
to cry talize to the mo t . element of each particular movement.
The Gilbreth employed pe ialized photography y tern to record
[ The Ri e oj tlte Domiologist ] 53
AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TICl r-atenaal

I<IT CH(N.
. ...
~
."
.0
M
~
"OAC~. HAU.. CH.ftfA C·L OStT.
t
:
.
•, n
~
,., ....
.0 0
~
-i
SITTINe ROO ... DININe ROO M.
Maria Parloa 's Kitchen Companion of 1887 ind uded a chapter on "an Ideal KiJcilm-
in which site discussed the 1Illedfor a separote room to sto're dishes and dryfoods. The
room, almost as large as the kite/uti itself, was filled with such 1/UJder1J cotl'llt1liences as a
copper basin for washing, a7ul it included thollghtjill additions lEu a chair to stand on lo
reach the high shelves. Parloa noted that ·in case tiler/! be two or more serTltmls in tlu
/UJuseJIOid, the doorfro"~ the closet to ti,e kitchen need not be opened at all while o. meal is
served" si1lce tlure was on opening to pass plates between the stomge room and
the kitchl!1!. (porloa, Mi s Parloa's Kitchen Companion, 26; courtuy
The Winterthur Library, Primed Book and Periodical Collection)
every action and to cut down each to it . fewe t possible move-

ment , Lillian Gilbreth, Chri tine Frederick, and others transferred
the technique of ientific management to the home,
Lillian Gilbreth i be t known a the mother of the Cheaper by
the Dozen children. Her 1arge family was the subject of many news
articles and stories, and her son and daughter wrote a best- elling
book about the antic of the dozen Gilbreth children growing up with
the ientific-management movement in their home. Gilbreth pub-
lished an account of her marriage titled The Quest fl1' the One B est
Way in 1925 and followed that with The Homemaker and Her Job in
1927. Both books illu trated her belief that women could work to im-
prove themselves by learning the mo t efficien t way to do home clean-
ing and cooking. Not a home economist by trade, Gilbreth held two
doctoral degree, including one in p ychology from Brown Univer-
sity. Her careful work with home efficiency earned her speaking en-
gagements the country, and it ontinue to influence the way
kitchen are built in modern homes.
"Home usually concentrated on the kitchen a a good
54 [ Tlu! Rise ofthe Domiologist ]

I
....
Po...,...·, r
TAI.'£
I
RAIC4f. I KITCHEN
~-( ...."
foft ... .
I '7 ' Il 14 I
""'A....' ,
Kl
~IJf£T
• •
flL\T VORl{
Plate 61. Floor Plan of the One Woman.Power Kitchen

Ros rane, Chicago architect and decorator, included a diagram of the 'one womoll
M
power kitchen ill his 1933 tat. The phrase, used as early as 1925 by the editors ofthe
Modern Pri cilia, drownstrated the nwdenl understanding that middle-class WOlllffl
would be doing their uwtl kitchell work. The power kitchen, /lUJre eJficitnt thall the
nineteenth-eel/tuT)' model, iI/eluded an area for chiI/O al/d a convellitnt drop-leof table.
However, the slidtthrough ill this e.rample Wtnt directly to the dillillg room. The kitchm
also included willdows alld extra light fi.rtures to make the room more cheerfuL
(Crane, Crane Book of Home ng and Deco ration, 24; courtesy
The Winlerthur Library, Pri11ted Book alld Periodical Col/eelioll)
ite to improve home effi ien y. Gilbreth' ear h for the "one be t
way" in the kitchen b gan with chart and graph outlining every po -
ible physical movement. For a tudy of di h hing, Gilbreth "ero s
eetioned the ink, wall , and floor, we were . to ee what
the worker made with her feet." She photograph d the move-
[ The Rise oftilt Domiologist ] 55
AL Ie r recl" IJk be scI" rmc! (Tal flaill

ment of evera] differ nt di hwasher , then lined up the film negative
to ob erve which worker had the mo t efficient idea. 'We can then
Ie t all th and be t elem nt and ombine them in a new
chart into th One Be t Way,""" he explained. With the chart pia ed
within ea y ight of the ink, the worker could refer to it periodically.
Lillian Gilbr th de igned at lea t five demon tration kitchen . Her
u ontinuou "kitchen, a erie ofttn ar work pace, emulated th effi-
ient factory. One of her . demand wa for appropriate heights
for kit hen counter and work pa e . ugg ted a early a 1 by
allie Joy White, who wrote that "the height of th working-table"
wa the cau e of "the con tant train on the th mall
of the back,.. ..5 the appropriate height for kit hen counter till had
not taken hold in all kitchen in the 1920 . Fitting every woman to
her own kitchen would b impo ible, but the notion that kitchen-
counter height hould be appropriat Iy high to redu e train on n k
and back wa inde d an important oncern. Gilbreth' idea were
te ted by other home economi t who publi hed of "te t
kitchen" women in white laboratory coat demon trating the back
train induced by in orre t ounter height .48
ilbr th wide acclaim for her work. Her '\ ide practical
knowledge," wrote Gr ta Gray in an e ay titled "The Kitchen" in
1931, '1ead her to in i t that every kit hen hould be individuaJly ar-
ranged to uit the height ... of the woman d tined to b it mi-
tr :' .., Gray u d a tatement i ed by Hildegarde Kneeland of the
United tate Bureau of Home E onomic about ilbreth' kitchen,
outlining th "five major requirement "; " eparate working urfa e ,
Arrangement oflarge equipment, Compa t working area, Convenient
h ight from the Roor, Grouping of mall equipment around th work-
ing enter:'''8 Home onomi t Elizabeth Burri -Meyer commented
that "the modern d kitchen, with all it machi y, i
really a laboratory ... and a uch hould not be cluttered up with
th knickknack of the old wood-burning tove day ." Burri -Meyer
admitted that the old type of kitchen held a ertain harm," but he
U
wa unwavering in her upport for Gilbreth and the effi iency kitchen.
"The' of the old kitchen cannot be introdu ed into the mod-
n one without making both eem out of pi ace," he wrote."g he
the new kit hen a progre and recommended that her reader not
look back. The Modem PrisciLLa Home Funzishing Book in 1925 dubbed
the new, "comfortable, convenient, efficient" modern kit hen a "One
Woman Power Kit hen." 60
56 [ The Ri e of tlte Domiologist ]
Al.tCl.r _ certell k bcsercr'llClI" atenaal

rp rate kitchen provided home economi t with uni9ue op-
portunitie to communicate with other women about d me ti ;-.
matter. Many ompanje with home-related produ t uch a food,
paint, d and linoleum, u d dome tic advi ors to reach out to
the public and recommend their Kraft food, ear and Roe-
buck, and Piggly-Wiggly food tore all hired home economi t in
the early twentieth century.51Thi relation hip gave the corporation
credibility with female umer and helped boo tale . Popular eti-
quette and hou ehold-advice writer Emily Po t was featured a a home
expert on the Cellophane Radio how pon ored by DuPont in the early
1980s. The company hoped her experti e would convince hou ewive
of the significance of the new moi ture-proof film. The advi or ap-
peared in adverti ement and bro hure , advice and r c-
ommending the company' product. The e I
continued through the twentieth century, and many companie till
u home economi t to communi ate with their female con 52
In 1917, Armour and Company, manufa turer of" hoice food prod-
uct ," hired Jean Pre cott Adam a a dome tic cience director. he
wrote a booklet titled The Business ojBeing a Housewife for them, which
wa coedited by the director of the Good Hou ekeeping In titute.6$
The coUaboration with dome tic advisors wa important to the credi-
bility of Armour Food . In turn, Adam' connection to the bu ine
world gave her a wider audience for her idea . Echoing the of
Marion Talbot, he wrote that "question of pure food and Go ern-
ment Meat In pection are of great importance' to the hou ewife, be-
cau "the re pon ibility for the health and well-being of the family
i her." the Armour trade manual stated, "The di 'bution and
pending of the family income i largely in the hand of the hou ewife."
Advi ors trained in dome tic science declared that the hou ewife had
are pon ibility to educate her elf about the variou companie and in-
du trie that brought food and other product into her home. Adam
claimed that "in th O connection the Armour Department of
cience . .. i a mo t active aid." 6+
Jean Adams u ed the platform of the Armour booklet to develop
idea about kitchen decoration. Under the watchful eye of the
Good Housekeeping In titute, he recommended placing the kitchen
equipment "at the proper height," and in luded idea about church
and auto partie. 0 as not to bore women with too many rule
about meat in pection, he also wrote about paint olor in the home.
"When buff: and light soft browns and yellow are u ed on the wall
[ The Rise oJthe Domiologist ]
AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCll"'atenaal
and woodwork," she claimed, veering away from a di cus ion of bullion
cubes, "the restful light relieves eyestrain." 66 Tempering her expecta-
tions of community involvement with recommendations for paint color
wa a way for domestic cientist to reach their reader.
Test kitchens allowed corporations to discover how their products
could best be used by the public. Perhaps the mo t famous and long-
la ting te t kitchen was the "Good Hou ekeeping Experiment Sta-
tion," set up in 1900, which later b came the "Good Hou ekeeping
tute." 66 The Good Housekeeping Institute, then as now, tested
product and ervices in test kitchen and, if the product passed the
test, a\ arded the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." The seal
demonstrated to con umers that the product had survived the rigor-
ous testing and could be trusted by the American public. Good
keeping modeled behavior and product in the household etting.
One of the mo t succe sfui corporate-domestic scientist relation-
ship between Corning G la s Work and home . Lucy
Maltby. Maltby, who had an undergraduate degree in home economic
from Cornell University and a master of arts degree in the subject from
Iowa State College, had worked a a home- economics teacher. She ap-
Corning in 1929 with the notion that their product line of
Pyrex would be greatly helped by the insights of women con-
s ume r experts and ho m e economists. That same year, he wa hired
to build a Home Department at Corning, a company he
worked with for close to four decades.51 Maltby helped Corning reach
out to female con umers and produce successful lines of cookware.
A basic tenet of scientific-dome t~c fantasy wa that home-
economic education would benefit home life. However, it was also
thought that home- economic education, and specifically women's
knowledge about the home, could benefit the larger world. Lucy
Maltby thought that she and other educated women under tood Pyrex
di hes on a level that neither the chemists nor the corporate executives
at Corning (men, all) could ever hope to match. Maltby and other
helped Corning move it gla work department into consumer prod-
uct in the 1920s by convincing them that heat-resistant glass would
ell. The new glas was unbreakable and allowed ea y cleaning. Food
smell would not tick to the glassware, easing concerns about germ
and grime. Corning began to market Pyrex to middle-cla s women by
emphasizing its hou ekeeper-friendly characteritic .68 Readers of do-
. advice would under tand the way that the new produ ts could
fit into their fan of the cientific home. Home economi ts helped
58 [ The Rise of tlte Domiologist ]

I
Homellconomi I t~ ltd every Tlew product at millg /lIcorpornttd. This imagefrom

1946 depicts severnl hom4 tcoTlomists iTl Iheir wllile labornlory coats ollhe mai" plaTll s
kilmm. orni"g believed tlwl home a:ollomists could help them mffJwjaclun produ ts
Ihat would seillo f emale cOTlSumm. Photograplts such as Ihis OIU, ofl4n apptariTlg iTl
Tlewsletkrs and iTl other publications, helptd convina consumm Iltat produ Is
could be trusltd ill tht kilchtll. (Co urtesy orl/ing Incorpornl.td Deportllltllt
oj Arrhivts and Rtcords Monogtmetll, rniTlg, .Y.)
build bridge between the a ad mi world, the politi al world, the cor-
porate world, and middle- women.
In 1905 a young woman named Frederica hank took a cour e in

hou ehold art at Roxbury High hool in 80 ton, Ma achu ett . Her
note provid a wonderful example of the way in whi h dome tic
cience entered th live of the generation of meri an women who
arne of age in the fir t Ii w decade of the twenti th c ntury.59 Fred-
rica tudied many topic in her las, including planning and build-
ing the hou e, furni hing and decorating, lighting heating, plumbing,
water upply and dj po aJ of wa te, cleaning, laundry work, and dy
offo d .60 h r ad Home Ecollomicsby Maria Parloa tudi d the work
of Ellen Richard and Lillie Hamilton French, and al 0 read Eugen
Gardner, author of The House That Jill BuiLt. Her note included in-
formation on hou e ontruction and anitary con ern , as weU a on
[ Tile Rise oft/Ie Domiologi t ] 59
Al I l r cc~ II k b scrcr'llC1 r- 'II naal

ornamentation and decorating. Shank's notebook indicate that girls
and women in did indeed read the works of domestic advisors
and that they learned and thought about cientific' in the home.
Frederica took notes from her reading and di cu sions. She
pasted photograph and drawing from various text into her note-
book, perhap to fulfil a n ' or because she particularly liked
certain arrangement . The pages of her notebook show that she cov-
ered orne subject in detail, uch a the benefits of certain materials.
"Linoleum i expensive and endurable," she wrote in her section on
floor coverings. "It i cork pressed into a fine powder and mixed with
a kind of oil. It then pres ed on to a piece of burlap and
then painted." She wrote about different types of carpets, citing
the good and bad a pect of each. She tudied the rule of gradation
of color, learning the rule that the lighter color should go on the ceil-
ing, and she studied the' of certain rooms including the living
room, which de cended from the European common hall "The living-
room mean a room where the particular individual ta te is collected,"
he noted. "In this room are a large table, hair .... A fire-place and
others [sic] thing representing comfort and rest."GI
What did students such a Frederica Shanks learn about the sci-
entific a peets of domestic advice? Though home economic curricula
did include the traditional sewing, cooking, and cleaning, in fact, stu-
dents and genera] reader of dome tic advice al 0 learned about tech-
nical of drainage, plumbing, and ventilation. Shanks also
learned practical hints for day-to-day operation of the kitchen. She
noted that "water can be polluted by a leakage in the pipes or cess-
pools" and learned three way to purify the water (boiling, di tilling.
and filtering). The teacher made sure the students knew that there
wa reason to worry given that at "about the middle of last century
there was aJ) epidemic of cholera and aJl the deseases [SIC] were traced
back to a well at Broad St."se Home-economics teacher believed that
hou ewive · needed to take for making ure their fami-
lies drank clean water. At the turn of the twentieth century, girl in
choollearned the tep nece ary to make that happen.
Shanks' notebook indicate that he probably a diagram
lar to the one presented by Harriette Plunkett in her Wonun, Plumbers,
a1ui Dod01'S: or; Household of 1885. Plunkett was the editor
of the" anitary department" at the New York Independent, and Helen
Campbell noted in her 1896 Household Economics that Plunkett' book
"i one of the be t anitary hand-books in exi tence."6S Ellen Richards
60 [ T~ Rise of th.e Domiologist ]

~ .£- c..;t ) 0 '0- cJD 1=6 cru- s e
6 h. G vv- VYt. <Q
~~ I'Vl. ~. •
In Frederica Slumks's hom~ teonomics course, she probably saw a plumbing diagram
similar to the oneftatured in Harriette Plunkett's book. hanks's drowing £ifhouse
plumhing and droinage is quite similar and indicates that books on hom~ sanitation found
their way into high-school classrooms at the turn £if the cmtury. Teaching girls about
vents, trops, and pipes widened tlmr knowledge from ilome decorating Lo tile inner
workings £ifthe household. (Courtesy The WillLerthur L ibrary, .Joseph Downs
Collection £if Manusc,.ipts and Printed Ephemera, no. 5 x 62)
and Marion Talbot included this same drawing in their 1911 edition
of Home Sanitation. Thi diagram, "a plan of the y tem of pipe ,n and
other like it, helped train American women about the basics ofhou e-
hold plumbing.
The diagram represented a cross ection of a typical It in-
cluded pipe, such as the rainwater pipe and the overflow pipe, and
the placement of inks, laundry tubs, and bathtubs. Referring to the
[ TIle Rise ofthe Dotniologist ] 61
112 SEWERAGE AND PLUllnING.
.-,
,-, ..'
'-
J\I!3HIMO
~
<Q
,
C1ST£lttt .
~Vl ,t
~
l-
I-
0
...
0 BATHTUB,
w
... -II.
REFRIGERATOR,
«:
...
~
3
z
-«
/I:
......
•
•
'"-
.--"". .-. 11.
a:
«
• ..
PIPE .
'" c J.
"'7
. $" //
1
-' SUilSOIL . ORAINS .

,. , J ' . / "y
--/./ , -"".-
TRAP. -
FlO. l'7.- A properly plumbed house-Womnn's sphere.
AuteUi srechteiijk beschermd llateroaai

•
plan, Talbot and Richard noted: "The soil pipe convey the content of
water-clo et and urinal to the drain. It may al 0 r eive th
content of wa te The wa te-pipes carry oth r refu e Ruid a
of tub , ink , wa hbowl ,etc. only. The e pipe may di charg either
directly into the hOll . n, or into the oil-pipe. The hOll e-draill i
the pipe which receive the content of the soil and wa te pipe , and
onvey them out ide th hou e. It i nearly horizontal, with an in-
clination of at lea t one in fifty, while the . . be erti-•
HS
cal. • When the e home e onomi t and their colleague wrote that
women' phere included all of the ity ervice that affected the home,
they meant it. They wrote their textbook to in tru t high- hool tu-
dent like Frederica hank, a well a older American women, about
the ientific propertie of their home .
on home con tru tion often led to discu about venti-
lation and air. Marion Talbot and Ellen Richard warned th ir
reader to let air in through the window : "[Window] are for the pur-
po e of admitting light, and ometime air," they wrote. "Thi purpo e
cannot be a compli hed where, a i not uncommon, they ar barri-
caded with two ets of blind ,two et of hade , and la e urtain or
heavy draperie . If their owner would take away half the e barrier
and leave the other rai ed and open, the good cheer and vigorou life
which tream in with the un hine would peedily convert r gret at
the 10 into rejoicing at the greater gain."65 Home e onomi t join d
with other health official and the general public in the late-nineteenth
and early-twentieth-century b lief that fre h air was the key to good
health. Their role a hou ehold advi ors meant they this
belief into concrete in tru tion for the home.
The hunt for pure air dominated dome tic-advice manual for much
of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centurie . Even the Beecher
si ter wrote about ventilation: "The mo t ucce ful mode ofventilat-
HOG
ing a hou e i by creating a urrent of warm air in a Rue. Their chap-
Hal lietU Plunhtt, eelling to show thai "if women and plumbu. do their whole saniwry
duty, there wiU be comparatively little occasion fOT the ervices oj the doctors: published a
detailed analysis ojhome sanilalion in 1 85. Her diagram, in a chapter Oil sewerage and
plumbing, rknuJ1/strated Ihe ways that water shouldflow through the house, providing
severol outlelsfor waste and appropriate drainage. The sketch, caph'oned ·Woman's
'Phtl"t,~ was reprinted in severol books induding Ellen Richards and Marion Talbot's
Home anitarion oj 1 7. (plunkett, Women, Plumber , and Do tor , 112;
courtesy The Winterthur Librory, Printed Book and Periodical Ccluction)
[ The Rise of the Domiologist ] 63
it:!:,:\ bes IT'd aler aal

ter on " cientific dome tic ventilation" included drawings of ventilat-
ing tube , as tho employed in mine , and it explained variou
method u ed by laboratories and other with poor
ventilation. The Beecher understood clearly that on ly "a few of the
more intelligent and wealthy" had employed re ent advance in hou e-
61
hold ventilation. The chapter concluded with the hope that "any in-
telligent woman who ha read this work" could guarantee proper ven-
tilation in her own home.
To dom tic advi or, cientific ventilation meant that fresh air
would come into the hou ehold, un by heavy window tex-
tile . They pu hed their readers to 10 e the heavy curtain ,heavy rug,
and heavy bed lothe of the nineteenth century. For them, fresh air
epitomized good health, and they would be the harbinger offre hair
into the home. All the cientific language, uch a diagram of pipe
and the u e of word uch as "ventilation" in tead of just "air," ex-
pre ed the same basic idea. One of the mo t fundamental goal of
. fanta y was to make "fre h air" into a po itive at-
tribute, one that American women would yearn to bring to their own
hou .
A the twentieth century progressed, Americans the
belief in fresh air into other part of their live . t Theodore
Roo evelt began to e tabli h national park acro s th country to en-
ourage American to enjoy the great outdoors. With the increased
u e of automobiles, outdoor camping and hiking became more acee -
ible to many American . Fresh air wa an important theme in Ameri-
can culture in the fir t few decade of the twentieth century, and do-
me tic advi ors picked up on thi idea. When Virginia Terhune Van
de Water, nineteenth-century hou ehold ad ' Marion Harland's
daughter, ugge ted hou ehold exerci e in 1912, he recommended
that women "take the exerci e with the window open" for added bene-
fit. 6
All over the country, health official opened fre h-air school. In
th e . chool, tudents affli ted with . wrapped
ves in many layers and huddled by the tove with the windows
wide open to let in the invigorating air. Becau e tubercu . affli ted
the lung, expo ur to clean air cou ld prolong the life of the patient by
removing orne of the contaminant. Desperate for a cure, familie em-
braced the id a of the fre h-air movement and endured cold tempera-
ture in the hopes that the air would re tore their health . City officials
even began to in orporate the fre h-air theory into many civic build-

ing project , providing outdoor waiting rooms at train tation , for ex-
ample. Though relatively short-lived a a national trend, the fre h-air
v ttl hl clid mak ii way il\~ ount! . dom b -advi e manual .
Ill '
Domestic advisors expanded the doctrine of fre h air beyond it
u e a treatment for tuberculosis patients. Maria Parloa cautioned that
bedrooms carried the mo t ri k for the family. "The beds be
thoroughly aired every morning," she warned in a Good Housekeeping
article titled "Stuffy Homes: How to Avoid Having Them" and "the
blankets, pillows and mattres es that there hall be
a current of air about them; and if . ble they hould be expo ed to
the sun hine."69 The advice wa often imple: Open the window. "A
great volume of pure air sweeping through the hou e," wrote Parloa in
Houselwld Economics, "wi1l in ten minutes remove the impure air more
effectually than airing for an hour or more with window only partly
opened." 70
Advi worried that bedrooms contained stagnant, impure air.
They recommended that children spend their days outside, or at lea t
out of the bedroom, so as to get fresh air and sunshine. Domestic ad-
visor Agne Bailey Ormsbee wrote about children's room in I 92: "A
room with the windows opening to the south is the for the nurs-
ery. While this cannot alway be commanded, one with a northern out-
look is to be avoided. Such a room i cheerles , cold, and unhealthful.
A chamber i also better than a ground-floor room, a it is les likely
to be damp, and the Boor will be much warmer. Great care hould be
taken with the ventilation of this room, where children are to spend so
many hours, and it Id not also be used for a sleeping-room when
such use i avoidable."71 Ormsbee and other advi ors worried about
the health hazards of the average hou ehold. For women reading these
texts who had no other acce to idea about what cau ed the e
sugge tion could be valuable.
Ad often used fresh flowers to demon trate the importance of
light and air in the home. Because cut Bower lived or died depending
on the conditions of the hou ehold, they could be u ed a thermome-
ter to rate the air quality. "The first essential test for a cheerful room
is sunshine," began Susan Anna Brown in 188 1. "Flowers cannot blos-
som in [a dark room.] neither will people. Nobody knows how many
men and women have been killed by dark rooms."72 Lillie Hamilton
French eloquently described the sensation of entering a home "filled
with growing plants," which would a ure visitor that the hou e wa
properly warmed and ventilated. "On entering a room where flowers
[ The Rise qfthe Domioiogist ] 65

flour· h .. . you recognize in tinctively the exi tence of heat. You
realize that unless it were warm the flower would droop." " Flower
brought life and h alth into the home and could b u ed to convince
vi itor that the homemaker practiced tho e cientific principle that
allowed life to flouri h.
t the turn of the twentieth century, dome tic advisors stepped up
their attack on dirt and disea e.' • Ideas about where germ could hide
in the hou e began to scare ad into ever more frenzied c1ean-
line . "Many draperie are not to be de ired," wrote Agne Bailey
in 1 92; "they catch and hold d and infection most
11y." 16 Including infection one of the danger of thick textile
indicated that ad i or paid attention to national debate about health.
In 191 ,Lucia MiJlet Baxter ur and di ea e when he la-
mented that "it i deplorable that 0 many hou e are kept dark by
d and blind." he urged her reader to walk through the city
and noti e how many house continued to block all light with unneces-
sarily thi k blind. "Who know what demon of disease may be lurk-
ing in the dark corner within?" he 16
Mo thorne economi . and other .c advi or joined together

in their call for the removal of textile from the home. The thick bro-
ade of the nineteenth century attracted in ect and du t, and the
layer of textile on all the window negated the good qualiti that
\i indow could bring to a hom . However, thi demand proved difficult
for mo t American women. Fabri in the home had long been a marker
of 0 ial la ,and m home in the nineteenth century u ed
their textile a ymbol of moderate wealth. Ju t as in their attempts
to eradicate the parlor from the dome tic vocabulary, advi or worked
against a trong tide. While hou ehold became more reserved and
unadorned a the twentieth entury progre ed, textile removal wa a
battle that the advisors won slowly. They did their be t to make simpli-
fied home eem appealing, and they pre ed on with their admonition
that textile and hou e bred disease. 'Woolen tuff: ab orb du t
and odor ," wrote Maria Parloa in 1910. "They hould not be u ed if
they cannot be ubjected to frequent du ting and airing.""
cienti t proved that di ea e-cau ing germ could be pre ent even
when invi ible to the naked eye. Advocate of the "germ theory" of
di identified mi roorgani m a the cau e of di ea e and pro-
po ed that could pread from a ingle ource. In the 1 90 ,
public- health official began to identify du t a a new danger given
that it could erve a a hiding place for tuberculo i germ. The germ
66 [ The Rise cif the Domiologist ]

theory, e tablished by European cientists Loui Pasteur and Robert
Koch in the 1870s and 1880s, took several decade to make an impact
on ordinary Americans. But in the decades after the turn of the en-
tury, dome tic advi or did their best to help pread the information
to American women.'8
A the decades progressed and scienti ts learned more about how
germ contagious disea e, the clean lines instruction took on
more urgency. Mary Krout, an advi or who wrote Platters and Pip-
kins in 1910, warned her readers to pay attention to the new theorie :
"There are till orne doughty ouls who have not been intimidated by
the hue and cry after microbe . They till cling desperately to their
carpets fastened down with tack . But the change to rug and poli hed
floor which [ appear to have empha ized with tiresome it-
eration, is an incalculable improvement, and it is an object to which
the truly pUblic-spirited may devote their energie with profit to the
country at large in order that the fashion may be universally adopted
and remain."79 Against the odd, advisor tried to inform their reader
about the real dangers lurking in their curtains and other textile.
Though mo t Americans kept their carpet and curtains well into the
twentieth century, the domestic-advice manuals and home magazine
continued their campaign.
"The use of uphol tered furniture or of heavy woolen draperies ...
hould be reduced to the lowest po sible point," wrote Ellen Richards
and Marion Talbot in 1911.80 They continued their attack on dome -
tic "Carpet entirely covering the floor cannot be kept thor-
oughly clean, and are, moreover, a constant temptation to the eco-
nomical hou ewife to exclude the un. Matting and 100 ely woven
carpets allow dust to sift through them to the floor beneath, whence
it cannot be removed. Hard polished or painted floor , with rugs, are
preferable to carpets or mattings. And the amount of care required
by bare floors i little more than that demanded by carpets which,
to be thoroughly cleaned, mu t be taken up at each annual or semi-
annual "81 These demands featured the strong re of
home scienti t to the middle-clas In thi do~
mestic fantasy, women would approach the decoration of their parlor
armed with effective ugge tions for cientific hou ekeeping.
Wicker and other unupholstered furniture enjoyed popuJarity with
home economist concerned about d Wicker furniture fir t became
popular during the late Victorian era in the 1 70s and 1880s. Brought
to American market by Cyrus Wakefield, who, the story goe , found
[ The Rise ofthe Domiologist ] 67

·WilLowfomitllrt is another c/as which is popular and which has a di tillet use
ill mOllY modem homes: wrote Amy &lft ill her 1917 domestic-advice malluaL. he
illustraied her di cussioll with tltis photograph depictillg a 1111 parlor "filled with wicker
N
Jumishiflgs. Rocktr. , anllchairs, and (X)uche all made use rift/Ie durable and easily
cleaned l1wteriar. (Ro[ft, Interior Decoration for the mall Home, 104)
xtra rattan lying around on a Bo ton wharf and uddenly realiz d it

potential for furniture, wi ker arne into hion be au e of it orna-
mental qualitie . oon, Wakefield, rattan company merged with
Heywood Brother' furniture ompany in I 97, manufa tured wicker
furniture for por he , baby carriage, and invalid chair. [t elaborate
urve and curlycue appealed to many women and men in the nine-
teenth entury. But it al 0 had twentietb- entury appeal. Wi ker fur-
niture woven from rattan, cane, bamboo, and willow wa ea y to lean
and did not attract du t a much a fabri - ov r d furniture. 0
u ed for outdoor pa e uch a porche, wi ker en ouraged p ople
to t out ide, in the fre hair. Advi or thought of wicker a natural,
I an, and a promot r of outdoor living. They often included the ma-
terial in their di u ion of' amp" furniture in mmer etting.
Walking a lin b tween and cien e, ad vi or found way
to appeal to their reader. They tried to find example of it m that
worn n might want in th ir home and to explain which one could
b y in lu in th hygi ni, anitary hou ehold of the twenti-
eth century. Wicker furniture in the nineteenth century repr nted
elaborate de ign in a relatively cheap produ t. Twentieth- enturyad-
[ The Rise ofthe Domiotogist ]
Al lel r rc r I k be sc r r"TlC It n III

•
VI or , . g the popularity of the furniture, seized on wicker (and
iU materials, rattilIl, alne, and willow) a Hperf! t titu
[I r r-
furniture. Willow, wrote th ditor of the Modern Priscilla
Home Furnishing Book in 1925, "i good-looking, comfortable, inexpen-
lve, and mo t of aU not at all hurt by moi ture; you can, in fact, turn
the ho e on it and give it a good crubbing when it i oiled." 8t
where food wa prepared and served provided pecial ani-
tary concerns. Becau e the dining room was full of both food and fur-
niture, advi or took pecial precaution . In the nineteenth century,
many advi ors had recommended that the dining room be de orated
with a man' ta te in mind. Thi continued into the twentieth century,
and modern advl or u ed cience and' as further to rid
the room of exces textiles and feminine touche . "Do not have couche
with or stuffed chair in thi room," wrote Mabel Hyde Kitt-
redge. "The room in which we eat mu t be anitary, and furniture that
collect du t i never really free from the possibility of germ ." 8S Advi-
or u ed word like "germs" freely, caring their readers into chang-
ing the ways they decorated their home . "So much of the health and
comfort of the family depend on the kitchen," wrote Maria Parloa,
"that the most careful thought mu t be given to it furni hing." 84 HOllse
and Garden noted in 1919, "A anitary kitchen mean Ie work.... A
anitary kitchen i more t to work in; it white wall radiate an
atmo phere of cheer." 86
Luckily for twentieth-century advi or , the field of hou ehold
cience helped bring about a on umer revolution of anitary home
product . Wherea Catharine Beecher had recommended oilcloth for
kitchen floor in the I 60 , advisors of the 1920 began to recom-
mend new material, uch a linoleum.86 Becau e of it . ry quali-
tie ,linoleum became a popular item in dome tic manual . "Linoleum
i the be t yet for hall floor ," wrote Loi Palmer in 192 . The ma-
terial could "r tain it good appearance and [ wa ] a y to care for."S7
A decorative, easily cleaned, and widely available floor covering, lino-
leum played to the advi or ' favorite theme of A The Mod-
ern Priscilla Home Furnishing Book de lared in 1925, "Linoleum are
comfortable, economical and anitary, and they come in many pattern
and color ."
In the 1920 and 1930 ,reader could learn about linoleum from
many dome tic-advice ource. Blanche Halbert, home economi t
from the Un' . of hicago, featured a chapter titled "WaH and
Floor Fini he and Coverings." "Linoleum i made of lin eed oil and
[ The Rise oj the DomioLogist ] 69

" •.. • , ......
~! ' ")...
1. _ ... , J, Ii
t ...., 1i.EEl _--.-l ... \, i$ a •
"' ...L'_
.......
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dt .. ,..,.
Agnu F(}$ur Wright, ill Ju r /924 tat for /1Nllstrong Cork, provided t:.Camples oj }UYlU
linoitum could be used throughout the home. TlUs imageJealtlrtd 11 ·spolles. kildll!ll, with
it shi"y, woud al/d poli Iu d liMLt um floor. · The room, Mum with a w histling te"pOl
ready to provide a comforting mack for lITe folks ill Llufriendly breakfos/ nook,
demorl traud that modern tedmology and kitcllm ·llllitatioll could coexist willi homey
charm. The bookle.t wasfilled willi images oJ linoleum itl almost every room 171 tile !rouse,
demonstrating tile usefulness oj/lie sanitary l1U1tIWio.l. (Wrigllj, Floors, Furniture and
olor, 'fO; courtesy The 1 i/ltert/lUr Library, Printed Book alld Periodical o/tectiofl)
ground cork. It is mixed to a plastic ma and applied to a burlap back-

ing." h prai d linol urn for it "qualitie of anitation, low mainte-
nan e 0 t, and durability." But linoleum wa not on ly recommended
fi r it pra ti ality. The Arm trong Cork Company hired ucce sful
de orator gne Fo ter Wright to produce a trade manual in 1924
call d Floor, Furniture and olor. Wright a former president of the In-
trior 0 rator' of New York, ugge ted different pattern
fOf ea h room in th hou . The b okJet not d that, "while linoleum
is not a n w produ t, it pre ent day recognition as a modern Roor
material . . . i du in larg part to the reent dey Iopment in floor
de ign." ~9
The consumer good available due to the ri e in anitary hou e-
keeping did not top with linoleum. [n theftr t fi w de ad of the
twentieth entury. adverti ing aimed at women promi ed sanitary
qualities in ev rything from white porcelain toile to countertops.90
70 [ The Risl! oft/I./! Domiologist ]
Au eursrechtelijk beschermd materiaai

Home onomist Christin Frederick noted in 1929 that many worn n
did not fully understand the cience behind the theorie , but that they
purcha ed anitary product in any ca e. "I know many college edu-
cated women who are still very hazy a to what the germ theory i ," he
wrote in Selling Mrs. Consumer, "but you may be ure that in their daily
family work they meticulou ly act upon the assumption that germ
be outwitted. The mounting sale of antiseptic and germicide
urely prove this." 91
Companies such Corning and DuPont saw many u e for their
new inventions beyond the laboratory. Helped along by home econo-
mi t , they began to develop product pecifically for the home and
for women. DuPont's celluloid plastic and colorfullaquer found their
way into kitchen products. Originally intended only for decorative
purpose, DuPont al 0 marketed ceIJophane for food torage once it
92
wa made moi ture-resi tant. All of these product , like Corning'
Pyrex glas , appealed to the con umer who had read about the
tary concern of domestic advisor . The new plastics and glas e could
be heated, cooled, cleaned, and cared for with relative ease.
By the 1920, anitation wa as ynonymou with the future du t
and disea e were with the pa t. In 1925, the forward-looking Modem
Priscilla Home Fllr1lishing Book exclaimed that, "dingy mid-Victorian
interior went with the frail and fainting feminine type that wa al
the mode of the period .... Dyspep ia and other ill flouri hed in the
darkened rooms of the Gothic revival. Modern day have
taught u the value, mental and phy ical, of plenty of air and sun-
light." 95 Linking di ease directly to the nineteenth-century home, ad-
vi or created a connection between the modern, cientific twentieth
century and good health. In 0 doing, they expanded women' role
from managing their own homes to making connections between indi-
vidual homes and the wider social context of the ommunities in which
they ex] ted.
In turn-of-the-century America, women brought cience into the

home. Home economist and other domestic advisors wrote countIes
textbooks filled with the dome tic fanta ie of correct drainage, pure
air, and anitary rface. "The object of thi manual,v wrote Ellen
Richard and Marion Talbot in the introdu tory chapter to Home Sani-
tation, "i to arou e the interest ofhou ekeeper in the anitary condi-
tions of their homes." Though the book was filled with the dire con-
[ The Rise qfthe D01lliologist ] 71

equence of mi u of furniture, and pipe, they noted: "In
thu pointing out the ou of danger, and the ideal standards of
anitation in the perfectly healthful hou e, the compiler do not in-
tend un to alarm or dis ourage the . It i their
aim to urge the intelligent over ight of the e matter, and to indi ate
the point requiring inve tigation, the method of examination, and
the pra tical rem die ."9+ Ri hard, Talbot, and the other home econo-
mi t beli ved that their book would in . American
women to trengthen their hou e , and through them, their ommu-
nitie and the entire ountry, with ientifi knowl dge.

AMERICANIZATION, MODEL HOMES,
AND LACE CURTAINS
One of the two girls who were told to set the table was a little Russian
Jewess. Her fingers were all thumbs and she didn't know w!w.t dishes the
different things required. The other girl was a brisk little AmeriC<1tI who
corrected the other's mistakes.
"The table looks crowded to me,· said the Jewish girl to the American
girl.
«It looks alright to me,' the American girL answered.
"No wonder she thinks there is too much on the table, » the teacher
whispered. • aphie's peopu practically never sit dawn to a mea4 they are
just 011 the edge ofdestitution and eat wht1lever and wiLerf:Ver thlty can
get the food.» For ophie, the simple sciLoollunch established a standard
oflu.rury. To establish home standards is the most important work tile
public school can do, and these standards can be most directly and most
uncollsciously established through the study of housekeeping.
-Martlw. Bt1lSley Bruere, lncrea ing Home Efficiency

In 1912, Martha Ben ley Bruer et out to demon trate th national
importance of hou ehold edu ation. he told thi tory in her book
HOll ehold Efficiency to how that ould
rea h out to immigrant girl and women and tea h them how to be
American. Referring to a woman who believed that the home wa a
haven in whjch to hjde from the world, wrote:" he eem to think
that her fun tion i to pre erve the home a a ort of hrine, a thing
apart, an end in it elf. he do not e it a part of the great factory
for th production of citizen, nor under tand that her job i exactly
th am a that of any other fa tory manager." I
In th early twentieth century, fa ed with record number of im-
migrant from foreign countrie , American truggled with national
id ntity. ror many, the foreign-born repre ented trouble, difference,
and ignoran e. Home economi t , ocial worker , and other hou -
hold advi or often agreed with tho opinion, but al 0 believed that
through tudy of the hou ehold and it variou fun tion ,immigran
could be tran formed into ·ble merican. Martha Bruere and
h r olleague would write book pr pare "model home ," and teach
in order to make immigrant (and even minoritie ) into their
id a of d Ameri ans.
"Too often" wrote 0 ial worker Florence Ne bit in 191 ,"the um
total" of an immjgrant woman' hou ehold knowledge ··is the tradi-
tion ... inherited from h r ance tor ." Ne bit con idered thi to b a
problem, becau e" uch training ... [wa ] often in a foreign country
2
wh re ondition were entirely different." he believed in the power of
dome tic advi to Am ri anize immigrant women. Through hou e-
hold edu ation, he and other advi or could reach tho wom nand
girl who e mother had only old-world experien e to guide them.
In Hou ehold Management, Ne bit wrote that the immigrant woman'
"ne d of the late t di coverie ... i urgent."s
cience and mericanization both appeared a major theme in the

writing of dome tic ad isors in the early twentieth entury. The au-
thor of th e book believed that by changing behavior in the home,
they ould hange 0 iety. Each of the e group of women wanted to
e the end of Vi torian t xtl and ornament, but they had differ-
ent rea on . The cientific advi or provided eviden e of and
74 [ Americani%lliion ]
IT'd at r aal
di~en~c n~ their rntionftle for ridding the hou (of textile and cup t I
The advi or · who tried to Americanize the home aw old-world or

old-fashioned ideas a "germ" and tried to per uade their reader to
simplify their homes and rid themselves of those trapping of immi-
grant and working-class culture. For them, home improvement would
not only influence the spread of disease, but could literally change the
. . cla of their reader .
Many domestic advi ors continued to limit their audience to
middle-cla s American women. However, for the first time in thi
period, some advi ors wrote for tenement dweller and immigrant.
They al 0 wrote text for tho e ocial worker who lived and worked
with these population . They wrote manual because they believed
that the arrangement of the furniture, the fabric in the curtain , and
the item on the mantle were of national ignificance. With the atti-
tude that crowded, un anitary homes represented the enemy, dome tic
advisors battled the lingering reminder of Victorian and old-world
exce . The e women wrote about the home a if it had the power to
influence one' national values.
At the turn of the century, many Americans worried about grow-
ing urban populations. Dome tic advice became part of a larger re-
form movement. Between 1900 and 1920, fourteen million people
immigrated to the United States, and many more people counted
them elves as first-generation Americans.· Cities filled with foreign-
language peakers, people with many different customs. Many immi-
grant women looked toward domestic advice to learn the ways of their
new country, and many domestic advisor et their' particularly
on immigrant women. 5
Though immigrant women made important subjects, mo t
vice text left out black women. For most domestic advi-
or , black women existed only as ervants. Lillie Hamilton French
lamented the ineptitude of her mother's "colored maid-servants" who
wanted "the fun of go siping daily at the town pump" instead of learn-
ing to use labor- aving device .6 In 1915, Good Housekeeping included
a letter to the editor concerning the inability of black servant in the
outh to change with the time . "We employ colored help altogether
in thi part of the outh," wrote a woman from Alabama; "mo thou e-
keepers consider thi class of labor unsatisfactory and stupid in the
use of labor- aving hou ehold devices.'" In order to conform to the
new American ideal, the advisor and many of their reader thought
that white women needed to embrace new technique . Their critici m
[ AmencQni=tion ] 75

of black ervant wa in general ba d in prejudice and raci m, but in
particular it hows that advi or u ed a tereotype of black women a
a warning to their white audience.
Middle-cia American often thought that they had a .
bility to help the immigrants, and women led many of the reform
movement. (n the early twentieth century, settlement hou e and
other child and family welfare program developed in everal large
citie . Reformer organized group to remove children from the treet
and to improve condition .8 They organized group to agitate
for protective labor laws and provided job-training c1as e . By 1900,
the General Federation of Women' Club 150,000 member,
9
and twenty years later they had clo e to a million. Many of the e
club had social-action agendas. The e women believed that a uniquely
female capacity for benevolence required them to act on behalf of the
less fortunate.
The ettlement-hou e movement, in particular, gave middle-cla
women important opportunitie and career at the turn of the century.
Women et up ettlement in many American citie to educate,
protect, and influence immigrants. The ettlement-hou e taff offered
cour es in Engli h, playground for the children, and job training. By
1910, at the height of the ettlement movement, over four hundred
ttlement at r d to the need of the urban working c1as .10 The
ettlement hou e enjoyed a trong following by middle-cIa women
becau e they beli ved that the home was the place to solve society's
problem . By reforming immigrant ' h they believed they could
reform their live .
Mo t ettlement workers did not hold the rna ter' degree in so ial
1I
work, but the profe ion grew. Although men filled many of the top
tion in profe ional ocial work, by 1910 female college gradu-
ate turned to ocial work more than to any other career a ide from
tea hing. 12 The 1920 and 1930 were important decade for the pro-
of the field. By 1940 there were forty-one chools in
the of Profes ional Schools of 0 ial Work. S ttlement
hou e them elves became part ofprofe ionalorganization, includ-
ing the National Federation of Settlement and the National ettJe-
ment House League. Jane Addam' Hull Hou e in Chicago, Lillian
Wald' Henry treet ettJement in New York City, and many other
gave job to hundreds of women in the early twentieth century and
reach d out to large populations of immigrant families, e pe ially
women and girl .
76 [ Americanization ]

ocial worker who lived and worked in settlement hou e often
wrote domestic-advice text . Martha Ben ley Bruere wa one such
per on. Women "mu t foUow the pinning wheel into the world,~ he
wrote in 1912, to "take up her hare of the dutie of citize ..,..,
Bruere had a strong belief that the role of every woman wa to help
her ociety. Born in 1879, Bruere grew up during the decades of in-
ten e immigration and worked a a social worker through the Depre -
ion year. She poverty firsthand and filed reports to the
government during the 1930 about housing and work condition in
l
indu trial citie uch a Buffalo and Ro he ter, New York. • She wrote
about the usefulness of variou relief complimenting tho e
that gave the people independence and criticizing other, noting that
people he talked to "didn't like to have the weater that were given
out by the home reliefall 0 alike that anyone who aw you would know
you were on relief." 15
Bruere trained, like many other ocial worker and home econo-
mist of the period, at Vassar College and at the Univer ity of Chi-
cago. She worked at Hull Hou e while in Chicago and wrote exten-
16
ively on household is ues in the first few decade of the twentieth

century. Her article appeared in Outlook, Harpers, Collier's, ttcCess,
and The Women's Home Companion, and he erved for everal year
a editor of Good Housekeeping Bruere al 0 wrote lighthearted book
and article ,including Laughing Their Way: Women's Humor in America,
published near the end of her life in 1945. Demon trating her diver e
in he also wrote a few text about America' fore t , one for
17
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Social workers who wrote domestic-advice manual often used
their experience in their writings. Florence Ne bit, a ocial ca e-
worker for the mother ' pen ion department of the Chicago Juvenile
Court, visited the home of the urban poor. Ne bit con idered the e
women to be naturally inept at proper hou ekeeping, and her goal
wa to help them. 'Women who need cooking elas es and food dem-
. the mo t namely, those who have the money,"
wrote in 191 , "are the very ones who remain outside su h present-
day activitie ,unle approached understandingly one by one. When
thus ought out, they are eager to learn and eager to apply their new
knowledge." 18 Nesbit' book, written in part for other ocial worker ,
outlined the way in which profe ional women could help the Ie for-
tunate. "It i in genera) true," she wrote, "that the lower the income
the greater need has the homemaker for the fulle t training and mo t
[ AmericanizatiQn ] 77

complete knowledge of all the art and cience in luded in home eco-
nomi ." 19
e bit embraced patrioti m along with her dome tic advice. The
forward to her wartime Household Management, publi hed during
World War I in 191 , included a note from the editor. "The civilized
countries of a world at war are looking to America to her highe t
•
general hip.. . . The is one in which the humble t ...
may add permanently to the health and morale of her own people." 20
Dome tic advi or saw the home, traditionally a place of shelter and
protection, a a place to pre erve American faith . For t women,
the arrangement offurniture and the cleaning of wall could be patri-
otic i ue. They came to the profe ion ofhou ehold advisor becau e
they believed, a Mabel Hyde Kittredge wrote in her The Home and its
Mafwgemenl of 191 ,"The home i really the most important factor in
the nation' life:' !1
Kittr dge worked over ea during World War I, and he compared
her ervi e during the war to her efforts in hou ehold management at
home. Tucked into the front cover of her The Home and Its Manage-
ment of 191 wa a note from the publi her, the Century ompanyof
ew York, pro laiming the importan e of thi new book to American
women. "Pre ident Wi! on ha called upon every woman to practice
tri t e onomy and thus put h e r If in th ranks of those who served
their country," noted the publi her, making the of thi manual
into a patriotic duty. Kittredge' text, ince it included advi eon "inex-
've furni hing [ and] practi al marketing,"u among other thing
ould erve a a model for American women trying to con erve while
. nation wa at war.
Mab I Hyde Kittredge wa one of the mo t influential hou ehold
. in the early twentieth century. he devoted her life to helping
people and concentrated many of her effort on en uring better food
and homes for the underprivileged.t , Born in 1 67, Kittredge grew
up in New York ity, where he lived mo t of her life. he i cred-
ited with founding the hot-lunch program for the New York public
hool erving the fir t choollunch her elfin 1901. he continued to
work with the chool-lunch program for two decades and finally suc-
ceeded in getting financial aid from the Board of Education to fWld the
program in 1920. Kittredge erved in Belgium during World War I,
•
working for Herbert Hoover and the Belgium Relief ommittee. Be-
fore and after her war work, Kittredge wrote exten ively about the
home and hou ekeeping.
7 [ Americanization ]
•

Bertha mith, wrilillgfor the raft man ill 1905, raved about Mabtl H)'tit
UX)rk witlt model tOltllumt . Htr arlicie illcluded photograph cif lht I!W ark project
thatftatured ocial UX)rker: teachil1 immigrant how to arrollge their homes. Thi image
depict the ideal living room and how illlple white cur/oil ,lmuphol ttred mairs, and
sparse duorations. milh and o/hel'S who valued plailllll (JVtr dutter Imdell/ood that
Ollie people had to live ill small paa but illS; ted that simplicity could be achieved ill
mo t C1l es. (. mi/h, "The Gospel cif implirity,· I; courtl The Wil1le'rthur Library,
Prill ted Book al1d Periodical Collectioll)
More than e en hool lun h or wartime ervi ,th hou ehold

wa Kittredge' main h wrote . ely about th home in
variou etting, from hou \i ith er an to tenement Hat. "Every
. hou keeper r pon ible for home work wh th r do it her elf or
dir t other to do it, hould under tand h r fire making it, feeding
it and ing the tov ," he a rted. "Thi work an b v ry dull or
can be really intere ting. If a woman think of hom making a a pro-
fe ion and i to play her part in th family p
with th gr at t ffi j ncy, h will look upon th kit hen tove a
her mo t valuable tool." i4 Kittredge believ d, abov all, in . edu-
arion for women about th working of th ir hou hold. h t up
'te called "Pra tica.1 Hou . g enter" in whi h he and other
trained dome ti ienri t taught vi itor how to prepare food clean
room , and decorate their
Kittredge' Practi al Hou ekeeping Center one of many u h
[ Americanizatioll ] 79
Al I l r cc~ II k b scrcr'llC1 r'" 'II naal

place in cities such a New York. Lillian Wald's famou Henry treet
Settlement, for example, included a tenement apartment rented by
home economi t and et up as an ideal home fitted with appropriate
furniture. "Intelligence and taste were exerci ed in equipping it in-
expensively," Wald wrote in 1915, and .. were formed to teach
housekeeping in it . every detail .... [The girl ] all were eager ... to
e tabli h better organized and more intelligently conducted" homes.~
The idea to et up a "model hou en a an example for American
women began as early a the 1890s and la ted well into the twentieth
century. Katharine Bement Davis opened what was perhap one of the
earliest examples at the World's Columbian Exposition in 189S, be-
ginning a practice ofhou ehold-demonstration centers at
and fair that would for many decade . Davis had a busy career as
a health-care advocate, reformer, and social worker. A a new
graduate of Vas ar College in 1 92, wa appointed as the direc-
tor of the New York State Workingman' Model Home at the World's
Columbian .. The project led her to devote her career to re-
form the working After earning her Ph.D. at the of
Chicago in 1900, she went on to become the superintendent of the Re-
formatory for Women in Bedford New York. An influential voice
in turn-of-the-century reform, she began with the belief that a pJ"Oper
hom was an important first step for a working or immigrant family.
Davi furni hed the hou e with furniture, kitchen utensil • and even
a model family of (rish descent.tll The house demonstrated how a
family could arrange and decorate a hou e on a budget of $500 per
month. She erved the family actual meals based upon a nutritional
diet of her creation. The house, built on a twenty-live-foot lot, in-
cluded a living room, kitchen, and bath on the first floor, with three
bedrooms on the econd Aoor. Davis and her committee u ed paint
on the Aoors and the walls for anitary purpo e and ap-
propriate furnishings. She pent three dollars on bric-a-brac and even
bought a ewing chair and a clock to encourage and
rimeline s in the home. Her model house wa a popular feature of the
fair, and bought copie of the . in pamphlet form, which
went through two printings during the life of the exhibit
A · demon trated by Davis's successful model-hou e exhibit, do-
me tic advi or had large roles to play at fair. Throughout the first
•
half of the twentieth century, home economists and other
workers continued to set up exhibits and to erve meal at
the tate buildings. Fair were an ideal place to reach large group of
o [ AmenC4nizatiQlI ]

p ople and deli er me age, whether about wallpaper or grain . Vi 'i-
tor to America' world fair and expo ition included large numb r
of immigrant and the working providing an ideal opportunity
for educating these group. Ava Milam Clark, dean of home e onomi
at Oregon State, led her students in a tearoom project at the Panama-
Pa ific International in 1915. They prepared the tea, orga-
nized the exhibit, and the vi . tor. From to home
conomi treated a for idea about Americanization and home
management at fair ,.7
Fair , though an ideal etling, tended to be temporary, and advi-
or looked for more permanent way to add res their audience. Mabel
Hyde Kittredge et up a trailerlike building to look like a home where
tenement women could ob erve a model houehold. "The
ing enter, where the s are given," in her book,
"are tenement flat, ju t dwelling a the people 0 upy who take
advantage of the instru tion. The furni hings and management of the
model Rat are in them elve a practical Ie son in economy, and an
illu tration of th nitation and b auty which lie within the reach of
the laborer' in ome."28 Urban girl and women vi ited the nter and
watched "correct" hou ekeeping practice in progre . The e center
allowed dome tic cienti t to reach out to tho e women who perhap
could not afford their book or could not read them in Engli h.
Kittredge' enter al 0 offered homekeeping Hand -on
learning enabled girl and women to practice the new te hnique at
the "model Rat." Kittredge publi hed exten ive rule for the cour e ,
including the formation of cia e "from the [ arne] immediate neigh-
borhood," (perhaps to ensure ethnic homogeneity) and the "cour e
ard bearing [ the tudent' ] name" that would be "punched by the
teacher as [each ta kJ i ati factorily performed."29 The rule laid out
in this book were quite pe ifi . "A Dinner CIa . only of chil-
dren who have ati factori ly pa ed the fir t and cond our e ," he
wrote. "The pupil in the cla meet once a week .... They arri e about
5 0' lock, make out the menu for dinner (being allowed 0 many cent
for ea h per on) a cording to their knowledge offood value. They do
the marketing a weU a the preparation of the meal. ... 'Cleaning up'
mu t be done well."so he felt trongly that immigrant women mu t
learn how to b American within the confine of a trictly defined and
controlled curri ulum.
Mabel Kittredge' model Rat attra ted attention from national pub-
lication . tickley' journal Crqftsman ~ el omed from
[ Americanizlltion ] I
AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal flaill

Sample of First Ceurse Card
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .' . , . . '. .. ..
The holder of this card has
1 l\.1ade a fire.
2 Washed dishes.
3 Washed dish towels.
4 Cleaned sink.
5 Prepared soda and cleansed pipes.
6 Scrubbed floor.
7 Scrubbed table or tubs.
8 Cleaned kitchen.
9 Washed and aired food tins. •
10 Washed windows.
II Made bed.
12 Fought bedbugs.
13 Cleaned toilet.
14 Dusted bedroom.
15 Cleaned drawers.
16 Scrubbed woodwork.
17 Dusted down walls.
18 Boiled out cleaning cloths.
Mabel Hyde Kittredge prepared detailed instructionsfor courses taught by the A$$ociatil7ll
ojPractical Housekeeping CAnters in /!tv 'York Ci~. Her classes "ojsix or more girls . ..
usually from the immediate neighborhood"provided a basic education i71housekeeping.
Tllis course co rd, Whll71 completed, would indicote thot /he holder had learned all the
rudimentary level steps to h.onumaking and had demonstroted proficiency itl SUdi tasks os
figlttitlg bedbugs and scrubbing theftoor. (Kittredge. Housekeeping otes, 16; courtesy
The Winterthur Library, Printed Book aJtd Periodical Collection)

. - --
Teachin immign11lt girls about ·proper" cleaning techniques was an importanl
component of the lIwdel-Ullement movemenl. ocial workers SI/ h as Mabel H)'de
Kittredge taught girls Iww 10 polis;" scrub, and olherwi e make Ihe apartmenl potle .
By slarting the students )'oung, Kittredge and oillers tried to it!ftuence the joll(lWing
generatioll. Bertha mith illcLuded tllis photagraph ofgirls dust
ill Ihe model tl!1lement in IIer 1905 article, "The Gospelof implicity.·
(. milll "The GospeloJ imp/icity,' 91; courte The Winterthur Library,
Prillted Book alld Periodical olleclio l~
all different kind of advocates of imple de ign. Bertha H. mith'

"The Go pel of implicity a pplied to Tenement Home ," appear d
in the raflsnum in 1905. The articJ di u ed Mabel Hyde Kittredge'
mod I flat and prai ed it of "economy of money and pace."SI
mith applauded the model flat for bringing "a emblan e of order ...
out f th hao of rowded condition ."S2 he quoted Kittredg ' ex-
planation of her project: "Many have a k d me why ... the Model Flat?
Thi i my an wer: The foreigner who orne to thi country want to
adopt our civilization. They want to do thing a we do them. But they
have no way of knowing what to hoo e and what not to hoo . Th Y
have not b en educated to hoo b tween that which i in good ta te
and the tawdry.... The ibility i greater with the foreigner who
want to be taught and i in danger of learning the wor t of our way
for la k of better example." " Kittredge truly belie ed that her model
[ A merira niza lioll ] s
A···· d
Thi bedroom WllS part qf llle model cottage built by domestic-science teacher
Theodosia Ammon fOT Ih£ Colonuw Chautauqua ~1lmnlIIT sdl.OQl in /899. Tlleftalures
(llldfu.rnisllings ill illI! /rome, wllieh included a wraparound porch, were specially desiglled
to provide a. model for lIealtli living. !Tisi/or£ io tile slimmer retreat 07ld WOTIIl!n wllo look
Ammons's COl/rses eililer at C/wlltallqlla or at tilt state agriC'lllturai college used Llle
cottage a a textbook. ATnTnOl hbped tlley tllould learn about tile hetly;.ts qf
open-air living, easily cleanedJumiJ'ure and simple decoratiOIl.
« ourtesy olorodo C/wutallqlla A ociali01~
Rat, filled with women and hildren taking la es and ob erving her
t chniqu , ould help immigrant be orne b tt r Ameri an .
en all over the ountry in th early
twenti th century. Many creative variation onformed to regional
di and need . tn Boulder, Colorado, home to the Texa -Colo-
rado hautauqua umm r chool dom ti ci nti t a Am-
mon planned a "Model ottage" in I 99 to demon trate the orre t
4 [ //mericallizoti01! ]

Wgy to liv prop~rly in an outdoor setting. Ammons wa 0 dome ti -
s ience profe or at olorado' land-grant hool. then called Colo-
rado Agricultural College. A member of one of olorado' influential
pioneer familie her brother Elia Ammon erved a Governor from
1913 to 1915 Theodosia came to Colorado from North arolina in
the 1 70 and grew up in Denver. She built and furni hed her own
model home, which she named "Gwenthean Cottage," after her elf and
her two' (Gwendolin and Anne) who each spent time there with
their familie . She held clas e and lecture there every ummer, and
member of her family continued to live in the hou e for everal gen-
Ammon, a the principal of the Chautauqua School of Dome ti

Economy, taught cia se in addition to etting up her model home.
The Chautauqua ummer hool, mainly attended by teacher, pro-
vided a way for dome tic ienti t to reach a large audience of women.
Ammon' cottage wa so I that he Ie tured on the
of ummer cottage at a home economic conference in Lake Placid. ", s
The model cottage gave her a etting for exactly the kind of
hands-on learning that Kittredge and other had embraced at the
Practical Hou ekeeping Center in New York City. Gwenthean Cot-
tage became a gathering place for the young women who tudied at
the Chautauqua summer chool hundreds of women each summer in
the fir t few decade of the twentieth century. Women who came to the
Chautauqua included member of the Woman' Christian Te
Union from as far away a Chicago.
Ammons et up her cottage with metal bed and furni hed the
wraparound porch with wicker chair and table . The porch built on
the current teaching about fre h air, and Ammon probably intended
it a an outdoor living room. The por h could be encJo ed by canva
curtains that rolled down from tlle roof to provide a area, and
it al 0 included room for outdoor eating. he featured wooden floor
with area rug for ea y cleaning. Many of her furni hing remain in
the cottage today.M
Model home helped ad . di cern which obje t and furni-
ture could a worthwhile function. Harriet Gille pie, who oper-
ated a "home experiment tation" in New Jer ey in the early twenti-
eth century, wrote about her "year's hou ekeeping" in a 1913 is ue of
Good Housekeeping Quantitative research had proved to her that labor-
aving device "do away with the nece ity for drudgery in the hom ."
Her experiments, under the auspice of the New Jer eyrederation of
[ Americanization ] 5
AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal flaill

Women' Clubs, provided scientific proof of the benefit of machine
in the home. She ended the article by sugge ting that her readers study
her experiments "and then tran late the e principle into their home .
In that way each woman can start herself toward an appreciation of
the value of domesti engineering."s6
All of these model houses, tenement apartments, and vacation
home provided resources for women in the first half of the twentieth
entury. Though they were rarely, if ever, indications of what was actu-
ally going on in people's the e model provided tangible
evidence of the domestic fantasie of dozen, if not hundred .• of home
. and social worker around the country. The e formally
educated women believed that their idea about home efficiency and
Americanization would penetrate home acro s the country. reaching
the citizenry and new immigrant. In the cases where they believed
their ideas could not be acce . ed by a certain group of people, they
took to the road and brought their idea directly to their
Home-exten ion brought domestic advice into home

the country in the early twentieth century. In 1914 the U.S.
Congre spa sed the mith-Lever act, which created matching fund-
ing from the federal government to tates and countie that would hire
home- and farm-demon tration agents.S? The law created, in effect, a
federal eparate-sphere policy, giving men information about farm
equipment and women information about household technology. After
World War I, Pre ident Warren Harding' "Return to Normalcy" pro-
gram included the creation of the Bureau of Home Economics, com-
mitted to funding home managers acros the country. olidified
the government' .. that women's role on the farm wa in ide
the farmhou e.
agent brought the rules of science and sanitation
to rural locations. And they brought Americanization with them, di-
rectly from the college campues of state universities to remote towns,
farm , and ranche across the nation. A home . and social
worker knew, home improvement involved far more than imple rules
about cleaning and cooking. In tro country, decorating and furnish-
ing the home could mark a woman' class status and her acceptance
of American values. Home-extension agent • trained to believe in the
"one best way" for furni hing and hou ehold efficiency, spread out
86 [ Americanization]

I
acro s the ountry. They offered a combination of practical informa-

I ti n ab ut vegetable canllill and more s ubjec ti h us hold adv: .
ornelI Univer ity, the hom of many dome tic- cience program ,
pon ored a erie of "rural manuals" in the early twentieth century.
The editor of the erie claimed it contained information "primarily
for rural condition .n While many of th volume included informa-
tion meant for men, in 1919 the editor "glad to add a book in hi
erie on the work and welfare of women." The book included Ie on
on decorating with «good furniture. .. incerely built from hone t ma-
terial." S9 The advi ors at ornell felt that rural worn n needed a book
that would addre their unique concern .
Black women and girl attended egregated home-exten ion lub.
In South Carolina, everal frican merican agent lobbied a tively
for new black recruits when the federal Capper-Ketcham a t of 1932
provided money for each state to hire new agent. With more bla k
agent, more black women and girl had acce to hou ehold advice
in outh Carolina and in other hea ily egregated tate. Genevieve
Wheeler worked a a home-exten ion agent in black communi tie
in Georgia and Florida in the 1930 and 1940s. Many year later,
remini ed about h r e perien e: "Familie were anxiou to learn
more.... It wa a wonderful experience .... We made furniture out of
basket and orange crate . We taught Red nur ing cour e . We
helped familie learn how to plant gardens 0 they might feed them-
elves." +0
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert of New Mexico wa an inRuen-
tial home-exten ion agent. Born near New Mexi 0, in
1 94, Gilbert graduated from ew Mexico Normal chool in 1921 and
got another degree in home economic at New Mexico tate Univer-
ity in 1927.·' A writer and teacher, he her career inRu ncing
both the way that Hi panic New Mexican viewed main tream Ameri-
can cultur and the way that American allover the ountry viewed
New Mexi o. Her cookbook, Historic ookery (1931) and The Good
Ltft: New Mexican Traditions and Food (1949} introduced ew Mexican
foodways to the country at large. Written for a broad audien e, the
book de ribed ingredient and method for nonnative New Mexican
cook. Historic ookery probably the first cookbook of New Mexi-
can food to be publi hed, and it helped begin a nationwide fa ination
with chile and pine nuts.
In We Fed Them Cactus (1954), Gilbert told the tory of the late-
[ Americanization J 7
AL Ie r rect" 'Jk be set" rmc! ITal flaill

These photographs depict tit!! before-alld-afUr sl4te ofa bedroom ill Pul,aski COllllo/,
Arkansas. The Better Homes campailJll, S'lIpporttd by domestic advisors melt as Hazel
!lIIltz, fried to demollstrate llzaillolisellotds could be improved by renewed dedication to
clea nliTllIss allel order. Distressed by cluttM and di orgo nizaJioll, SIII/ltz I( td this image to
demollstralll the positive iffocts of/lOlise/101d organization ollfomily morale alld well-
beillg. ~ hultz, Making Hom ,fig. 34; courtesy The Willlert/lf(r Library,
Prillted Book and Periodical Col/eelioll)

•
t nth- I tu world ofh@r ~nc stars, describing life on the hcp
ran h ba ed on oral hi torie colle ted and on other re arch. Thi
book expre ed her life' work in the meeting place of change and cul-
tural continuity. She began the book by noting her family' long hi -
tory in the region: "Thi i the story of the truggle of ew Mexican
Hi pano for exi ten e on the Llano, the taked Plain . Through four
generation , our family ha made a living from thi land from cattle
and heep, and lately by elling curios, oda pop, line and food to
touri ts traveling over .. Highway 66.""i Her book e oked a of
the pa t with it pra tical under tanding of the way that modern life
had both po itive and negative repercu sion for her family. Her career
ex her belief that the tradition of New Mexi an women ould
remain trong while they al 0 learned from the benefit of American
home-e anomie tea hing .
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert served a the home-demon tration
agent for anta Fe County between 1929 and 1940. he al 0 taught
at normal chools in Santa Ro a and El Rito, New Mexico, and wrote
a weekly column on the home in a pani h . A part of
her work for the Agricultural Ex 'on Servi e, he vi ited numer-
ou hou ehold , empha izing the importance of both government-
tyle canning and native handi raft. he believed that nati e diet
could be enhanced by rather than uperceded by modern methods
uch a canni ng. She wrote exten ively for home-e onomies journal
and for variou other organization in the diet and nutri-
tion of New Mexican women. Gilbert also t some time in Mexico
a representative of the United Nation , helping to train exten ion
agent and etring up -demon tration enter among the
Tara can Indian .'" Throughout her career, he worked both for the
u.s. government and for Hi panic women, who e idea about hou e-
keeping and nutrition often differed. She managed to negotiate a way
for Spanish- peaking New Mexican women to welcome her and her
American ideal into their homes.
Hou ehold vi it by home-exten ion worker omplemented the
Ie on young girl learned in public school. "Every girl in hi-
cago can now learn hou ek eping in the public chool "raved Martha
Bruere in 1912..... orne chool curricula fo u ed on par-
ticular ethnic group . (n 1926, board-of-education employee Emeline
Whitcomb surveyed the Amelia treet School in Los Angele and
found that the training "develop worth-while American Pearl
." 4fj
Elli' 1929 book Amencanization through Homemaking, publi hed in

[ Americanization ]
AL Ie r reet" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal fIaill

Homt teonomi I Fabiola abtlU1 de Bl1Cil Gilbut had a long and di lingui hed carter
in ew Mt.Iico. he laughl homt I!COnOTIUCs to Hispanic girls and tlJOmnl aero lhe tale
alld laughl Anglo tlJOmtll ahoutllalive ew Mt.Iicall cooking through her newspaper
column and cookbooks. In addilioll to hl!r tOOrk a a hoTTIe-exttll lOTI agtlll traveling all
0Vtr tltt slalt. sht laugh/home tcollomics at a rurol school ill ew Mexico. Her das
01 El Rilo ormal choal po I!dfor a photograph with Iheir leacher (top row, Itfl)
11/ 'lie 1920 . ~ ourlesy OllerJor oulllWf:sl Rt tarclz, Gtmerot Librory.
nivmil of ew Mexico. IItgatiVl! no. 000-603-(0/4)
Lo ngel . do urn nt d t hnique u d by th Bur au of Edu a-

tion at pr dominately Hi pani hool there. In th hool , both
boy and girl lea rn d ab ut m rican cultur by tudying th gov-
ernm nt y t m and Engli h. irl . h w er, had a pial r lation hip
to Am ri anization. Th chool eparated the girl for p ial in tru -
tion, in luding art and raf and "hom int rior arrangem nt." +6
om thni group mbra ed m ricanizati non th ir own term '
and with th ir wn publi ation . Je\ i h-immigrant worn n in Ne
York had by th 192, to h u hold ad i in Yiddi h:07 Yid-
di h h u ehold manual and magazin arti I xpr ed many of th
am idea a their Engli h-languag ounterpart , In 1918, the id-
di h n Di Froyen-Velt claim d that one of it goal wa to
tea h Je i h \ omen "how to beha e at home and to rai e children; to
deal with i ue having to do with the kitchen .".a The in-
Iud d dr patt rn and home craft along ~ ith torie and
I
Other magazin e arti Ie and ad erti men explain d ho to 0 k

90 [ AlIIericani:lUltioll ]

w:th m r~ an :ngred: nts. rrh
y urg d
W III 11 l j th~
in in rr nd
for de ign reform, in tead of persi ting in old- fashion d d corating
te hnique in the home. Th y provided picture to explain to reader
how to tyle their hair and th ir house in appropriate \ ay . The e
book erved to Americanize Jev i h women through their bodi ,
their choice of food , and the objects in their home .+9
Many ad . demon trated their intere t in ethni culture by
featuring foreign recip in their text . Advi or may have thought
that by howing om intere t in ethnic culture , they ould onvince
th ir reader to relegate tho e old-world to pecjal
and otherwi e embrace meri an food and idea . They often made
the foods eem parti ularly exotic.5O Lu ia Millet Baxter includ d a
ection on "foreign cooking" in her Housekeeper's Handy Book of 191 ,
with recipe uch "Frijole ," "Bacalau a la Peruana," and" wedi h
Meatball." he al 0 criticized the of other to pri-
oritize meat in their diet, linking the" timulating chara ter" of the
"carnivorou ,or meat- craving, appetite" to alcoholi m.51Dom tj ad-
. who included ethnic in their text may have helped ethnic
food eem more familiar, but mo t remained wary of in luding any
ethnic food and te hnique into the American diet.
While mo t dome tic advi or ignored any evidence of ethnicity
they found in the home of immigrant , ome did write about the for-
eign art that graced tenement home . Lillian Barton Wil on wrote a
pie e for th magazine The Moden! Pri cilla about Hungarian \ ing
in the home of immigrant women. he prai ed the "very characteri tic
and . . e [and] the painting of pottery in bright
primary color ." 6~ Her article followed one by Hilda Richmond in the
magazine, who clajmed that often "the mi tre of the habby hou e
work with might and majn to make it attra tive." M The e women
aw what other mi ed.
Florence Ne bit wa conflicted about the middle-cia me age
handed out to the immigrant population. he wrote that "cu tom
and habit differ widely in different countrie ," and he eemed di -
turbed that worker "redu e tandard to am ..
th 0 ia1 worker pa ed through neighborhood, h worried, they
trained immigrant women to implify their h according to an
inappropriate tandard. "The Italian or Poli h woman give · up making
the crocheted lace with which he ola i hly decorate her bed cover-
lets, chair, mantelpiece, etc.. .. Without it her room lack a certain
native charm." In her volume, written for 0 ial worker in Chjcago,
•
[ Amencani=tion ] 91

he cautioned that. " mericanization is too often a ruthle s destroyer
of beauty and charm." 5+ Her vice manual wa unique in
that it tepped back far enough to realize the ignificance that a phra e
like " implicity" held for immigrant women.
A regular column in the journaJ Practical Home Economics followed
home-extension agent and educator to some of their more challeng-
ing locale . In August 1935, Altha Tedrow de cribed her experiences
with the Indian chool in Pipe tone, Minnesota. Tedrow
began her article by noting: "Home Economics courses in the Indian
schools are based upon the need of the Indian home and upon the
need for appropriate of living. Of cour e, this information
and training must be imple and practical enough to be translated
into the girl' experiences either in her parent's home, or in her own,
for Indian girls marry early." Though she had a patronizing attitude
toward the girls whose she believed she cou ld improve, she did
echo Florence Ne bit' worry about Americanization. "Of course," she
wrote, "it could not be an Indian hou e without Indian handcraft here
and there, particularly the Indian pipe of the famou pipestone quar-
ried a half-mile from the school." 66
Understanding that her students "have little with which to improve
their home " provided the basi for the recommendation. Tedrow
taught the girls in her class how to attack problem such as "How
can I make Furniture from Boxes." The room included: "A chest made
from a strong box; a baby bed of two cardboard boxes ... a
cIo et from 8 orange boxe, a broomstick, an old . heet and
a print curtain . . . a dre sing table made from 2 orange boxes and a
fiat apple box with print curtain and oil loth over with a tool that
was once a cranberry box." 56 Tedrow' description of decorating with
boxes hows the depth of the home economist's ingenuity.
Anthropologist and explorer Loui e Brigham wrote domestic ad-
vice for tho e who could not afford regular furniture. Her unusual
career led her to a busine of creating furniture out of boxes. Her
anthropology-research travel had led her to remote parts of Nor-
way, seven hundred miles north of t11e Arctic Circle, and to Egypt.
China, the Philippines, and Bermuda, and all the while, she experi-
mented with the boxes that had carried the necessary equipment to
the camp. She produced furniture for display at the Child Welfare Ex-
hibit in New York, where · thanked Jacob Riisfor alerting her to
the problems of the poor. At the Panama-Pacific International Exh.i-
bition in San Francisco in 1915, she demon trated her craft at a "box
92 [ Americanizatio1l ]

furniture makin , Bri ham wa an unu ual dome tic advi or
but he belie edln the "lat ntp . ' ibilitie of a b x," and U ' d her
knowledge in an attempt to help other who "care for impli ity and
thrift, utility and beauty" but who could not afford the real thing. 57
Brigham cou ld build furni rungs for an entire home with boxe . Her
boxe could be tran formed into dre sing table and ry furniture,
well a into the more ordinary chair, desk, bed, and table. "To
make a foot tool: Requirement : Body: 1 Roach Food Box .... Con-
truction: Make the leg 6 Y2 inche long and round off the corner of
on end of ea h leg, otherwi e th on tant moving about of th tool
will have a tendency to plit off the harp corner . Remo e the cover.
Turn the box up ide down and train a leg on each corner and clinch
the nail on the in ide. Invert the box, et it upon the leg, and pia e
the fal e top on it." Her clear wa that familie could be re-
rceful "where limitation of pace have to be con idered" reating
a home out of whatever wa a ailable to them.6
Mabel Kittredge demon trated how women cou ld u a Jjrn bud-
get to produce an Ameri an home. he ugge ted yellow paint (for
brightening), helves for china in the dining room, ve for book
in the living room, and a pecific regimen of helve in the kit hen.
She tried to u e building material that immigrant women might ha e
at their di po al, ugge ting that '"a good re eptacle for oiled clothe
i a pickle barrel, price fifty cent. Hole hould be bored in th
to admit air, and a barrel top purcha ed .. .. Thi i kept in the kitchen
and erve al 0 a a seat." 59
"It is . red to have pictures in the bedroom," wrote Kittredge.
Realizing that frame might be too expen ive, he ugge ted that
women "pa te the print on the painted wall and ... wa hover
them with liquid Pictures and wall may then b wa h d at th
arne time."60 Kittredge knew her reader would be concerned with
the co t of hou ehold improvement. 0 he included the pri e for
"white liquid hellac (one half pint for twenty-five cent )." Thi ug-
ge tion wa one of Kittredge' many attempt to clean up immigrant
home. She knew that immigrant home often had n clipping
and magazine pi ture nailed to the \ all • and her re omm ndation
alway tried to alleviate the clutter.
In her 1911 manual Housekeeping Notes, Kittredg pecifically ad-
dre ed apartment with a limited number of room. "In a four-room
flat for five " he wrote, "a good arrangement i a kitchen, a
living and dining room, and two bedroom . In a three-room flat, u ed
[ Am~ricanizntioll ] 93

for five p r on ,one room will erve as kitchen and dining room; there
will be aj 0 a bedroom, and the third room may be u ed a a living-
room, which, with a couch, can be converted into a bedroorn."61 Mo t
ocial worker recommended a little furniture to help the
problem of crowded quarter . Mabel Kittredge noted that "it must not
be cluttered with unnecessary furnishing, for the occupations of the
family will need all the room pos ible."62 Advi ors such as Kittredge
who p nt a lot of time in tenement fiats understood the special needs
of the e apartments. Convinced that imple decorating better in
all ca es, they tailored the rule to fit each example.
Dome tic advi or brought their idea about privacy to crowded
tenement apartments. They believed that crowded condition · would
breed crime. "A to the small fiat and apartments that are going up
on every .. wrote Lillie Hamilton French in 1903, "I never e cape
a pang of sympathy and regret when I think of their tenant ," She
believed that "family life in its better sen e cannot in the tene-
ments he vi ited. "There i mora] danger, a . well as in
cramped quarter ."ss Hazel Shultz, head of the department of Home
Economic at the laboratory schools of the University of Chicago, be-
lieved that, "too many per room mean di turbed rest....
Manyauthoritie believe that bad condition are a direct cau e
of crime."s+ Shultz felt that h r training as a so ial cientist could help
her teach women how to alter their living surroundings to conform to
an American ideal. 'When social workers find four and five members
ofa family leeping in the arne bedroom," she wrote in 1931, "they try
to plan orne way to provide more pace and privacy."6S The e advisors
thought that their teachings could make the tenement afer places to
live.
Dome tic advi or wrote extensively about the value of refinement
in American Mabel Hyde Kittredge connected certain kind
of decorating with negative results. "Remember that the people in the
house are judged more or les by the hou e," she cautioned. "If the
furniture i tawdry, the ornament ham, the pictures cheap and \ ith
howy frames, everyone i ure to think that there is something a little
vulgar in the minds of the people living in that house," Kittredge be-
lieved that the American value she re pected would only be available
to immigrant and other population through a certain type of deco-
rating. "Refinement," she concluded. expressed by he
wrote books and taught in model homes to teach women pre-
ci ely that
94 [ A1IIericanizatio11 ]

La e curtain became a favorite ymbol of the cluttered working-
cla home. Wherea lace curtain had once been a prized ion
for American I the twentieth- cntury fa ·tories brought the cost down
and gave them new meaning. Painting of elite New Englander had
featured lace curtain to ymbolize wealth in the early-republic period,
but that image began to fade during the nineteenth entury.67 By
the twentieth century, lace curtain were widely available and varied
greatly in price between the cheaper Nottingham lace and the more
expen ive Brus el and wi lace.6 The la e curtain wa newlyavail-
able to a more general public, appearing in the Montgomery Ward
catalogue in 1 95.69 A a bearer of the coun-
try and aeros cla Jines, catalogue ueh a Montgomery Ward and
Sear Roebuck changed the way American furni hed and d orated
their home by making the ame good available to people in very
region of the eountry.70
The criti' of "cheap imitation ," fiery welJ before 19 0, took on
new force at the turn of the entury. d isor had long recommended
again t decorating a parlor or Ii ing room with "cheap lace in imita-
tion of tho e who can well afford the real thing," Emma Whit omb
Babcock expre ed the entiment in 1 4.'1 A part of their Ameri-
canization campaign in the early twentieth century, ad i or increa ed
the attack. Mabel Hyde Kittredge, in 1905, compared the lace urtain
to other vulgaritie : "The howy lace curtain, the big hat, the riotou
up hoI terie , the exaggerated tyle of dre s make the loude t bid for
their [ immigrants'] attention; and in their anxiety to be like u we
find them adopting our barbaritje in tead of our b tter thing ."72 The
lace curtain, deemed cheap and tawdry, became more than a window
treatment. Ad i ors u ed it as an example to decry the u e of inferior
hou ehold acces ories in pur uit of the American dream.
By the 1930 ,American the term '1a e curtain" a an adjective
to de crib "copying midd attribute ; a piring to middle- la
tanding." " The derogatory comment referred pecifically to people
who could never reach American m re pectability. In 1934,
the author Jame T. Farrell officially linked the phrase to an immigrant
group the I in hi Stud Lonigan trilogy. In a ene from Young
Manhood, th young Iri h atholic protagon' took hi girlfriend to a
hotel dance and felt in tandy "determined to be ome a part of it." After
looking around, however, he decided that the glamour of the event wa
"artificial." "They were trying to put on the dog," he aid to him elf,
" how that they were la e- urtain Iri h, and lived in team heat:""
[ Americallizatioll ] 95
AL Ie r reet' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal flaill

In this cene Lonigan recognized omething that dome tic reform-
er had been noticing for everal decade already. Home decoration
could define who wa an American. The term '1ace-curtain Iri h"
would have meant nothing without decade of American household ad-
vice written by and for women. To domestic advi or , and to increa -
ing number of merican who en ountered and learned from them,
lace urtain repre ented the pa t, th un anitary, tuffy, frilly nine-
teenth century. The modern twentieth century, the ag of effi ien y
kitchen and par e furn' 'ng, would welcome only tho e women
who embraced the new ideal about American decoration.
The proce of Americanization, when applied to immigrants and the

working cia , may eem di tant from the of the middle cia .
urely mo t reader of dome tic advice did not decorate with orange
boxe . Howe er, advisor b lieved in the po ibilitie of American-
ization and perfect ho Trained a home-exten ion vi itor
and 0 ial worker , they vi ited the homes of immigrant in
hicago, rancher in New Mexico, and the rowded tene-
ment of New York ity. They exhibited their idea for all to ee at
fair, in pe ial trailer, and at a ummer hool in the foothill of the
Ro ky Mountains. Th ' e women believed that by how a ing the per-
fe t kitchen, tent, or tenement, they could make an American out of
ju t about anybody, even a "Ru . an Jewe .. who did not know how to
•
et a proper table. ocial reformer believed that respectable American
home ould and mu t come from humble circumstan es.
96 [ Arru:ricanization ]

MODE RN ISM: NO JUNK !
I THE CRY OF THE NEW INTERIOR
Among the educational aMbits at tILe reant Mechanics'fair in Boston

was one attempt at insirudion which gave interesting evidtmce 0/' tlzt
gmeral tendency 0/'public taste in housefUrnishings. ide by side were
two spaces repre t1lting typical living rooms. One was a multi-colored
aggregation o/'bric-a-brac,fumiture and pictures, witIL a gorgeously
bedraped ·cozy comer" a its crouming touch. TIzt otlztr, in ubdued gret1l,
was implyfurm· hed-comfortable chairs, a well-filled bookcase and afew
good pidures. Betwem the rooms was a sign: "These rooms werefurnished
for tILe ame price. Which would you rather live in? Jf/ltich would you
ratlLer have to keep clean?" The comments o/'the crowd which stopped to
gaze . .. are sigrti.ficant 0/' the sort ofhouse furnishing which prevails.
otes takm by an intere ted bystander run something like this:
A mother and daughter, disposing 0/'the plain room with a hasty and
uninterested sweep ofthe eye, come to afull stop before the otlLer. ., ow,
rna, there's a CO~' comer like what I wantfor our siUing room. Can't we
fix one?»
"It is lovely isn't it! I should think we could. They do make a room look
o artistic. TlLere sthat portiere we got and never used _. And they do "ot
move until they ltave a detaikd mmtal picture o/'tlzt conglomeration.
Two girls: "0 Marie, there are tILo e 'Ylvia heads! I want themfor our
parlor! Arm't they adorabkr
• weet! Doesn't it T/take a room cozy to have a lot 0/'pictures? That
room looks so barer
- ELi%abetIL Mainwan·ng, "The Two Rooms'

In 1902, an exhibit at the Mechanic' Fair in Boston presented the pub-
lic with two examples of "typical living rooms." Set up to demonstrate
the difference between old-fashioned, Victorian and new, "modern,"
design, the rooms illustrated a triking in hou
decoration. The first room represented the past, whereas the econd
room foreshadowed the modern era, which would, many dome tic ad-
visor hoped, change the way Americans thought about their homes.
Domestic advisors, including tho e who organized the Mechanics'
Fair exhibit, tried to urge American women to let go of the past. The
exhibitors asked leading questions to which the obvious best answer
wa · the modern room. With its uncluttered lines and minimal u e of
upholstery, this room was a model for the way that advisors pictured
the dawning of the twentieth century and the modern era. To domestic
advi or in the early twentieth century, the term "modern" a code
word for "simple" and "uncluttered," for "taste" and "good character:'
The ' ment had been the arne since the late nineteenth century,
but gradually took on the vocabulary of modernism.
Many domestic advisors urged women to give up their attachment
to Victorian decorating. Elizabeth Mainwaring, who wrote the article
for Good Housekeeping quoted above, noticed a gendered difference in
responses to the Mechanics' Fair exhibit. She documented the over-
whelming disgust female visitors felt for the modern room. ''Yes, sim-
plicity's all well for orne folks," . one woman, "but if l had to live in
that l'OOm' it would make me gloomy. I should feel as if I was walking
over my own grave!" Male vi itors had a different response to the ex-
hibit. One male visitor praised the second room to his friend, pleased
that there were "no vases to get smashed if I jerk my elbow. My wife
has vase allover the house. Brings one home from every bargain sale.
What earthly u e are they, anyway?" His friend answered di dainfully,
"they are good to drop burnt matches in:' Men had a "modern" re-
sponse to the Victorian room, criticizing the cozy corner for "always
coming down on my head" and preferring the room with little furni-
ture and less clutter.'
Mainwaring' article for Good Housekeeping showed that she, like
many other women, di agreed with the female visitors to the fair. Al-
though the female public at the turn of the century may have clung to
Victorian decoration, dome tic advisor certainly did not. Mainwaring
investigated the "interesting evidence of the general tendency of pub-
98 [ Modernism]

Turkish ro%J txlnllm, popular in the nittd talt in the lale tlillttem tll and tarly
twentieth ctntunt ,ftatundJabric and cu hiolls etllp in lhe middle oJotherwi e
ul/assuming parlors. This photograph, takt n in Dm ver, olorado, how a rom t r draped
with tape trit el up over a large · alld trotml pillows. Til,. rype oj
wa sillgular! III/popular with cOl/temporary d01llestic advi ors, who decried the act
r
textiles at/d dusty drape. ollrtesy Dm ver Public Library Jf/estt tn History
ol/telioT!, X
li ta. te in ho furni hing." When he found that worn n to

lik th old-fa hion d room and men th mod rn pa , h lab I d
that viden e "not en ouraging.'"
Dome tic advi or found a way to take up a banner of modernity of
r own. A Mainwaring how d, from the fir t year ofth tw nti-
eth entury, ob er er ha identified Vi torian d oration a feminin
and mod rn impli ity a rna ulin .S Dom ti advi e, how v r, com-
plicat thi familiar pi tur ." Many wom n writer , in tead of bing
excluded from th tnt of th modern era, in fact mbraced mod-
rn id a . While ertainly ome women advo ated and tain d th
ornamentation of the ninete nth entury, oth r t many
trying to influence reader with plea for morality, cien e, and
Am ri anization. Female dom ti ad i or appropriated the mod rn
agenda in de ign for th ir own pu in Am rican home . To tIl m,
the language of moderni m wa imply an ho of what dom ti ad-
vi or had be n aying in e th mid-nin t nth ntury. Through
[ Modernism ] 99
AL Ie r r ~ Ik be sc r r nc
In conlrasllJJ Ou Turkish co~ corner, tiLis sparsely decorated living roomftatured
dean line and simple decorations. Virgillia Terhulle Vall de Waterftatured this image,
takenfrom the Arts and rafts design chool, ill her 1912 manual. Living rooms like this
aile provided calm alternatives IJJ the dUltered parlor qfthe m'lIeteenth etlllury. Dome tic
advi or: , through books and displays, tried IJJ convillCl! American women thai this
type qfroom was Ole better alUrnative.for the modern era. an de Water,
From Kit h n to arr ct, pi. facing 70; caurtesy The Willterthur
Library, Pril1l~d Boolr and P"riodical ol1« liol1)
b ok and article, advocate of a moderni t dome ti fanta y tried

to on in Am ri an worn n that the I an, impl line ould hav
meaning for th m.
The word "modern" defined a trict t of de orating rule for twen-

tieth- entury dome ti ad i or . Th Me hani Fair of 1902 helped
mark th b ginning of the mpha i on mod rn d ign and the word
howed remarkabl taying power. Modern de ign tended to b iruple
and unadorn d. Living room and bedroom kept uphol t ry to a
minimum, and advi or r om mended limiting mo t type of orna-
mentation. The cozy orner, long a main tay of Victorian par-
lor, lowly to 10 favor. Thi fad involved draping loth from
the ceiling and piling up pillow within a kind of tent, repre enting
the d adent lei ure with Turki h harem . The ozy orner
repre en ted a ~ orld of decorating pr blem for th mod rn age. Do-
me ti ad i or re ommended eradicating anything even
[ Moderni TIl ]
Al I l r cc~ II k b scrcr'llC1 r" 'II naal

•
a ozy corner and limiting the decoration to clean line , amtary
face , and new material .
he mod rn era :n d s:gn and home dora ;ng wa . n urr ni
with the mov ment for cientific and American homes. Advisors
who wrote for magazine uch a Good Housekeeping about mod rn
de ign echoed their counterparts writing in home-e onomi and
ocial-work journal. During the fir t few decade of the twentieth
century, hou ehold advice remained remarkably tatic, alway empha-
izing the "value of elimination." Almo t a if they worked tog ther
in a conspiracy to implify, implify implify, the writer of dome ti -
advi e manual took on the language ofmoderni m and recomm nded
weeping change in American home .
Dome tic advi or helped reate an atmo phere of longing and an
appetite for and · that mo t people could not acce s in th
early twentieth century. Dome tic fanta y introdu ed
women to the bilitie that awaited them and to a new angle of
the platform advocating the elimination of Victorian decoration. In the
moderni t fanta y. women moved through a implified world unen-
cumbered by heavy clothing or heavy du ting. The women depicted
in the manual moved freely through their home , not re trl t d to
or barred from certain room . They at on chair made of n w pIa -
tics and metal, and dreamed of new appliance. Although the early
twentieth century certainly a time of hardship and un ertainty for
many. it wa at 0 a period of in ten creativity, innovation and hange
for American home .
Advi or the language of moderni m comfortably. B au e
they wrote for an audience not familiar with de ign movement, they
often took on the role of educator . The Modern Priscilla magazine
publi hed a manual in 1925, the ombined work of twenty-nin au-
thor. Their Modern Priscilla Home Furnishing Book opened with the
a uran e that all of it reader could learn how to be modern.
Now then, i there any hope for of u who were cheated

out of tho e cradle Ie on in who e childhood'
home a 0 iation were of the Early Pullman of American
home de oration; when the cozy corner held it way and chenille
urtain , crocheted tidie , beaded portiere ,ubiquitou grill-work,
plush upholstery and embroidered piano drap formed du t catch-
er allover the hou e; when rna ive, ugly battle-axe black walnut
furniture wa our heart' . re, and inAammatory color me
[ Modl1rnism ] 101
in wail and floor covering help d to make u a nation of olor illit-
erate ?
Yes. Any one maya quire good ta teo It i the re ult of education
and not a matter of feeling. 5
The author of the Modern Priscilla book claimed that modern de-
ign embodied rational principle and could therefore be quantified,
tudied , and learned. ideas guided the principal leaders of
the home-economics movement. All of the e women tried to bring a
n e of control into hou gn.
Modern Priscilla hired many women as editor and writer . Their
1925 text included advi or Amelia Leavitt Hill, Glady Becket
Jone Mary Harrod orthend, and Mary Quinn, who each v rote full-
6
length volume on their own. The e women, some of whom had cre-
dential in home e onomi s or civic reform, made career out of writ-
ing for women' . Other wrote articles on the ide. lady
Jone , for example, pre ident of an organization called the Garland
choolofHomemaking; he also a i ted in the Home E onomi De-
partment ofBo ton University. Mary Northend wa a writer and pho-
tographer who pecialized in Colonial Americana. Many of the gn
expert remained anonymou , worked a part of large editorial taffi,
or only urfa ed in brief article in the variou women' magazines
of the period. Modern Priscilla joined other women' magazine of the
early twentieth century in providing a vehi Ie for women to hare their
about de orating and hou ekeeping.
Women's magazines flouri hed in the early twenti eth entury.
Often referred to a the "Big Six," Women's Hom~ Compa1lion, Good
Housekeeping, Ladies' Home .Journal, McCall' , Pictorial Review, and The
Delineator dominated the market. Later in the century, the power
hifted to the" even iter ," Good Housekeeping, Fatmiy Circle, Womall:S
Day, Redbook, McCall's, Ladie ' Home Journal, and Beller Homes and
Gardens; however, magazine and journal with local reader-
hip al 0 did well. These magazine often published arti Ie on ivic
corruption and political i ue, giving women an education in impor-
tant topi of their time. Women's magazi always provided reader
with ampl e article , picture , and short about the home, food,
and decoration. Beginning in the early twentieth entury, magazine
with large often publi hed book-length treatments featuring
their mo t popular advice.
Tho e women who worked for magazines made career out of writ-
102 [ Modernism]

ing about the home. The authors of the Modern Priscilla book-length
work al 0 wrote many horter articles for newspaper and magazines.
Interior decorator EI ie de Wolfe, along with home economist and
ocial activi t Martha Bruere, Helen Campbell, and Maria Parloa, all
wrote for Good Housekeeping. Many of the e women achieved a small
renown during their career. In most ca e , when the contributors
to magazine pubJi their own text, they noted in the introduc-
tion that readers might have een their work already in magazine.
Thi gave the author credibility. Dorothy Tuke Priestman, for ex-
ample, publi hed her Home Decoration in 1909 with the announcement
that "Portion of this book have already appeared under the nom de
plume of Dorothy Tuke" in variou periodical.7 Prie troan and many
other moderni t advi ors did not achieve the same notoriety tho e
women who bu ied them elve with civic project and ship .
But their contribution , though form a large and significant
body of work when con idered together.
Perhaps the most famou dome ti . of the first few decades
of the twentieth century was etiquette maven Emily Post. Po t, born
in 1873, lived in New York most of her life and socialized in upper-
cla circle. Po t wrote novels, short stories, and a travel book. he
worked for everal women's magazines and also erved a a travel-
ing correspondent for Collier's national weekly. In 1922, at the age of
fifty-one and a divorced mother of two, he wrote her first Blue Book
ofSocial Usage. Thi 700-page work became an immediate be t- eller,
8
and he revised it nine times in her lifetime. Po t al 0 wrote book
about etiquette for particular situations, including for debutante and
for brides.
Though most famous for her etiquette advice, Po t al 0 wrote a
book of household advice. The Personality of a House: The Blue Book of
Home Design and Decoration fir t appeared in 1930. Filled with infor-
mation about rooms and arrangements, Post introduced many modern
ideas. Written "frankly, and from an e entially un point
9
of view," the book agreed with mo t modern advice about removing
Victorian excess from the American home.
Another unpleasing room not vulgar, but frumpy is one that is

turned into a mu eum of entiment. In a room the owner will
eliminate nothing that any member of her family ever fancied. All
the table-tops and twice as many cabinets as the room should hold
are packed solidly with treasures that range from Sevre , Royal
[ Modernism] 103
•
Wor e ter and ameo va to dozen of picture-frame , baby'

rattle and mall china dog and kitt n a ociated with the u er of
the rattle. Or perhap mi taken idea ofhou e beautification indu e
the pre ervation of Roger group, embroidered plush ha ock, or
con h hell. Perhap the owner of one uch room b lieve that a
miniature Ipine hat with a feather labeled au J
1O
an embelli hing ornament.
Po t, imply the mo t famou of all the modern-age advi or , wrote

loquently about the campaign to rid merica' home ofu ele orna-
m nt. It wa a long truggle.
Female dom t1 ad i or en ountered a dilemma in tran lating
the machine age for their They had to a pecificaJly to
women while di . a movem nt (Vi torian de ign) that many
women had found emotionally and ae theti ally Vi torian-
i m, and the female ta te that went along with it, wa reo by many
influential male moderni t . The movement, e pecially in Europe,
dominated by an elite group of male arti t . They wanted to influ-
en e the "a erage per on" with their de ign for airplane and pencil
harpener , but often expre ed op n di gu t for the ae thetic en i-
bility ofthe middle-cla public. The machine age a ritique of the
'pe ifi ally feminine nature of nin teenth- entury de ign. n of the
major complaint of the moderni t arti t and ar hite t again t
the "fI minin they found in the middle-cla home. De pite
their difficult po ition, dome ti advi or joined the elite architect and
d igner in r jecting the Victorian ity in de igno
The di cus ion of the modern movem nt laden with valuejudg-
m nt 0 Lu y nn Throop wrote in her Furnishing tlte House qfGood
Taste in 1912, "The fu y hou e i , lu kily, a thing of the pa t, or fa t
getting to be 0 but we hould all h lp the good cau e of true im-
pli ity."" By 1912, the "fu y hous "wa in fact still extant in Am ri a,
but dome ti advi or ontinued to advo ate it eradi ation. "The im-
pli ityand lear, defined line" of modern de ign, wrote Dorothy Todd
in 1929, "are a chara teri ti of th twentieth entury a the over
d orated and over furni hed muddle ... i of the late nineteenth
c ntury." Modern ad vi or attacked the "muddJe" with a new ideal of
the" imple" and the "pra tical." In hou ehold arran t, they de-
manded "order and repo e."
Many modern de ign text opened with a on the impor-
tant on ept of moderni m. Le orbu ier (Charle Edouard Jean-
\04 [ Modernism ]
besch IT'd nat r aal

neret), one of the most famous French architects of the modern move-
ment, wrote with obvious dis about the "bourgeoi king" with hi
"brl -a-brae m:nd." and advIsor tud;ed h:. work and r pad; for
their readers. When Corbusier lamented the "windows hung with lace
curtains" and "walls papered with damask," both trademark of the
middle-class Victorian parlor, dome tic advl or of the period largely
li
agreed.
In her Home Furnishing of 1935, Anna Hong Rutt introduced her
reader to Le Corbu ier' concept of the home as the "machine in which
we live." III Rutt, a profes or of art at Northwe tern University, wrote
her book "a a textbook for classes in home furni hing, as a practi-
cal book for homemakers, and as a book for general information for
interior decorators."I+ As an art professor, Rutt believed that certain
principles guided the furnishing of a home. She u ed Corbu ier a a
place to begin her di cussion of modern design, stating that the mod-
ern "effect i achieved by tripping off aJl in for
furnishing and .. J.5
The Better Homes Manual of 1931, a compilation volume, included
an essay explaining Le Corbusier's theories. "The rational perfection
and preci e determination of machine products . . . create in them a
qUality which gives them a style." 16 The author, C. R. Richards of Good
Furniture and Decorating magazine, went on: "Le Corbu ier ays: 'Mod-
ern art, which is machine made, needs no decoration can have no
decoration: He say that the rational perfection and determi-
nation of machine product made olely for functional end create in
them a quality which gives them a tyle. I doubt that thi is the final
word." In the essay, "Modernism in Furniture," Richards paved the
way for female domestic advisors to create their own space in mod-
erni m, which would admit some nonrational decoration while staying
within the guideline of Corbusier' ideas.
In America, modernism took its cue from European art movements.
The influential Exposition Internationale Arts Decoratijs et Industriels
Modernes took place in Paris in 1925 and helped define a new age of
The ideal of the machine as a pure design al 0 developed in
Europe under the auspices of various avant-garde de ign chools such
as the Dutch de Stijl and the German Bauhaus chool. The Bauhau
chool, active in Germany between 1919 and 1933, did include some
women in the textile department, but for the most part they did not
playa large role. Because of political trouble and wars in Europe,
many of the more famou industrial gner, uch a Paul Frankl,
[ Moderlli m ] 105

came to do much of their important work in the United State. The
American movement wa alo helped along with important exhibition
at the Mu eum of Modern Art in New York, The In.ternational Exhibi-
tion ofModern ArchitectU7'e of 1932 and Machill~ A,"t in 1934. The terms
"art moderne" and "art deco" derived from the French ..
Advi ors adopted the language of modernism. In an interesting
twi t on the term art moderne, home economi t Anna Cooley de-
scribed a text a "home economics moderne" for its "new" approach
in her introduction to Evelyn M. Herrington' Homemaking: An Inte-
grated Teaching Prograrn (1935). Thi demonstrate the infiltration of
the u age of the French "moderne" in American parlance at the time,
at lea t among academic. Evelyn Herrington was head of the Depart-
ment of Home Economics at Scarsdale High School in New York, and
Cooley was of household arts education at Columbia Uni-
. Their text, which included a note from Marion S. Van Liew,
chief of the Home Economics Education Bureau at the University of
the State of New York, demonstrated links between public and private
institutions a well a between econdary and col1ege-Ievel educator.
Home economists and arts educator welcomed moderni m into their
text.
Modern de ign covered a broad of forms, finding it
way into Rower vases a well a cars.n Indu trial designer Raymond
Loewy developed a theory of the · aesthetic. Thro ugh
a series of pictorial charts, he demon trated the imilarity between the
evolution of the telephone and women' bathing uits from) 78 to
1980. Loewy believed that every form could be made better thro ugh
the principles of modern de ign. The indu tria] gners of the 1920
and 1980 worked with plastics, metal , bridges, and kitchen · Al-
though many career indu trial designer · probably considered the ma-
chine age more applicable to cars than to furniture, domestic advi or
helped bring the movement into the home.
Meanwhile, femaLe art collectors introd uced the ideas to an intel-
lectual crowd. Museums became an important tool for the
con trover iaJ art-moderne de igns in the United States. Although the
curator of the e exhibit tended to be in fl uential and well- connected
men, the 10 ation of the exhibits marked an importan t moment for
women in the hi tory of American InU eums. Lillie Bli s, Abbie Aldrich
Rockefel1er, and Mr . Corneliu 1. Sullivan, all influential · ew York-
ers, founded the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in 19 29.
106 [ Modunu m ]

C rn-ud Vand rbiH Whitney no luli~m lT6r
ney Mu um of American rt a year la . ertainly. the wer
onnected women, yet it wa not only their money that led them to
open particular mu eum . While the men in their fami\, e p -
cially John D. Rockefeller Jr., ollected traditional, centurie -old art
that wa already respe ted, the women car ed a pia e for them elve
in the "new" genre of American art and modern art. They found
their own voi in the e ilifferent movement that \ ere not widely e -
teemed.
MOMA the first Ameri an m to embrace rna hine art. The
exhibit of the 19S0s helped to bring to both the art and the
mu eum. Though two of the important venue for modern art in
New York (MOMA and the Whitn y) were founded by women, moder-
nity a1 0 pu h d women in th oppo ite direction. Many of th mo t
important proponent of the antimoderni t mo ement in art and mu-
seum came from women u h a Abbie Aldrich Rockefeller and Elec-
tra Havemeyer Webb both of whom collected inten ively in American
folk arts. Abbie Rockefeller (a well a her hu had varied col-
le ting interest. Both modern art and folk art, although embodying
contradictory ideals, appeal d to her, perhap becau e they both em-
bra ed an ae thetic of 'mpl beauty.
As demon trated with the Mechanic ' Fair in Bo ton in 1902. local
and international fair became a perfect place for advi or to feature
their modern idea . From the relatively Mechanic ' Fair to the
Futurama Exhibition in N w York in 19S9, domestic advi or u d
public venue to illustrate their idea about women and the Americ~
hom. The Mechanics Fair may have been ahead of it time in advo at-
ing modern de ign, but it wa joined by other exhibition from
the local to the international level that ad 0 ated a imilar agenda.
World' fair provided opportunitie for women to demon trate and
new ideas in de ign. They also pro id d popular ubject for
dome tic advi or to bring their new ideas to a large audience. At the
Century of Exhibition in Chicago in 19S5 and at the Futu-
rama Exhibition in New York in 1939, the exhibitor and on umer
of the exhibit me age quite purposefully u ed the term "modern" to
empha ize their pride at being headed toward "tomorrow" with new
and new technologie . The home wa one place where Ameri-
can , y American women, could expre new idea . Chi-
cago' "C ntury of Progre " fair in 19S5 included a erie of home
[ Modemis11I ] 107
AL Ie r recto IJk be set' rmc! (Tal flaill

Dorothy RllltJ:\ A ntury of Progr ' . s I1lu Iratt" tht /10/1 rhuM "'."1(1'.fia lurrd til
th~ 1933 World' Foir. Exhibits ofm()d~rllfllrnishillg alld decoroting abouflded at tlte
fair, IIggesting that lht Viclon·afl Era wa Clfficially over. II/dud, thi par: ely fim li hed
tiving room from Ih,. ·sl",.1 houu' would haw bartt bun recog1li'Cllble 0 a living room
to earl geMratioll of decorator: . Its well-lighted readillg alld collversatioll groupillg
repre tilted th,. ideal ofmoderl/ de igll. (Raley, A ntury of Progress, 66· cOllrtesy
The Willterthur Library, Prillled Book alld Periodiatl Collectio,~
hibit , whi h, in th word of ob erver Dorothy Ral y .. ompletely

hang th old time on ept of the Home ... becau th yare Modern
in th Nth d gree." 18
Raj y' 19S book featur d photograph of the ariou hom di-
played at th fair in luding the " ry tal Hou e," " teel Hou ," and
th "HoLl e of't morr w." 19 "Within a lifetime," h wrot ," meri an
home have 01 ed from I.ABOR -P I.A E to E E - B DE ."20 Thi hift,
for Raley the ymboli triumph of the mod rn ra. Al-
though th year 1934 right in the middle of the D pre ion, urely wa
not a year of"ea -abode" for eryone Raley' onfid n depi t d a
dome ti that irnagin d d ign to hav a tran formative power
en in the fa of a onomy.
d i or ra ed about th way that th m dern ty) ould
affe t people' r Dorothy Raley writing about the 1933 hi ago
I [ Modenli m ]

World' Fair. declared that the modern era "completely chang [d] the
old time concept of the home." he made a direct connection between
the hange in hou e and furniture de ign and a change in American
women. "Then [the nineteenth century]. the hou ewive were old.
bent, and wrinkled at forty; now, modern areju maturing into
the mo t glamorous tage of womanhood at that age. And no wonder!
Like the automobile, the modern home i a product of the laboratory.
But thi Machine-Age h not robbed the '19S4 Model' of it individu-
ality, it oul, or its charm. Th new note in Home-making ha come to
tay. [t i ba ed on Economy, Effi iency. and Beauty."'" Raley, and other
dome tic believed that the clean. imple. modern in
the home had brought po itive hange to the live of women.
The room de igned for the fair were the tuff of dom ti fanta y.
The "Hou e of Tomorrow" wa an 0 tagon-shaped room, including a
"hall, recreation-cocktail room, hobby room, air-conditioning room,
garage. and an rurplane hangar." u While many women remained un-
able to acce the dome tic fanta ies they read or heard about, the ym-
bol remained important.'" The excitement, innovation, and poverty
of the 19S0 combine to reveal a en e of what might have b en and of
the d gree to which creativity and dome tic could oar e en
in the face of the har h reality of the Depre ion year.
Home arrangement made up an important part of th world' fair
in New York in 19S9. The fair promoted a certain vi ion of merican
culture, and the played an important role. The Modern-
age Furniture company of New York furnished many of the futuristic
room, including a small table that oncealed a liquor cabinet and a
.. omfortable urved ofa." '+ Visitors to the fair would have little doubt
that American de igners and cultural leader intended to look to the
future through the furniture di played in the many room .
"We individuality ... we cheri h the demo ratic principle;
wrote observer and critic Emily Genauer about American ... g the
fair.u Vi itor would find their democratic value illu trated through
the rna -produced furniture they could imagine in their own home .
Art critic Emily Genauer wrote about the 1939 world' fair in her
book Modern Interiors, Today and Tomorrow. Emily Genauer. born in
1910, graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journali m in
1930 and proceeded to make a career of art critici m in new paper
and magazine .26 he wrote in prai e of modern architecture. a
the Guggenheim Mu eum in New York, and of modern hou ehold de-
ign. he wrote for everal newspaper in different capacitie, u h a
[ Modemism J 109
Aut u besch IT'd nat r aal

her role as th editor of the fine and decorative art ection of the ew
York World- Telegram in the 1930 . Genauer wa awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for art critici m in 1974 for her work at Newsday.
Genauer' 1939 book, ubtitled "A criti a1 . of trend in con-
temporary decoration a een at the Pari Expo ition of Art and
Te hnique and refIe ted at the New York World' Fair," celebrated
the wide pread appeal of the fair. "Million of person ,coming from all
o er the glob ," h exulted, "have the opportunity to observe [ mod-
erni m] in full flower. Being a di tin tly contemporary expre ion, a
de or that i direct, comfortable, convenient and hone t ...
it find it place ery appropriately in the new world of tomorrow." 27
he wrote about her excitement that American had begun to partici-
pate in modern art and architecture rno ement . No longer viewing
the e movement a tri tly European, the Ameri an of the 1930 had
begun to look to the future.
onfiguring the modern age a "youth fur often helped advi or ex-
plain the mo ement. Anna Hong Rutt declar d that "moderni m ex-
the . and peed of the youth of today." he labeled
the familie who ho e moderni m a a decorating tool a "young,
courageou , experimental, imp ronal and logical."2 Alice Waugh, as
well, appealed to the next generation. "The modern hou e with its
impl ma e and entire lack of applied de oration," he wrote in
1939, "make almo t a great an appeal to the youth of today a do the
treamlined ar model ."29 A Good Housekeeping's Helen Koue wrote
in book How to Be Your Own Decorator in 1939, "Far from being a
fad, Modern art and de oration have become a definite part of mod-
ern life .... The Modern home is e pecially de igned to meet modern
requirement of pr ent day Ii ing."~ Using the word several time
in on entence merely emphasized it importan e to contemporary
reader.
Dome ti advi or often promoted modern de ign and efficien y
in tandem. In hou ehold good, treamlining addre ed the oft-noted
need for anitation and du t-fr e urface. treamlining arne into
vogue around 1930 and began to hange the literal hap of objects,
both large and mall. Part of the appeal may have been technologi al
innovation, v hich made the rounded orner pos ible. Corner tended
to catch du t, but the treamlined edge help d ea e the mind ofwor-
ried advi or . Amy Rolfe, ho oppo ed most inva ion of the factory
into the home, praised steel furniture, "for it i 0 quickly cleaned, 0
easily kept du t proof and germ proof." SI he recognized that everal
110 [ Modernism ]

•
a pects of the factory-produced-and-inftuenced furniture would be as-

ets to the hou ehold.
Advi or became a tute ob ervers of new material. New u e for
old metal filled hou ehold manual. Elizabeth Burris-Meyer under-
tood that "metal can be lighter to handle than wood and lend it elf
readily to design."32 during the nineteenth century, bronze,
bra , ilver, pewter, and tin found their way into household
ories, the u e of chrome plating changed the look of the twentieth
century. Chrome was invented in 179 by a French chemi t. It a et
included color, brilliance, hard and re i tance to corro ion. U ed
extensively for armor plating and for projectile covering in World
War I, it was fir t introduced commercially in 1925." Chrome wa
particularly known for catching light and brightening rooms and wa
u ed for chair arm and legs, clocks, and tables. "No word but 'be-
guiling,'" wrote Emily Po t in 1930, "describe many of the toy ani-
mal of chromium teel:"· Metal furniture for interior wa
re i ted at fir t, although showings of tubular chairs and tables at
the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 improved it image.35 Other impor-
tant metals for furnishings in the machine age included aluminum and
tainles teel.
Good Housekeeping' Helen Koues celebrated the new metals and the
new woods and textiles being u ed in modern homes. he delighted
in materials uch a "glas, cork, metal, rough-textured fabric , rare
wood and ynthetic products," finding no problem with new tech-
nologie. he appreciated the use of "light, bleached" wood in mod-
ern furniture, recommended a coffee table of ' clear mirror especially
effective again t the rough textured fabric of the carpet," and even pic-
tured a room with a "mjrrored wall." 3/! Koue was not concerned with
preserving traditional material and arrangements of the pa t. Rather
coffed that "we cannot imagine a Swedish Modern chair co ered
in old atin damask." 37 She rid the home of the old and welcomed the
"happy solution " of modern furniture and arrangement.
Advi or Amy Rolfe deemed electric lighting fixture as "the mo t
important of all the furnishings of a room" because chrome and other
metal re ponded particularly well to a new emphasis on lighting.
With increa ed u e of electric light in the 1920 and 1930s, the way
in whkh light touched ru:d reflected off of the furniture became im-
portant to de igner and advisors. "The form, color, and de ign of the
lighting fixture should all reflect and be in keeping with the general
s8
pirit of the room," Rolfe continued. In previou decade, through
[ M odernis7n ] III

the teens, many middle- class homes had been fitted with both and
electric lighting, but by the 1920s and 1930s more and more home
builder had accepted and de igned for the precedence of electric
lighting. Lig ht co uld be better controlled with advance in fixture
and with the gradual removal of gas and ker osene fi'om living r ooms
and hallways. If the lighting fi xture "is inadequate in structural de-
. ign," wrote Rolfe, "there is a los · of digni ty to the whole cherne of
decoration." '9
Advisor noticed the effect of modern home lighting on women'
lives. Artificial lig hting was especially important in the dark of night,
and decorator Edith Rhyne r emarked that working women, away from
their home during daylight, had a pecial relationship to electric
lights when they returned to dark apartments. In an article in Practical
Home Econot1tics in 1935, Rhyne provided photographs of new way to
light a living room and noted that the picture were taken at night, be-
cause "the apartment, being occupied by a professional woman ... [ de-
manded that] the effect by artificial light wa of great consequence." +o
Dome tic advisors utilized the new technologie and new material
to confront the middle- class home from a modern perspective. Burri -
M eyer' . recommendations included relieving the "overstuffed, heavy
appearance" of upholstered furniture with chrome and glass.+1 She edu-
cate d he r read ers abo ut the o rig in o f me tal furnitur e, citing c h ro me -
plated teel tubing used for chairs in Germany, and taught that "when
metal is treated as metal ... it own beauty creates an excellent form
of decoration ... it indestructible quality ha a definite appeal." Al-
though she did not recommend Bakelite plastic, commenting that "so
far, the material eems impractical," she did cel bl'ate the use of other
synthetic material in hou ehold furniture.+!!
Acceptance of pIa tic in household furniture wa gradual. The first
commercial pIa tic, celluloid, was invented in the United States in 1868
to sub titute for ivory in billiard balls. New especially Bake-
lite (1909), Plexigla , and Lucite (1936) all helped revolutionize the
manufacture of American home By the 1940s, pIa tics had be-
come part of the home a · furniture and as acce orie . New
had important design implications because they co uld be molded and
manipulated in different ways from wood, glass, and ceramics. They
also had properties that meant they could be ubj ect to heat, cold, and
long years of abuse without breaking. Manufacturing companies .
as DuPont, which had pent a century producing only gunpowder and
explosives) began to look toward home good major new product
11 2 [ M od<!rnism ]

Lucilefurniture and ro)'on curtaills are lluf ocus of this til/from the DuPollt
corporotioll's educatiollal motioll picture of 194 1, "II ew IJorld through Chemistry.·
Furniture alld tu tiles mode by the chemicallnborotory SllI"Ivulld
this happy womoll. [11 Yle 1930s alld 1940 , IItW kinds of materials, especially new
Jabrics, imitatioll leather: , alld pia lies, rtvOlutiolliu d the American home.
~ ollrtesy Hagle). 1u ellm alld L ibrory)
lin . Ad i or kept Ameri an women aware of advance in indu trial

de ign and technology.
o ign r r alized that meri an ould b u eptibl to hange
in an obje t' look, rather than ju t in it u fulne . By hanging
th de ign eery year, hou eho companie folIowed the
automobile indu try into planned ob ole n e. x-
ample of thi trend wa the ar, Rgebu k and Company'
Refrigerator in the 1930 • whi h did not hange in hnology but
radi ally hanged it design every year. Raymond Lo wyand th other
indu trial at r added "vertical ky rap r etback " in
1955, treamlined corner two year later and al 0 added differ nt
feet, hrome molding, and oth r d tail . Thi en ured that con umer
would on i tently pay money for the new gn every year.
New appUance app ared in the advice manual de pit th ab n
of obj t in mo thou hoi "The new one-piec in trument,"
[ lodernism ] 113
A I k besch rrT'd
wrote Emily Post referring to the modern incarnation of the tele-
phone, " an be painted to go with the room and look very well
anywhere." he recommended that, "whatever we do with our new in-
v ntions ... let us not petticoat our " a direct a ault on
Vi torian "fripperie ."43 Po t many electrical appliances in
her 1930 manual. She reminded her reader to pay attention to the
placement of outlet becau e many of the new appliance needed to
be moved around frequently, such a the "heating pad, say, or a milk-
heater:' 4 ..
De pite the enthu mo t mericans ould not enjoy the prod-
uct of ma hine-age de ign in the early twentieth century. Becau e of
limited to ele tricity and be au e of wide pread poverty during
th D pre ion, the great variety of objects and colors that
and adi or advo ated in the interwar period did not become avail-
able on a large cale until after World War II.46 Nearly every Ameri-
can hou ehold finally experienced electrical modernization by 1959.46
Ele tri ity in the 1920 wa limited to urban s and to large bu i-
in part becau e electric-company tudie howed that middle-
to-lower-in ome hou ehold would not take advantage of an ele tri-
cal pply, and the in e tment would not be profitable. In the 1920 ,
hou ehold pent only percent of their total exp nditures on hou e-
hold applian S.·7 Although thi figure hanged in the J9S0s, with
many familie increa ing their pending on mall the total
number offamilies with monetary and electrical acce to the new con-
umer good was limited. 4 8
For dome tic advi ors, moderni m often translated into simplicity.
"Every article in a room," wrote Maria Parloa in her Home Economics
of 1910, " hould have a rea on for being there:' 49 In her manual, Parloa
went through ea h room of the hou e making ugge tion for how to
r cognize and remove extraneou obje t . Twenty year later, Emily
Po. thad th arne idea. "Wh n furni hing your own hou e," he wrote,
"b ure, fir t of all, that the colors are . that the hair are
r tful to it on, that writing table are well equipp d." 50 Like other ad-
vi or before and after her, Po t clearly articulated that her' had
to do with income than with ta teo Her in . for ea h room
followed the principle that the family' hou e would be comfort-
able only when women made each hou ehold . .on with the ideal
ofbalan e, impli ity, and rationality inta t.
114 [ Modtl'llism ]

Advisors directly related beauty to functionality. uThe pitcher that
does not pour well cannot be beautiful," claimed Helen Campbell. uThe
spider-legged table and its insect family of chairs, the things that creak
when we sit down and tip over when we get up, these are not beauti-
ful." She had a rigid idea of beauty and claimed that "it i quite po -
ible ... to believe an ugly thing to be beautiful, through as 0 iation
of ideas, false education, low perceptive faculties, and the like." Her
manual was intended to train American women, who "as a whole, have
a low national taste" 51to recognize beauty when they aw it, and then
to trive to transfer that beauty to their own homes. Martha Van Ren -
selaer's 1919 A Manual cifHome Making included illu trations of"com-
fortable," practical chair along ide "ugly in proportion, erratic
in line, over decorated in finish, that should be avoided." 51
Virginia :r1rh un ~ Vult d ~ Wut~ r ~ u ggo"t od ~h at hnr r"ador" ~ tri vn
in ev ry all t .. mbin b auty with UII fu ln 1I11."U T h daug ht r of
ninet enth- entur lid i or M rion Harl nd (Mary ~ rhun » , Van d >
W II born in 18 (j into tit lit rIlr ~ rhune fu mily of Vi rginia.
Vru1 de W: ter 11 borat d with h r m th r on lIev rru proj ' til, in-
luding EVt!ryd(1 Etiquette ( 190'7 ) !Ind r How d h r l11oth ' r into th
field. h d dl IItet! n f her b lUI my 111 th r, 'I fll O N H R NO,
wh , b pr ept nnd ex I11ple, h II tallght m all that 1 I 110 f h lIlI -
k ping nd hOI11 making." a H r !!i!lter hri ll tin "I~ rhun H rri I
rullOwrot dom II ti dvi , nd mnn other frunily m mberll wer lI-
thorll. hough Von de Woter wrote ral t til ut th houlI -
hold ill1U bout tiquett ·, IIh d ' pa rt d fr In houl! hold Itdvi to write
IV" I tifl I HI bl1l1d{ 191<2) and If/Olllt fl clfJd BoLJh~'CJi II (19 1B). H ' r
d mell ti - dvi ' FIVI1I Kit lum to UrI'ttt m rged h r mother's
nin t nth- entury frugu1i ty with her own mod rn en ibility.

°1 go II far II 0 urg ry woman," wro te Lillian Ba lelll! reen
Kaa
in 1 17, !TIM th h!TI both "attra tiv nd OJ1\' ni nt. Lilli
Hamilton r n h implored II h hoUl! k I r to utilil. "110m '1 II t,
or hest f dr wers, r li t r · -I'oom, 1'1 m one J'e lurge n ugh
to 11 ld ull thot ill ugly ond uperfl uou : ao In th id al "th qu 11-
tion of utility hUll governed every urrang ' np l1t. • he ul h b n
m de th rnum ntal: a1 0 " lh 8 d il!orll, any obj. t til t /I . r ed no
opp r nt fun tion WU II ugly.
h rlott WitH olkins dd r 118 d th mod rn n r simpli it
in de oru tion, rpet!! "lIh uld not be bright in I r r rtarge, r IIt-
I 1111, IIwi rling dellignll, mol{ing the fI or app ur t ri up.... Pictur 8
or dogll nre out of plo e one doel! not wi h to tread on b u-
[ AI udn tll " ] I lli
AL.teL.rc ecrtelilk bescrer'llCl ". atenaal

I
, •
•
DOlllestie advisors 0/the 1920s believed thai evt'11tlu.limll'Iure should be Ireamlined,

Mar/hll ia ll Rensselaer, Flam Ro.!e, and fit /en 0 11011 o/tJIt Depllrt1llt711o/HolII1!
Ecollomic at am eli · lIiversity ill up fatt t7lJ Tork provided t.J:lItJJplu o/"Iypl!s rif
f llmiJure ugly ill proportiol!, erratic ill lillc, over-decOl71led ill finisll, tlrat lIould
be avoided,· Th t home ecollomist caufiolled rtilders to bt7lJllre 0/t:c I:SS decora/ioll lIlId
10 uek cOllifbrt alld simplieit ' ill tlleirf llm/ture as well a ill lillir aeees on'e ,
RelLSstlaer t f ai" ed " A Manual of Home making, pltlte Vl1; cOl/rlesy
The Libra ry, Prill/t d Book alld Periodical CAJlleclioll)
AutcursreLhtelijk beschermd materiaal

~u t or do ." 5 Similarly, "no one hould want to re t hi head on
I anythiJlg that rc~emb)cs reaJ rose th rn s, tcnnis ra k ts, pip > , Aag ,
indjan and the like:·· 9 The e de ign uggt:stion outlined a p -
ific, mandate for the modern home. Her to be
bdued in de ign, countera ting the Victorian era' outrageou pat-
alkin ' recurring theme wa that "the hou emu t... an
appreciation of comfort, and orderline .. . . The American
in his trenuou life n ed beauty in hi house."6o
Advi or presented a erie of rule for women to follow when
choo ing furniture. "For what purpo e i it to be u ed," began har-
lotte Wait Calkins. "( the material appropriate to the I it dur-
able?" sl he b lieved that ea h piece of furnitur had to be carefully
analyzed to it place in the home. "The furni hing of a dining-
room," wrote Mabel Hyde Kittredge, .. hould be ery imple." he
noted that when a dining room hared pace with a Ii ing room, fur-
ni hing ould be more d orative, but "if the room i u ed only a a
place in which to eat, all of the furni hing hould ugge t thi ob-
je t."s. Lillie Hamilton Fren h not d quite clearly that, "the dining-
room i a place for eating. Its purpose i defined." " Furniture hould
be cho en 0 a to erve the parti ular u e of the room, and for no other
rea on.
The "right kind" of Ii ing room furniture dep nd d on the fun -
tion of the room for the family. "Do th y read good book ?"' Kittredg
a ked, . If 0, the book ve and the library table will tell you 0."
he noted that "good light" was important only ifit erved a purpo e,
that i , if people in the room would be ewi ng or reading.s4 Dorothy
Tuke Prie tman rej ted traditional notion of propriety in fa or of
functionality. "Let u be re olved to have our home in keeping with
th Ii we lead" she wrote in 1910. 'We y it i not uitable to have
a in the parlor. It i if we ew there." 65
Some advi or thought men and women would like different kind
of room. However, unlike the late-nineteenth-century' rigid idea
about men' dining room and women' parlor, advi or in the mod-
rn era ould be om what more flexible. Emily Po t wrote abollt
w
"men' rooms.
There i neither ense nor beauty in the popular belief that manlj-
ne s can be expre ed only in the ort of olidity uitable for caging
a grizzly bear; that a small room et a ide for hi per ona! u e mu t
be known a "den," and be furnished with an over tuffed ofa that
[ Modtmism ] 117
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! iTal flaill

would upport an elephant and with chair obviously made for baby
hippopotamu es. It is not that the office de k and other
obje ts of wood furniture be either of mahogany
or of fumed oak, or that the entire color scheme be maroon com-
bined with wet-mud brown.B6
Post' amusing commentary here on sex-segregated room did not

mean that he did not have strong ideas about the differences between
men and women. Rather, her book wa a treati e on pra tical deco-
rating, practical furnishing, and she had no use for old-fashioned and
heavy ornamentation.
Principles of balance brought cientH1c rule to the living room.
Lillian Bayless Green focu ed on the mantelpiece. After fir t noting
that "the mantle never be cluttered," she provided certain rule
in which the arrangement would be as .. ymmetrical as possible:' Per-
hap "a candle tick at either end with a clock or vase in the cen-
61
ter," uggested Green. In later year, advi ors provided even stricter
on the properties of symmetry and balance. In 192 , Loi
Palmer directed her readers to place all rugs "parallel to the walls;
never at an angle to them. It is sometime a temptation to have a rug
reach from one doorway to another, in the direction of traffic, but well-
poised people don't yield to it, because they know that such placing
make for bad balance, and . distres others who may see it." She
al 0 noted that "an essential of symmetry i to have the major pieces
offurniture placed parallel with the wall ." 6 8
Though advi or stood united on many fronts, including function-
ality and balance, their common cau e the elimination of
bric-a-brac. Bric-a-brac wa a general term that advisor to refer
to a catalogue of decorating error . While most advisors used the
terms "gewgaw," "knick-knacks," and '"bric-a-brac" interchangeably,
Anna Hong Rutt made a distinction in 1985. The difference wa be-
tween "knickknacks, which have no art! tic merit and are often merely
souvenirs, Bric-a-brac, which may have ome art quality but are not
entirely good, [ and] object of art, which are beautiful in form, color,
and texture."69 Dorothy Tuke Priestman included textile in her defi -
nition of bric-a-bra , complaining about "flim y, hideous material ,
knotted, ca caded, and festooned over mantel, picture, chairback ,
and top ." ' 0 In its broadest it meant "crowded" or
.. and could even include wallpaper. "I hope that my readers are
II [ ModemismJ

A displa rif WJldding gifts ill a Deliver, Colorado parlor deTIum.s/:rates lhe proliftratio1t rif
lrric-a-lrmc Ihal collcemed Q man)' dome,'lf.ic advisors ill ill~ ear,>' JU!lmiietll cenJlIry.
Till e gifts ineluded lamps,figurines, dinnerware, tea sets, vases and otller ol[;'ects that
ell ntually would netd to be ciispla)'ed tlmmg/will tilt: home, cluttering smfiu;es and
reqlliriflg/ reqll(!nL duSl;,,!? D espite Jlt!! dir6 warllings tif home economists a/ld otfters,
howroer middl -clas Americans continlled to receive mOlltel clocks, .
and otller bric-a-brac as wedding presmts throughout tlu (millry.
~ ourtesy Deliver Public Library, Western History olieaioTI, X-260J6)
not the rs of, or po by, a large variety of bric-a- brac!"

wrote Virginia Terhune Van d Water in 1912. "[ ometime wish there
wa a la1i again tit." 11
The blanket term "bri -a-brae" in luded a wide variety of hou e-
hold . Pott ry ases, glass candlesticks clocks, and other ne es-
ary item feU under the umbrella if they proliferated in one room,
if th Y had unn . arilyornamental 'ng or or often even
if they could be "cheap." Other .items included ouvenir
and wedding pre 'ent, if too many of them congregated on one table
or on one mantel. Dorothy Priestman lamented the popular trend of
ornamental gift giving: "How often do we hear omeone y, 'My wed-
ding pr nt will b a bit of p ttery. (t will fill in omewh re and on
an' t ba e too many vases.' an' t we indeed."72 The tbought
12 0 [ Modernism ]
Auteursrechteliik beschermd materiaai

of as bric-a-brac could be too many pictures on wall, too many
s 1 on a urt 1n pujl, or too many p:lIows on a ora. Pr; man ca
theobje ts " oUe tion ofw ird mon ·trosities" in 1910.'5 In immigrant
the stricture might pread to include religiou statuary, cro-
cheted afghans, and other Uforeign" and "unnecessary object .
A early a the I 0, orne hou ehold advi ors recommended the
elimination of Victorian In I 9, Emma Hewitt wrote:
Still another law of good decoration declare that there be

no of ornamentation no beautifying, uch as a bow
around the poker, milk-maid tool in the parlor, and on the
table legs; nor i it in good taste to use a ornament, anything per-
verted from the original purpose, or appropriate ervice no hats
for coal boxe , men with hole in their head for alt-cellar and
the like to say nothing of uch thing the wooden
painted with apple blossoms on a sky-blue ground, and hung
by an enormou bow the hearth, in elaborate, but ridiculou
tate! Thi of decoration might be called the "American di -
ea e," but let us hope that it has nearly run its cour e, and that we are
learning to have beauty only where it i needed and appropriate.'"
Domestic advisor attacked bric-a-brac over a period of half a cen-

tury, and though women certainly read their advice, they ignored it
much of the time and continued to decorate their hou with bow
and figurines. 75 But advisor continued the attack.
In 1 90, Good Housekeeping magazine complained, "It [ bri -a-brae]
trips you up on the floor, drops down at you from the chandelier and
cornice ,make it dangerous to your legs or move your elbows
when you it, and render it impo ible to find a bit of unoc upied
wall big enough to lean again t." 76 The article went on to that
housewives rotate through their bric-a-brac, di playing on ly a few ob-
jects at anyone time. Other manuals would recommend bani hing all
ornament to the attic. Advisors could not find any rea on to keep un-
belongings or ouvenir around the hou e. Their me age
clear. Lucy Ann Throop declared in 1912, "There i one matter of
great importance to be kept in mind and practiced with the nest
self-control, and that i , to eliminate, eliminate, eliminate." 77
AIl of the manuals at the turn of the century attacked bri -a-brae
and advised that their readers throw it away or hide it. "Eliminate u e-
article ," wrote Charlotte Wait Calkin . "Be a ured that every
[ Moderl1ism ] 12 1

article that is usele s will prove to be ugly."18 She provided an ex-
tended discussion of what is "usele s," commenting that "the te t of
fi to purpose will make evident the inappropriateness of de ign of
a glass match receiver in the shape of a slipper, a salt dish re embling
a chicken, a pin cushion, made to appear, a nearly po ible, like a
tomato, or a thermometer gracing a deer' foot."79 Dorothy Prie t-
man attacked "the old fashioned whatnot" as e for many of
the cri me committed in the name of bric-a-brac:' 80 While piou ay-
ing and homemade titchery had been overwhelmingly popular in the
nineteenth century, as the new century began, all of that was 0 much
garbage.sl "Innumerable inappropriate grote queries, decoratively in-
tended," wrote Mary Quinn in 1914, "mu t be everely dealt with and
banished ... to the ash-barre!." 82
Object of entimentaJ value countered modern ideal . Hazel Adler
called for the removal of all "object of entimental a ociation" from
the home. "Heirlooms and ouvenir ... should find a happy end in a
memory che t." 8~ Alice Kellogg told her readers that any decorative
object must be "chosen for the enjoyment of those who come into the
room, and not be an expression of the individual ta tes of the family." 84-
anti-bric-a-brac rhetoric became the rallying cry both
for advi ors who wrote for an immigrant population and for tho e who
wrote for the middle cIa s. For native- born mericans whose an es-
tor had cluttered their homes to the point of oblivion, bric-a-brac
represented a lower-cIa s and tawdry decorating tyle. These people
aw the preponderance of object and ornament a a differen-
tiation a well as an ethni difference. Above and beyond the "for-
eign" connotations of clutter, dome tic advi or emphasized the asso-
ciation between ornament and cla . Language about bric-a-brac wa a
way to annunciate the term · of ociaJ superiority that could be gained
through simple decoration.
Mo t advi ors . bric-a-brac as clutter that cheapened the
look of the American home. They judged the cluttered home. and
concomitantly judged the hou ekeeper. A Dorothy Tuke Prie tman
wrote in 19JO of tho e who collected bric-a-brac. the "error ... is com-
mon among a certain class of women." 85 Even one or two cheap objects
could de troy the look of a room. Alice Kellogg said uccinctly, "bric-
a-brac in the cheap meaning of the word i not in good "86 The
ornate nature of the piece was important to ad isors in rating its social
connotations. "The cheaper the fixture, the more ornate it i, a rule,"
122 [ Modemism ]

Did everybody have a cozy corner? Many certainly did. And for ev-
de ade following thi ex hangc at a publi fair in 80 ton d o m s-
tic advi or tried to convin e their readers that bri -a-bra • d nand
cozy corners hould all be left behind a American moved forward
into the modern age. That for the mo t part they failed doe not di-
mini h their effort to pro e to middle- women that moderni m
did have a place in American home .
[ Modernism ] 125
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! (Tal flaill

COLOR I RU NN IN G RIOT :
C H A R ACTE R, COLOR , & C HI LD R EN
Tlzejimlishings oj a yOU1zg gz:rl's room may be very much like her

mother s, only stili more simple andfresh and dainty. White or ivory
ma11l~led furniture seems especially app1Vpriate. Pieces can qftm be
decorated in som~ oj tile quaint peasant style ojpaintedflowers, and tile

a~ design used througlwut tlte ·room.
JII a. hoy's room, even if h~ is a very smail boy, there should be less effect
oj daintiness and prettin~ss. Use atrtains ojcrflO/me il1 a boLd conventional
design rather titan a flower-sprigged pattern. L et tJlt jimzi/:u:re be strong
and substantial. Pruvide some piau for him to keep the innumerable
belongings tltat are d~a7' to tilt Ileart oJ a boy; sets oj opm booksJzelves can
sometiml!s be built into tJl/! room. There should be specimtlls oJ his various
collections as ht! pleases.
A mans distastefor feminillefrippery muijitrbelows should be
catered to in tJl/! jitrllishings oj his 0W71 room. Give liimfurniture that
is solid and mascI/1im-looking; as tile mameled French. and sle71d~r
mahoga1lY olonial styles seem l1wstfitted for a woman' room, so the
modificati07ls ojElizahetJla1l oak designs or the mC)dern crtiftS11lll1l
furniture uit th~ man's room.
-Modern Pri cilla Home Furnishing Book

The ]925 Modern Pri 'Cl'lIa Home Furnishing Book join doth r dom -
ri advi or in th argum nt that hou ehold urrounding would affect
each per on' character development. Thi under tanding of charac-
ter formation encouraged people to fo u on th long-term effects of
decorating deci . From little girl ' bedroom to the family bath-
room, the decoration of each room in the hou e had long-la ting reper-
•
Ion.
What kinds of American did the reader of twentieth-century
dome tic ad ice want their hildren to become? They wanted well-
adj kid who under tood their role in the gender d ociety. They
wanted boy who e in e t collection could lead to a car r in ien e
and girl who e inter t in the would be piqu d at an early
age. They wanted to pre erve a tatu quo of gender relation, but al 0
to explore new color and to incorporate modern technology in their
home . Reader of dome tic advice plowed through hundred of page
of commentary on curtain fabric and other detail . With the choice
that th mod rn ra offer d regarding olor palate and material , the
re ults could vary.
The twentieth century may have provided a cary et of choi e to
many American women. With on and daughters facing a co mer
world filled with po ibility, mother turned to dome ti advi e for
They looked at books uch a The Modern Priscilla to guide them
on their way to making ure they rai ed good childr n and provided
good citizen. They wanted to believe that the hoice of color on the
dining room wall could r ally effect the future hara ter of the nation,
and American middle- women turned to magazine and book for
advi e. Advi or them elve na igated their own onfu ion by provid-
ing concrete rule and ugge tion . They began a tudy of th effect of
room arrangement on p ronal happine ,a study that would continue
throughout the century.
The Modem Pri cilia Home Book prided it elf on providing imple di-
rection for positive living. The editor claimed to under tand that not
all of its reader had grown up in protected, strong-chara ter building
environments, and they announced their intention to fix problem
for the next generation. "The mother who realize the true igni
of home furni hing will never introduce make hift furniture into her
home or be content with anything than the very be t in every-
thing con tituting the environment of her children." I The future of the
[ Color Is RU1llli1lg Riot ] 127
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! iTal flaill

nation' children, then, wa in the hands of the mother who decorated
their home. meri a' children depended on trong furniture, trong
olor ,and trong gender- appropriate rule . Dome tic advi ors would
help the new generation by providing guidepo t for home decorating.
T he ea rly twentieth ntury wa a p riod in whi h the relation hip

b tw en hou hold d oration and per onality b gan to make en e.
"In th i t day ofintere tin hild p Y hology," wrot E mily Post
in 1950, "th r are few who faj] to realjze that hildren .. . are uper-
n itive to beauty in it almo t very pha ."~ Althoug h her text did
not mu h mor about the re ults of academi re ar h, her u e
of the t rm .. hild p Y hology" indicate it prevalence in the ulture.
he tri d to attra t worri d to h r advi by onnecting her
advi to the new 0 ial ience.
hildren had be n important ubje ts for "expert advi e" in e th
Pr g r iv Era at th turn of th twentieth entury. f or example
ra th orie about the effe t of recreation on hildren
and adole ent I d to the creation of playg round and to a new ivi
for hild ment. Publi u ha G. tanley
Hall and Jan Addam had made publi in favor of properly
organized re reation at th turn of th century. upporter ofth "Play
Mov m nt" organiz d the Playg round of meri a, argu-
ing that dir ting chi ldren' playtime could contribute to their moral
de elopment.' In the 1950 , Good Housekeeping' Helen Koue noted
that "mod rn toy and gam , lik mod rn idea , th intelle tual
or 'how to do' ide of a hild' mind, tea hing through play." + T hrough-
out th tv enti th century, dom ti ad vi or u d imilar argument
to onvin their r ad rs about the importan e of hou ehold arrange-
ment in hildren' rooms.
T he fi eld of hild developm nt g r w in the early twenti th century.
o ial ienti t tud ied th ways in whi h hildr n lear and cre-
ated tea hing model to orre pond with their findin g . T hey b gan
t a k qu tion about the inAu of daily \if, on the hild' future
w Ifare. in e the nin teenth entury, chiJdhood had been und r the
ientifi mi ro cope a a and vital time oflife when the har-
a ter wa form d for the futur . With th advent of j uvenile detention
and other " arly int rv; ntion" method in the 1 70, rimi-
nologi t began to di u what 0 iety could do to "ave" hildren
b fore they ould be inAuen d by dangerou element perceived to b
12 [ olor Is Running Riot ]
AL.teL.r _ ecrtelilk bescrer'TlCl fY atenaal

ound in r tal n n :ghborhoods and among da:n group_ 0 p opl .
Dom tic advi or pi ked up on orne of the language of the hild-
development cholar and began to add it into their text. They built
on the worrie that many people had about rai ing children and pro-
vided hou ehold olunon.
Home economi t Hazel hultz addres ed the i ue of children'
moral and intellectual development. In her 1931 Making Homes, Shultz
wrote about how to en ure that children were given the prop r amount
of room and the proper tool a they grew up. Shultz, born in 1 91,
by the 1920 a profe or in the Department of Home Economic
in the Laboratory chool of the U' . of Chicago. Her univer ity
had been at the forefront ofhome-e onomic education at the turn of
the century, and Shultz helped turn the focu from nutrition tudie to
child p ychology. Her efforts resulted in marty book during the 19S0
and 1940 , including The First Book in Home Economic of 1936 and a
book written for the Home Economic E on Division on how to
teach home tudy. Her work often empha ized the spe ial role of the
edu ated woman in providing a trong home for her family.
The need for children and adult to simultaneously u e the house in
their development created certain problem . Hazel Shultz addre ed
the need for "provi ion for developing initiative" in the home. he
noted that "'becau e of the nece arily limited ize of our home, mem-
ber of familie mu t adju t the time and pia e u to the .
and need of each other." 6 She included a pe ial ection and dir -
tion for accommodating chi ldren. Providing ketche of children in
the home, accompanied by que tion "Where hou ld a towel
rod be placed for thi littl boy?" and "How i the little girl en our-
aged to keep her po e sion in good order?" gave reader' about
6
how to provide for the particular needs of mall children.
hultz the importance of reating hous that allowed
for individua.lity, an important haracteristi for American children.
From reading her text, he claimed, "One ee why we d velop indi-
viduality in our home. If it were not for thi de ire to have and
furni hings that meet our individual need , we might well tandardiz
hou es and provid all familie with homes exactly alike.'" However,
he made clear in her text that uch wa not the ideal. Sh
encouraged her reader to what made them individuals and
to ex that in their home decorating. Sh encouraged parent to
nurture uch individuality in their children and to provide for the r -
suiting difference in their home .
[ olor Is Running Riot ] 129

-- - - - --
1.
o
o
o o
2.
Haul hull:. included 1IWny idea for making homes accessible and appropriaufor
children. Many domestic advi ors ignored children in their texts, bul othe,.s believed that
leeeping children in mind whim decoroting the house would instill a love for h()nle at an
early age. This drawing sh()Ws h()W benche ifor heigh~ and cupboards (for torage) could
help children carefor them elve Q/ld their belongings. (. hulf%, Maki ng Hom s, 36;
courttsy The H interlhur Librory, Printed Boole and Periodical Col/felioll)
A .~,
sr SC' IT'd
in the nineteenth century, middle- la hou e bur t with toy, play-
room, mall chair, and special object. Children' nur eries became
important in hou e de ign, and dome tic advi or certainly contrib-
uted to the new childhood phenomenon. The early-twentieth- entury
focu on child p ychology empha ized difference between girl and
boy , and advisor brought that knowledge to the hou Id, and to
the toy and ~ allpaper in particular. The empha i hifted from the
difference between children and adult to the exualized difference
between boys and girl. Training for their role m t, thought p y-
chologi ts and dome ti advi or at once, begin at birth.
The Modern Priscilla Home Furni hing Book re om mended " impIe,
fre h and dainty" de oration for a girl' room, wherea a boy' room
hould have "strong and ub tantial" furniture. t.S Marjorie Mill, in
1929, ggested "orchid gray paper with ilver flower" for a girl'
room, but autioned that "a boy' room, of our , be quite dif-
ferent." hift in both de ign and color wa deemed nece sary, indi-
ating "red and tan and black and blue," along with "sub tantial ma-
hogany furniture." 16 The differen e in furnishing and wall color were
on idered important in order to mold the children to their proper
gend r role . Dome tic advisor thought that color and de ign had a
trong effe t on per onal character.
Th asso iation b tween color and gender wa ' for the mo t part a
twentieth century invention. Before factorie and dye work could uc-
y and cheaply add color to thread and fabric, clothing color
had been limited. olor faded ea ily with repeated wa rung, and
many parent dre ed their children in white. At the turn of the twen-
tieth century, however, technology and chemical dye made a rainbow
of colors more widely acces ible to the middle cia . olor a ocia-
tion are not inherent and often take many year to develop. In the
fir t few de ade of the twentieth century, many people identified blue
with girls b ause of it "dainty" qualities, and thought pink wa ap-
propriate for boy be au e of it vibrant character and clo ene to r d.
However, by the 1940 and 1950 ,the trong a ociation of pink with
girl and blue with boy wa firmlye tabli hed in adverti ing, decora-
tion and domestic advice. Half a century later, computer com-
panie market pink and blue computer to children in the hope that
the color ystem remain strong.
Elsie Richardson provided a complete template for furniture choice
and arrangement in 1931. In her of hildren's bedroom,
noted that "it ha been proved that ing and color produ e
18 2 [ olor Is Runni1lg Riot ]
Altteltrsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

- -
... 0
This girl is allowed to daydream about "foiryland~ thallks to tlu ethereal

'U1tur~ <iflur room decomtions. The Modern Priscilla, in. 1925, TecOIlI1tunded
dainty ftatures Jor girls, including paintedJuntilllrt,jlmuers, and dolls.
( Modern Pri cilla Book of Home Decorating, 167)
either de irable or effects upon the ensitive minds of chil-

dren," and he went on to recommend vastly different chemes for
boys and girls. "A girl's room should be dainty and bright." She rec-
ommended " ateen, tafetta, ... or dotted swiss" for curtain . For boys,
however, only 'denims, reps and heavy would do. For a boy'
room, "therehould be no frills, [or] light fabrics .... Convenience
and masculinity should be kept foremost in mind." Accouterments for
the masculine room included furnishings of dark wood, especially the
desk, and a bookca e for "trophies, etc." "Few or no decorative acces-
sorie are 'he concluded. Boys' temperament, according
to tended toward the 0 their room hould
be kept clean of items "for boy to oil or mar." 11 By providing thi ort
[ Coior Is RWl1ling Riot] 133

of room, merican women could be that their boy would grow
to appropriate, modern manhood.
Mo t ad i or had more to ay about room for boy, p rhap b -
their a umed intere t in and collection held more chal-
lenge for the home decorator. Prie tman recommended "a prettily-
drap d dre ing table" for girl and for boy :
Th re hould be helve of orne ort where the lad can tow away
orne re a hi tamp album, hi butterftie, hi po tal col-
le tion, or whate er happ n to be hj hobby, for hobbie in a boy
hould b en ouraged a they help to bring out hj manly trait.
The athletic boy hould have hi weapon about, hi fencing foil
ro ed above the mantlepi ce, h· gun abo e the door, hi golf
ti k in th orner, hj cup and hi medals here and there. u h
a room a thi hould have trong, furniture, 0 that in ca e
the boy hould take down hi boxing glov and hav a bout with
hi friend nothing would be damaged unle per hap th ye or
no of on of the participant .1
Th popular journal HOlt e Beautifitl de igned a room for Uyoung

rna t r ".In 1937.
Even th young have a right to b rna t r in their own quarter. If

they want to have Jim and Jane and the re t of the member of th
arne lub over for an afternoon of hot ho olate and cake and
dominoe , th y hould b able to do 0 without adult int rference.
(You can ee that we believe in the youth fr edom th ory.) What
they need i a room of their own ... \ here they an ha e ompany,
play game ,and tudy.... Each one ha plenty of pa e for eat-
ing extra friend ofa ,bed that are covered with durable heavy
fabri ,large chair and mall chair . Then you will ee that there
are de k , work table that will fold and take up no pa e, lot of
drawer for gadget and the inevitable "collection ."19
The author of the article commented that with a bedroom u h a the

on in the magazine, "no hild in the world would want to
pra ti e winging a ba ball bat in th parlor." 20 Differentiating b -
room in which certajn g ndered a tivitie would take pIa e
an important part of . advice. The parlor wa parated from
boy b ed on their age, but al 0 on their rna ulinity and a umed,
n d ired, roughhou ing.
IS4 [ Co/{)r Is Riot
A sr
A" .... " hl'~p("1 i, chee,',,1 .. 114
.l.ef.. , i" • h.,4 to ·ht.1I roo",
fur 11. l
,",,1
Dilfirtmas ill dtcomtionsfor mtm and boys mnainedfairly constanl ill the twentieth
century. Dark colors, unpainted wood, ano game imagery (both animal and compttih've)
prolifemttd in rooms designed to apptalto men. Htkn Kouts's room 10r Mall alld Boy ~
ftaturtd a largefireplace and plenty qfspacefor Ihe men qftheJamil to read
and to construct thl'ir model planes. (Koues, American Woman's ew
Ency lopedia of Home Decorating, 330)
gaz on h r h ive of potle pot and pans, who i by

their gleaming whitene ,w ho ' ati fied a to their afeguarding the
family health he, too will be content and enj oy her hou keeping." 116
The p ychologica l of kitchen was not in idental to do-
me ti advi or who believed tha t room arrangement ould lead di-
re tly to per onal ati fa tion.
With a new emphasis on per onality and per onal fu lfillmen t, ad-
vi or fi It that the kit hen, con idered a room of toil, hould in tead
on tribu t to the welJ-b ing of the modern woman. Modern advi or
took their ue from indu trial de ig ner , but al 0 found important
th me in th of 0 ial cienti t and p ychologi t . Blanche
Halbert incl uded an e ay on the kitchen in her book of 198 I noting
136 [ oLor Is Running Riot ]
Al tel r cencll k bescr r'llC1 r- 3tenaal

Dome ti advisors interested in color choice followed up on a long
hi tory of the p ychological affect of color. A early as the eighteenth
century, Swedi h cienti t Emanuel Swedenborg wrote about the di-
51
rect relation hip between color and piritual qualities. In the late
nineteenth century, a color became more easily tran ferred to fabric
through improved chemical dyes, and to plastics and paints in later
years, American began to expect color in their live . Black and white
image were used to repre ent dullnes and stagnancy, whereas color
opened up a lively world of vibrant and strong emotion . The Wizard
ojOz built on thi image both in print in 1900 and on ere n in 1989
with a representation of black-and-white Kan a a compared to the
Yellow Brick Road and th Emerald City.
At the turn of the century, color was till seen u pect by many
merican . The Columbian Expo ition' "White City" played on the
ideal of white as purity against the colorful backdrop of the mid-
way, with it rides, ethnic populations, and perceived . Dime
novel with their bawdy, colorful cover betrayed the emotions within.
A color invaded more and more a pect of popular culture, it gradu-
ally 10 t orne of it en ational overtones, but color in the hou ehold
wa a gradual for the American middle cla ,u ed to white
anitary kitchens and muted parlor. Though comfortable with clutter,
mo t Americans took several decades to warm to the possibilitie of
color in the home. But dome tic advi or certainly encouraged them.
Color theory was a ignificant and vital part of many modern,
domestic-advice books. Black-and-white texts broke into full color in
the modern period. Emily Post' book, along with many other, in-
cluded a color wheel to help housewives coordinate all a pect of the
color of the house. Advi or pent much time convincing their readers
of the rela between emotion and color. Charlotte Wait alkin
advised women to carefully choo e the color of each room to project
certain feelings. "Yellow i cheery and unny; red, ex iting; blue, de-
pressing."s2 A Elizabeth Burris-Meyer warned her reader, "Many
people find undecorated wall ,particularly white one , barren and un-
pleasant." ss Reader of . manuals came to expe t advice on
matching the color of the drapes to sofas and carpets, and they ex-
pected information on the different characteristics of each color and
how that would affect those u ing the room.
Harriet and Vetta Gold tein went farther than the other dome -
t1 advi ors of the 1920s in providing a fu ll discussion of olor and
color theory. In their 1926 work Art in E veryday L ife, the art profes-
IS [ olcr Is R II1I1lillg R iot J
AuteuIslf'Chtelijk beschermd materiaal

corre t way to under tand color and that women ould learn the rule
wa an important part of the role of modern dome tic-advice book .
Part of the idea to demy tify the academic theory and to put it
into the hand of middle-cia women of de ign onal .
. Palmer recommended u ing con truction paper and watercolor
to put together a home color wheel.s.5
olor wa a n w commodity for the 1920 . Although one of the
mo t popular palette of thi period wa white, red, bla k, and sil-
ver, in actuality a tunning array of color wa available. The avail-
ability of uch brilliant color wa in part due to the re earch cienti t
who developed quick-drying, inexpen ive Duco paint for DuPont in
1924. Duco paint i be t known for it application to automobile, but
it al 0 enabled a of other colorful applian e . DuPont fir t u ed
the paint for handle and toy before con incing General Mo-
tor to u e Duco la quer on it 1924 line of car. The paint,
it color through the ravage of heat, water, mud, and age, unlike pre-
viou paint, brought color to the merican umer world. 36 Harley
Earl, who et up the rt and Color D partment for General Motor in
1927, help d bring about the large- ale adaptation of olor by major
manufacturer . Thi trend wa followed quickly by Chry ler and then
by Ford, a company famou , of cou for providing American with
ar of any olor "a long a it' black." We tinghou e, manu fa turer
of Formica, DuPont, which made Lucite and other pIa tic, and Gen-
eral Electri employed hundred of people in product d velopment,
many of them in de ign. Color an important component of the
hou ehold artifact they rea ted.
Interior decorator El e deWolfe had unique about th role
of olor in the home. he wrote one of the early, definitive text in
interior decoration, The HOllse in Good Ta ie of 1910. he al 0 wrote
piece for variou magazine and journal, in luding Good Housekeep-
ing. In 1915 he wrote an article a part of a erie on "our hou e in-
terior " that addre d the olor of the dining-room wall . "Fir t of
all, [ think a dining room be light and gay," he announced,
and "the next thing i the planning of a be oming background for the
. of the hou e." Here, deWolfe ugge ted matching th color of
the dining-room wall to the coloring of the home' rno t important
r ident. "The color hould b elected with due con ideration of it
with relation to the ho te . Every woman h a right
to be pretty in her own dining room."3'7 DeWolfe took the role of olor
140 [ olor Is RU1I11ing Riol ]
Al.tCl.r _ ccrtel1lk bcscrcr'TlClI" atenaal

ugge ted different color for every room, u· the entire color wheel
in ea h home.
The p ychology of olor work out a perfect cycle, and through it

all we get each color combination in turn. The average nur ery h
pink and blue, a it have. The boy' room goe into brown
and green they uit hi khaki and earthy outlook on life. The
littJ mi like yellow, but adore blue. Her very fir t beau i ure
to tell her that he II her be t in her blue that her
eye . The bride want her old ro e bedroom to be dainty, and yet it
mu t not put her robu t young out of pIa e. The tan living-
room mu t ac om mod ate in its color the grandmother' charming
heirloom and the mother' gra eful and Ie grateful hand-me-
down .~
Her playful look at djfferent color cherne accompanied the eri-

ou me ag that olor b trayed important characteri tic about ea h
member of the hou ehold.
. advi or u ed color to give emotion to room , and they
provided pecific example. Amelia Leavitt Hill, author of the 1923
text Redeem.ing Old Home, gave her opinion on wall color.
For the Ii ing room green i a re tful color, and one of which one
doe not ea ily wary. Blue is aJ 0 good, if a dull, rather dark ton
b cho en. It i generally not de irabl in a room with northern ex-
po ure, it i a cold color in it elf. There i ,however, a hade of
blu , approximate om what to the middle tone found in old blue
china, which i not con picuou ly cold, and which may be u ed, even
in north room, ati factorily. A tan wall covering, like blue, gives an
of pace, and i a bright and cheerful hade for a living room,
if ele ted in a golden tone.... The dining room hould, a cording
to all the dictate of modern be in blue, decorated with old
blue china, if one be fortunate enough to boa t any uch.106
Hill wa not daring in her color recommendation and indeed did not
provide much room for di agreement. Of cour e, other advi or would
claim that her favorite olor of tan and blue had erved their time and
that the twentieth century wa ready for more.
Elizab th Burri -Meyer thought the living room hould be mor
exuberant than re tful. he wrote in her Decorating Livable H01IIes in
1937: " lor and texture for a living room that i to b largely ociaL
in it purpo e hould be elected to carry out a feeling of gay for-
142 [ Color Is Running Riot ]

bedroom. New growth area in con umer uch a co metic
and hair product , new pIa tic for hair bru h handle and comb ,
portablt mirror ond ther iI t( mud i il ilil~ble t the
middle la . Dome ti advisors seized on the importance of the bath-
room and began to emphasize the room in their manual .
By the 1930 , the bathroom became an important room for domes-
tic ad vi or . "Bathroom have become so thoroly [ i ] styled that al-
mo t a complete line of acce ories may be had in ... chromium or
nickel plate, porcelain, gla s and enamel," wrote Chri tine Holbrook
in 1933. Holbrook, a the home-furni hing director of Better Homes
and Gardens wrote exten ively on interior decoration. Her Well Dressed
Windows of 1950 included ugge tions for color accent . In the 1930 ,
he on the bathroom.
No where ha the en emble idea taken a firmer hold than in towel,
bath mat and wa h cloth . Seat covers matching the bath mat or
rug are both and decorative. There i a wide choice of color
and designs that ought to fit comfortably into any tyle of deco-
ration. The color scheme may be carried to the point of getting a
new seat cover in a rl finish and colored faucet for
the lavatory and tub. There are no end of delightful color combi-
. that may be used in the bathroom, providing they do not
clash with the adjoining room. They may be more restrained than
an old-fashioned Hower garden, but they need be no Ie charming.51
Advi or made the bathroom, the ultimate of utilitarian room into a
of both beautiful and practical de ign idea.
Dome tic-advi e manual and magazine featured color a early as
the 1920s and continued to recommend colorful bathroom for many
decades. Universal Sanitary Manufacturing Co., Kohler and Crane,
and Standard all displayed bright bathroom en emble in the late
1920 and 1930 . In the 1930, tandard Sanitary Manufacturing Co.
offered the following olors for inks, bathtub , and toilet : "Ming
Green, Tang Red, Clair de Lune Blue, t. Porchaire Brown, Ro e
du Barry, Ivoire de M dici, Orchid of Vin enne , Royal Copenhagen
Blue, and Ion ian Black." 62 The Continental and Hair to the e
colors was perhaps an effort to tempt consumer with exotic locale .
The Martin- enour ompany included "Tibet Grey' among it olor
choice and also included American color like "Indian Red." 6~
For domestic advi or , de ign took precedence over cience in the
creation of the modern bathroom. With new confidence in modern
[ Color Is RUllning Riot ] 145

,
« cQlor i., at least I/O!! tJliIlIttrru;tiveness of this practiclI1 bathroom,· wrole

Helttl Koues if lIer g rem-and-yellow a;ample. Breaking awayfrom tlte early-twelllieth-
ce11lttry sanitized, all-white kitclle1lS and bathrooms, domestic-advice nUlnlll1ls ill tite
1940. and 1950 ftaturedfull-color treatme/lts. KOlles's 1954 compendium
included tltis batlll'OOm,featlJring briglt1ly painted cupboards and a colorfitljloor to
brigllttm the look oJa white Silllt and bathtub. The batJLroom also included separate
storage spacesfor eadt member oflheJamily (Kolles, American '~oman's New
Ency lopedia of Home D corating,jacing 5'/4)
fa ilitie ,th reHan e on the white bathroom became a thing of the

past. Emily Po t, in her 1930 The Per 0ltal£ty <ifa House, ex Jaim d that
.. olored p1umbing fixture are utterly fascinating. I would Ill< very
much indeed to rip all white one out and bur t into color through-
out."8+ Color was not only a design tool but also a change in attitude
146 [ alar Is Rmmillg Riot ]

about the room in que tion. New idea about color, and about the
meanings of color, tran formed the fantasy home.
"The color of a wall must be very carefully con idered," wrote home
economist Mary Lockwood Matthew in 1926, "because psychologists
have found that color affect people in different ways.~ 6f> The 1920 and
1930s found home economist and other dome tic advi or ru hing to
explain the Rood of color choice to their con tituent . Thi proved to
be a co task given the range of color available and the potential
But throughout the fir t half of the twentieth century.
dome tic advi or continued to recommend trict adherence to their
rule about color choice. Their main mes age wa : Pay attention to
the way the hold i arranged becau the placement offurniture
and the color of the wall can affect the people who live there a both
children and adults.
[ Colo,. Is RU1ming Riol ] 147
AL tcusr(cr 1IiJk brscrrrrnc rrat"lriaal

OUR OW NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN :
ROM CING THE PA T
We if trW England are deeply interested ill our historic homes, and
it is to the lowr of the coloniaL thnt I wish to show by picture and text the
wonderful old mansions that are still itl our mitist, which. haw done much
to bring trW England into prominence in the architectural world if
to-do)•.
Among the old house there are none so full of interest as those
which have been carefully preserved i1l the same family, handed down
from generation to gmeratioll. Over the thre hold of these homes have
passed mtll and womtn whose nmnes are linked irretrievably with
important evmts ill ollr nations history.
These old coLonial houses with their beauty if line, their hamlOny if
detail, and tltei,. air of dignity, riellty repay tlldy by archiUct and house
owner: . J\1ore and more we tllrn to them as nlOdelsfor our modern h01lll!s.
They are a rich. heritage from one iflhe most importallt pieces ifthe
nation's histor)" and will ever be cherishedfor the memories they evoke.
Truly American in every respect, they will remnin foreve1'7nore as
revelotions ifthe sturdy spirit, the breadth of mind, the gracious
hospitality and the fine ideals ifollrforifnllurs who bllilt them..
- Mary orthend, Hi toric H of ew England

152 [ Our Ow n North AmeriC4l1 i ndia",s ]

Francico church. The name, however, cau ed great controversy. ince
tickley, the most popular maker of thi furniture, rejected the notion
that he copied hi from California Manufacturer
continued to use the term " · .. to imply that the furniture wa an
hi torical tyle, benefiting from American no talgia for the Old We t .
Alice Kellogg praised the furniture:
The "mis ion idea" has ... made a powerful impression in Ameri-
can home, and the ub .titution of the straight line for the curved.
the ab ence of applied ornament, and a simple in place of a complex
con truction have made a distinct advance in furniture. In it origi-
nal etting in the mission buildings in California this furniture
was mo t primitive in pattern, but by variou . modifications it has
been rendered comfortable and fiU a field for which hitherto there
li
had been either inadequate or inartistic provision.
It precisely with the primitive We t that caught

the attention of many advi or a · well a many American con umer.
The actual history of the furniture wa less important than it a ocia-
tion with and ranchos filled with exotic Spani h character.
orne advisor eemed wary of bringing mission furniture into
every American home. Amy Rolfe wa . an instructor of home eco-
nomics at the University of Montana in Bozeman. In her 1917 text,
he taught her readers about mi ion furniture, but cautioned that it
might not be appropriate for every region.
The mi sion furniture originated orne thirty years ago in a little

. . church in California. The church wa a humble frame struc-
ture and the chair made for it were of the simplest, traight-line
construction po sible. Because they were so impJe they seemed to
possess an element of beauty, and the public soon recognized till
fact and called for other traight-line de igns in inexpensive fur-
niture.. .. M· · furniture is often wrongly used, however....
While mission furniture may seem very much at home in a
hou e, it may be entirely out of place in a house of the middle we t,
and surely would be incongruous in a colonial man ion of the east. IS
Ad remained cautiou about recommending western styles to

their ea tern reader. Though Rolfe lived and worked in Montana,
he was hesitant to recommend furniture for everyone. De-
pite some caution, however, the Old West became a popular theme
for home decorating in the early twentieth century
164 [ Ollr Own Nortiz Amllriamltldians J

The turn of the twentieth century welcomed a new in in
'W tern hi tory that fit right in with mi ion furniture. Book like
H len Hunt Ja k on' Rarlwna (1 4) introdu ed thou and of Am ri-
•
an to the romance of the pan ish We t and promoted tou . •
111
the region. Ramona de cribed the tragi tory of a half-Indian woman
rai ed in pani h 0 iety and her Indian lover. Though int nded a a
critique of raci m, the book in tead rea ted legend about the ulture
of outhern California. In the everal decade after the publication of
the book, during whkh it wa con tandy reprinted, p opl organiz d
"Ramona Pageant ," et up a fi tional birthplace, and made it a pil-
grimag . te.14 The book ha been the ubject of everal movie , the
fir t one by famed dire tor D. W. Griffith. The raze over HamofUl re-
vealed an American longing for romantic hi tori cal legend within the
United tates.
One unintended r ult of the wild popularity of Rat7W1Ul \ a that
American began to turn to the We t for in piration for their home
de orating. With the idea that the frontier had "cIo ed" and that Amer-
i an had rea hed their manife t de tiny of inhabitan y from oa t
to coa 4 came a fa cination with the ancient cultur that had popu-
lated the region before the United State moved in. Dome tic advi-
or joined the mo ement by recommending certain pani tyl in
the home. Emily Po t recommended, with various caveat, the pani h
method in her 1930 Personality ifa House. "Handled with ta te knowl-
edge and restraint, the Hi pano-American hou e, in a hot climate, is
ideal. It overthick wall are to keep out the heat; it door-
Ie opening encourage the ir ulation of air; it untri urfa e
ar beautifully uitable to the embelli hment of tropical foliage; it
patio e pecially one that i arcaded on it northern ide g rant a
haded outdoor retreat." L5 Mi ion furniture and pani h ar hite ture
gave dome tic advi or example of what they on idered ancient and
romantic tyle to re om mend to reader eager to bring a en e of the
pa t to their home .
American Indian ultures were among the mo t popular "foreign"
culture in dome tic-advice manual . Dome tic advisor joined a
larger movement called "Romantic Nationali m" in which a country'
identity i ex through the adaptation of the art of indigenou
culture .16 Arti t Alice Kellogg aw the litie of Native Ameri-
can item for middle-cIa home decorating. " better idea i to ecure
orne decoration from our own North American Indian, rug, pot-
tery, and ba ket ,each offering a field rich in national and arti tic inter-
[ Our Own orth American Indians ] 155

Olltraslillg wilh Ihe pallerntLi carpet IlI/dulIl a/1t, litis aoojo rug dl mollstm/u Olle UJay
ill wltich middle-cia ;lmericalls brought ·uolic" alive Amet'luJII culluru illio their
home-decomlillg schemu. ThisJamily parlorfia tured all Alllericallfiag alollg wilh Ihe
rug alld illcluded no shortage c!faccessorie and decomlive louches.. The avaj o rug tIIQ
probably 110/ IITlll 1101 ill middle-dass home ill olomdo, givllllhallLea rb
Americall cullurrs became pori c!fllu cullumllort c!fthe oulhwtSl. ~ ourie Denver
Public Libmry, Western H istory oUtdioll, X-229t9}
e t. avajo blank t of bright olour when hung again t the wall will
10 k brilliant by artifi iallight; or it may be mad of utilitarian valu if
thrown on a loung for a cover, or laid on the floor a a rug." 17 The m-
bra of "our 0\ n" Indian d mon trate the en e of 0\ n r hip that
whit m rican ~ It toward the peopI who fir t inhabited th ir oun-
try. Kellogg and oth r wrote about Indian ar a if th artifa t of
the e ulture ou ld impart ome ofth ir . ' ty to the omplicated
m ri an Life that had taken 0 er their land.
Many dome ti ad ' wrote about ative meri an ar a a di -
appearing way oflife. Dorothy Tuke P . noted that "the Indian
too ha taught much about ba k try, and tho e who have mad a
oIl tion of old ba ket have found it ery intere ting to tudy the
quaint, uriou pattern whi h ar ymboli of th life of thi pa -
." I Prie tman nded a1mo t like an anthrop logi t tudy-
15 [ Our OWII 01'111 Americall Indians ]

,
ing a.n ancient ulture. Her recommendation had little to do with the
detuill de omtivt qualiti f th pi~ce I In t r .ther with th ir
boli m. lndian repr nted hard work and a imple culture,
both thing that Pri tman wanted to bring into her hou e-de orating
plan . She liked the romance that the artifact brought with them.
outhwe tern ulture, a the Pueblo and Na ajo pro ided
domestic advisor with a nati e archite ture to Charlotte al-
kin , in her call for national ip in de ign, argued that the
Pueblo cliff dwelling repre ented the only truly American ar hite -
ture. "American lead in the comfort and equipment of the hom , but
in dome tic archite ture from the purely American type of the
Pueblo Cliff dweller, they have not ... given to the world much that i
original and expre e truly the life of the people. "9 In the fir t few de-
cade of th twentieth century, with doz n ,even hundred, of Native
American tribe to hoo e from a decorating models, mo t dome ti
de ribed the world of the Na ajo and the Pueblo Indian of
the outhwe t.
Archite t Mary Jane olter u ed Pueblo idea in creating hou e
and train tation for the Fred Harvey ompany. Colter, born in Penn-
ylvania in J 69, worked a an art befor accepting her fir tjob
with the Fred Harvey Company in New Mexico in J902. The Harvey
Company led tour, by railroad and later by automobile, through th
outhwe t, introducing tourist from the Ea t to the natural and built
environment of New Mexico and Arizona. While on vacation, t
ate at specially de igned re tau rant and tayed at pecial hotel . They
were served by "Harvey Girl," uniformed waitre e from all over the
country who made the touri t feel at home in the new etting. Mary
Jane Colter pent her entire forty-year career de igning and building
touri t for the Harvey Company. Her fir t building
the Alvarado Hotel and Indian M m in Albuquerque, and · h went
on to 'gn many more hotel, re taurant , and gift hop. Many of
her building, in luding the Lookout and the Watchtower at the Grand
Canyon, and the Painted De ert Inn at the Petrified Fore t, both in
Arizona, ar still tanding today.
Colter' buildings appropriated con truction technique and in-
terior de orating from native Ne\ Mexican . She u ed adobe wall and
incorporated and painting and blanket weaving to make her building
look more authentic, and he also employed Hopi builder and raft-
p ople. Colter' building introduced tourt t to outhwe tern ulture.
he u ed the Southwe t' ideology of implicity a a ymbol for th
[ Our Own ortll American indiam ] 15 7
region. he created vacation .. that were specifically set up to be
90
different from the busy homes of her Coa t patrons. Her de igns
helped s . an in outhwe t Indian art objects that fueled a
heavy trade. bought pot, rug ,and other home deco-
rating item from Pueblo Indian women who laid out their wares on
blankets in front of Colter's building. Her en itive use of Hopi de-
ign and theme were e hoed with varying degrees of authenticity in
home the country.
Many advocates of Art and Crafts design looked as far away as
Asia to find a culture worthy of respect and emulation. When recom-
mending a ty]e to feature in the American home, advisors searched
for ancient culture that prioritized imple design. Known for a ense
of balance and harmony, Japane e 'gn, as interpreted by Ameri-
can writer, became a strong partner to Art and Crafts ideal. Alice
Kellogg recommended "a Japanese va e" for a hallway or reception
room.il "It i interesting," Charlotte Calkins wrote in 1916, "to take
color cheme for interior from shells, birds, flowers, fruit and Japa-
nese ... print :'u These decorator the quiet design of Asian art
as a po itive complement to their rededication of the simple American
home.
Many manuals included suggestions for how to use Asian designs
in American settings. The Good Hou ekeeping Discover), Book of 1905,
a compendium of "practical hints from the experience of hundred of
hou ekeepers and home-makers," included s for a ..
Tea." "The reception rooms may be adorned by lanterns, fan , para-
ols, screens, all of Japanesy style .... Scatter cherry in great
snowy rna ses to light up hadowy corner ." The ho tes would have to
buy many items to decorate her home. The touch was for her
to don a kimono and do her hair in uJapanese style, adorned with half a
dozen tiny bright fan ."" U' "Japanesy" style in household decora-
tion was a way to solidify the housewife's commitment to American
culture by making Asia seem more exotic.
While Japanese culture provided a good example of the
advisor worked 0 hard to achieve, they approached other
Asian cultures with more trepidation. Oriental rugs inhabited a rather
troubled pace in the dome tic-advie manuals. Some prai ed their
unique qualitie , emphasizing their exotic nature. Amy Rolfe wrote in
1917: "Orienta] rug have a power offa cination and a peculiar my tical
quality which stir the imagination and emotions more, perhaps, than
any other item ofhou ehold furnishing. Each rug, laboriou ly made by
158 [ Our Own ortll AmnicQlll1uiians ]

I
Wonder whal I" )!il't~- li1,o Ihings

that 1.,11
or <I)!es pasl. or arts no\\' 10SI :
Th .. I shu", the sl; i I! we mode rn" hwt' ?
Vors." It hoi her o' shut unc spot I I; 1111" -
" Vantine's "
Oriental Lalilps
A iVf PS IIi llronxt'o Syrian IIms.~. Purn-Iain, 1'0 11\;1'\' ,
o
\\'iel;.,r (;la7. 0 IIra7oi,,1' l .amps, tal! F1IM)r I.;omp" ill

Ilrull70c and Brass. lIr:lI:l;ct I.amps. Studelll I.amps.
1-:1<·..11'01 i -rs ill Ilron7.", llrass,

Irlln ami (;ill. •
Hdl1l '1 and Shidds .
.\lo.<l\u" I.alll,·rns o)tl\·crll'd .
Rcadin)! Li)!hls.
I)nll' 1.i){lns ami Chandeliers.
I'.. n Corhel'l' l.i)!hIS,
;\1)(1 ~pt'(' ial idl.°as for ( it:l1!'\ and
c', 1St", · n IrtH..'rs.
'1"111-: , ' ,\;\TI:"'I-: (a': ISIiA I.A~II' SIl ~\IJ E
FKC):\I ~2.50 To ~5 . oll
Laul.p Shades
in :'I1c1:t1 , Sh ·11, I'al"'r, Bcnl. Leaded. and Art Glass. ~Iub,- Shad,·"
ill 1'::1,<1,')'11 shap"s and 1);I)!oc\a "frecis. Iril1lmed \\'ilh gla~s . <1ll'1I
,ill; alld Snian , . ....
hra"s irin)!
Stores like Vantilll! 's that sold house/wid accessories with a foreigtl flair depellded 011
all alldiellCe rif AlIurican womell who read about other Cltlillres ill books and magazines.
Although most dumestic advisors would have disapproved rifthe bric-a-brac that Vantine's
old, they introduced reader. to the concept rifgeltillg i11spirotiollfrom other coulltriesfor
American decoratillg Valltille's, a ew York City esla.blish.mmt, built upon the desire for
exoticism byadvertisirlg "ille lllings tllat lell rif ages past, rif arts 110W lost,P The C011tpally's
Wonder Book featured lamps inspired b)· Syria, Arab mosques, alld evell OIlC called
"The Vantine Geisha lamp shade. • ( Wonder Book, A. A. Val/tine and Co.; courtesy
•
The Willterthur L ibrary, Printed Book alld Periodical Collection)
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd matenaal

ew England kitchen
/J 'Pi1'lltio1l.for sevt'l'11i decades qfAlIIerialn olOllial det;oratillg, the
tva (I popltlar venue at Philadelphia's Cenltmliol Expo ilio1/ in I 76, The kitchen
ftatured womell clad ill Colol/ial garb and s aled amidst every possible represemation qt'
otonia/life, including on (fIlormoltS "earlh. Til kitchen inspired gmerations qf
Americalls 10 fill their ILOmes with turn d chairs, pewter plaies. and spinllil1g wheels Lo
emulate Lilt quailll1Usriftht past. (, aU1Iders, The reat entennial Exhibition, 54-2;
cOllrtesy The ' Pintertflur Library, Prillted Book and Pe7-Lodicai olle';ti01~
xploration and civilization in tbeouthwest and Florida. They in-

vented their own creation myth. Often, history book opened with the
landing of the pilgrim at Plymouth, Massach and described the
arly y ar in th Engli h olonie a the fir t tory of U. . hi tory.
The New England colonist, and to a Ie ser degree of Virginia
and the re t of the mid-Atlantic, became stand-in for a wide array of
hi torical counterpart. Their live defined th entire olonial adven-
ture, and early American hi tory became redu ed to their experience ,
100 ely interpreted. Their hou ehold though often mi -
represented by museum executives and domestic advisors alike took
on power a sole repre entations of early America.
The olonial Revival began as early as 1876, with widespread inter-
e t in the New England kit hen at Philadelphia's Centennial Exposi-
tion. The movement picked up speed at the turn of the century and
ontinued into the twentieth. Helped along by industrial mas pro-
162 [ Ollr OW" Nortll American Indialls ]

du tion of reproduction wallpaper and paint color · Ameri an women
brought th olonia1 fie i al into th ir home . Many dom ti ad j-
or a ti ely encouraged thi iew of America and \ rote eloquently
about the importance of pre erving olonial Ameri an hi tory and
through hou ehold decorating. Ju t a women ould bring
value of implicity and even a little exotici m into their home with
Japane e print or Navajo rug, 0 could they u e olonial-in pir d
chajr and table to demon trate their commitment to what they
thought of a American value. Thi had only a little to do with any
a tual lonial ance tor and mu h more to do with the p r eption
that, a American, New England ettler were their ance tor by
birthright.
The phra e "American Colonial" iHu trate the trend in hou ehold
furniture that took over American home in the 1920 . The u e of both
word together conveyed th duality of the idea of patrioti m and hi -
tory. Elizabeth Burri -Meyer included a chapter on incorporating
tory into furniture choices and tried to educate her reader about the
tyle . UFew typ ," aid, the Ameri an Colo-
nial." 51 he encouraged her reader to learn about hi tori al-p riod
hou arrangement in order to make their home conform to an
ideali m of the pa t.
(n the early twentieth century, a before and· many American
a 0 iated patrioti m with a r veren e for Colonial New England. Do-
me tic advisors helped . trend along by relating hou ehold artifact
to value of implicity and honor. New England ettler ted
ertain hara teri tic that many found lacking in contemporary cul-
ture. Early ymbolized moral anctity, hard work, and trong
family tie. People thought of eighteenth-century New Englander a
trong-willed people of faith committ d to patriarchy and propriety,
and a talented craft p ople. They thought of the material good and
building that remained from that culture as having value b au of
their a ociation with uch people. The coverlet, wallpaper ,pewter
pitcher, and lantern of Colonial New England re-created for people
what th y con idered to be a impler time.
Although men dominated the furniture-design ind the Colo-
nial Revival created pia e for many women arti t . Women e pecially
heeded the call to return to handicraft in an age of machine . They
form d 0 ietie and group to manufa ture acce orie from
to blanket. . advi or included the female-dominated
of Art and Craft in their manual. Hazel Adler prai ed the Blue and
[ Our Own ortl~ American Indians ] 165
Aut u besch IT'd nat r aal

Helell Kouts picked up 011 Ille Irendfor earl)' American fkcomlillg in IItr 1926
How To B Your 0\ n D orator. lie recommended tile "llonuly collifort " qffired by
Ihe simpleforniture "typiCilI ojllle homes ojour alla lors." This roomftatured a rockillg
chair, wooden seuk , alld a pol 0 1/. a c/ Wl t! i ll lite lItarLlt. ill Ihe 1939 editioll ojher book.
KOlle elaboraled OIl the idea witll a « olollial rrilliamsburg" room, complete
wilh IIphol ltred choir modekd after Ihe Ilewl), opelled tOl/rislattractioll.
(KolU!s. How to Be Your Own D cora tor [ 1926J. ; cOl/rl.tsy
The Winlerthur Library. Prinled Book alld PeriodiCilI Collection)
Whit 0 i ty of D rfield, Ma a hu ett , for "th eparation of the

good old de ign from it later elaboration with unnece ary piral
and ornament." he recommended u ing the e de ign "in th decora-
tion of the mod rn hom ." The Blu and White 0 iety made needle-
work de ign on te tile u h a b d pread. dler admir d the Blue
and Whit for being " xpr ive of ertain important pha e
si
in merican life and chara ter," namely, the olonial period. imi-
larly Dorothy Prie tman omment d: "The rt and raft move-
ment ha gi en a timulu to ba k t making, and ha help d to put
thi raft on a high r plane."M Intere tingly, although the advi or re-
je ted mo t ornamentation, they appre iated the hand-mad raft.
olonial raft repre en ted proper value for dome tic advi or , who
164 [ Ollr O W lI ortiz American Indians]
Al tCl r cc~ Illk bcscrcr'llC1 r" 'ltenaal

reli hed alrno t anything that arried the moniker "Colonial,n whether
embroidery or door frames.
Proponents ofth~ American oioniai ideaJ mad tJngiand ma-
terial culture popular to people a different pre m
collector and ordinary h . When domesti advi or wrote
about the tyle, they joined (and probably accelerated) a movement al-
ready in Th popularity of New England reached
a peak in the 1920 and continued to be trong throughout the tw n-
tieth entury. Major ollector u h a John D. Rockefeller Jr. at 0 10-
nial Williamsburg (1926) and Henry Ford at Greenfield Village ( 1929)
tar ted to give early American artifact a pre tige they had not en-
joyed before. Advi or picked up on thi fa hion and taught
women how to incorporate the popular tyle into their horne. Good
Housekeeping' Helen Koue demon trated the tyl in 1939: "With
the William burg feeling in furni hing weeping the country, Good
Hou ekeeping Studio fllrni a in Baltimore with attra tive
reproduction of the period and the documented fabric imilar to
u in William burg:"·
It would be difficult to overe timate the effect that m like
Colonial had on American With tour-
i m building throughout the twentieth century, more people than e er
had the opportunity to vi it hOll e museum and outdoor hi tori al
park . These venue tended to empha ize the beautiful material cul-
ture of early America and pre ent artifact in their mo t magnifi-
cent tate. Mu urn in th hou e of governors, other politician ,
and famou author mo tly men, proliferated throughout the oun-
try. Patriotic group a the Daughter of the American It volu-
tion operated mu eums in the hou e of the igner of the on titu-
tion uch a the teven Hopkin hou e in Providen e, Rhode I land.
Walking through the e hou e , touri t ould ee elaborate
" are by Georg \¥ashington and view elegantly canopied bed
and recently reuphol tered chair. Entire treet ofhou e filled with
colonial furniture, as at Deerfield, Ma sachu tt, and William -
burg, Virginia, continued to open and attract vi r from the 1920
throughout the century. On- ite gift hop elling item u h paint
in trademarked Colonial William rg color en ouraged them to go
home and replicate the hou e ' grace and elegance.55
American Colonial de ign incorporated several important theme
of the Art and Crafts movement. Dome tic advi or advocating the
[ Our Own orth American Indians ] 165

future-looking, unembelli hed tyle of the twentieth century felt little
conflict in al 0 advo ating Colonial furniture and They
conceived a way for the New England tyle to fit in with their idea
of turdy, hone t furniture. A early as 1900 ad vi or Bertha Hynde
Holden expre ed her that the day would oon come when
merican would learn to appreciate "the turdy che t and chair, the
mellow bras and pewter, the old time when the craftsman worked out
hi inner conviction .n~ Although wa ahead of the curve, Holden'
entiment fit quite nicely with the later de ades of the twentieth cen-
tury when American did begin to honor the craft people of an earlier
age.
Throughout the twentieth century, dome tic advi or explained
how to integrate antiques into modern home. In 1917, Alice Kellogg
wanted her readers to be careful of the antiques they used, choo ing
one that had a direct relation hip with American idea .
There i · 0 much intere t in old furniture nowaday that a bedroom
fitted up in antique piece or their reproduction make a plea -
ant change from modern fitting. An old four-po ter may be made
omfortable'i ith wire spring and a hair an old che t may
hold the hand-woven linen and blanket ; a low-boy take the place
of a , and a high-boy be orne the hiffonier. . . . A orner or
quare wa h tand may be equipped with an old blu hina bowl and
pit her, and a andle- tand, work table, rush-seated chair and rag
carpet carry out the quaint idea of the pa t. n
And everal de ade later, the "quaint idea of the past" till held im-
portance for decorator . Chamberlain wrote in 1953, "The
adaptability of 1 th century tyles to modern living ... [pre erve ]
our American inheritance of good ta te ... developed in New England
houe from our beginning ." S8 She clearly linked the Colonial tyle
with a pecifi ally American en of good ta te and good breeding.
A for what came later, h had nothing good to ay, pointing out that
the Victorian era "degenerated to a point of meaning Ie s ornament and
knick-knackery about which the less said the better."·9
Mary Harrod Northend' many book and contributed to
the reverence for the Ameri an Colonial tyle, . lly in ew En-
gland. Northend wa born to a prominent New England family in
1 50. Through her family' as ociation , she gained ac e to hi toric
home in the North hore (north of Bo ton) region of M u etts.
Her in Colonial and furniture led her to a
166 C Ollr Own orth Americall Illdians ]
ful career in photography and dome tic advice. he began writing in
1904 and began publi hing photograph of Colonial architecture and
. oon thereafter. During the next two decades, before her
death in 1926, Northend made more than 55,000 photograph of
She wrote eleven books and published what prob-
ably amounted to hundreds of article in magazines, uch a McCall's,
Otdlook, Century, and Good Housekeeping.
Northend' collection of photograph of hou and their content
wa "considered one of the mo t valuable private collection in the
country." 400 In her book, he described the hi tory of certain artifact,
. like doorknockers, and then indicated that the renais ance of these
tyle would demonstrate Colonial American value, uch indepen-
dence and ingenuity. in modern home . Northend focu ed on tho e
items in the eighteenth-century homes that he felt best encapsulated
American value . The furniture and of the Colonial era
were important to pre erve. according to Northend. becau e of their
tie to the early New England settlers rather than because of any in-
herent decorative or de ign value. She recommended decoration by
a ociation.
Northend manipulated her homes and furniture to conform to her
idea of what the American Colonial style looked like. As Charle
Arthur Higgins wrote about her in 1915. "She often spends from an
hour to an hour and a half in one room. arranging in ignificant
details, to make a complete whole" before he took a picture. She pent
thi hour analyzing and arranging the room. She took her own ideas
about the past and used old furnjture to make her point that American
Colorual furniture could expre s certain value . To her, manipulating
doorknockers, candle molds. window treatments. china. glas ware. il-
vert pewter. furniture. and draperies could express her sentimental af-
fection for the Colonial era. She carefully placed pinning wheel and
cooking pots 0 that the room would look a if the Colonial woman of
the house had just stepped away from her spinning and cooking.
By manipulating the furniture. Northend participated in one of
the pastimes of the Colonial Revival. Though historians cer-
tainly had their part to play, other enthusiasts often decorated Colo-
nial homes and museums. Based on stories they had heard from their
older relatives, or on what they thought m have been the proper ar-
rangement • they organized parlors, kitchen • and hallways rather ar-
bitrarily. Collectors who specialized in one type of chair, for example,
might furnish a room with twelve mahogany dining chairs with ball-
[ Our Own North American Indians] 167
1 7'
•
•
•
-
Ma ry ortltmd, photogrophu alld author, t{)ok tlti photogmph i" n J\I[assachuselts
hOllie, probably arol/lld 1910. The photo dernol/slrate. her love of olonial artifacts, lie/I
a tlu pilllling whetl (/lid skein winder IItar Ihe hearth. ill thi image, he also armllged
II roulld tublt wilh (/ lamp ill llle cenler qfllte room, typictll qfllilleleenlh-ct!fllury
arrangements. orlhtlld' book and arlicle used images like Illi one /0 how
modem womtll how to use oWl/ial artifacts and lIinetemtll-cet/tury
decoratillg ill their OWII modem homes. ~ ol/ritsy Thl! " '/Ilterthur
Library, Decorative Arts Ph% grophie ollee/ion)
and- law feet, thoug h u h an arrangement would ha e been unu lIal

in the 1700 . Proponent of the olonial Re i al though they raved
auth nti ity, mor on rned with th ymboli m of the furniture
than with literally r produ ing an i nt living room .
orthend felt that "there i a charm about old furni hing that can-
not fail to app al to all lover ofth quaint and intere ting." he wrote
her book b · au e h beli v d that "hitherto little appreciated reli
[ would n w b ] rein tated" ith all their original dignity."+' Although
om w uld d em thi typ of entimentality "antiquarian" later in
th ntury. orth nd had a genuin d ire to have an influence on
Am ri an home . and he played her part by educating women about
olonial furniture. he prai ed olonial ar hite tur • with it "b auty
of line ... harmony of detail and ... ir of dignity ' and declared th
J [ Ollr Own orlh Americall Illdiafls ]
Al t r cc~ II k beser r'llC1 r- 3tenaal

TO GE TH E R NE &T HE
OP EN- PA E PLAN
Meet a Modern American and Father
Here's Ed Richtscheidt ofPints Lake, J, his wift Carol and their thm
children. The)1live in a gra)1shingle split-level house with thm !Mdrooms,
OIle bath and an lillfini hed basement room that will OIl/! day !M the game
room. On the ortll ide ojtheir lot, where they pial! to build a barbecue,
Ed has made a play yardJor the childrl!ll.
We're introducing Ed and hisJamily !Meause, like millions ofother
married couples today, they're living the lift of Mc all's, a more casual but
a richer lift than that ofeven III/! Jairly recnrt pa t.
Toda thl! chores as well a Ihl! companionship make Ed part of his
family. He and Carol have centered their lives almost complettly around
their childrl!ll and thtir hOllle. Every illch of their hOllle and :),ard is livtd
in alld tIljoyed. Alld it's a very happy ploce.
arol afrPreciate a hand with the dishes, as well as a chance to talk
things over without interruption. he's proud of thl! color schtlllt Ed
mopped outJor the houst, admits she never could hove Jound such
handsome draperie .
- ~Livt thl! L ift of McCall' •

I n May of 1954, the editorial taff of a popular women' magazine
en ouraged it reader to 'Live the Life of McCall's" with a veral-
page photo e ay on family life: 'Thank to our heritage of freedom,"
the editor wrote, "men, women and children are a hieving it together.
Th yare creating thi new warmer way ofljfe not a women alone or a
men alone, i olated from one another, but a aJamily haring a common
.
exp nence. "
The arti I featured a photo e ay depi ting Ne\ Jer ey couple Ed

and arol and their plit-Ievel hou e. Before Ed headed off to meet hi
arpool to the office, the family made breakfa t together, ea h miling
moment captured by the photographer at McCall's. The clear me sage
wa that the ouple hared their home and it responsibilities.
Ed liked to "putter around the house." But th arti Ie, under the
headline "The Man' Place I in the Home" al 0 Ii ted hou ehold ac-
tivitie that Ed did not like, including: "Du ting, vacuuming, fini hing
job he' tart d ... wa hing pot and pan and di he . .. [ and] doing
the laundry." The article did not Ii t activitie that Carol d' ·ked. To
re reader that the magazine did not intend to overturn a tra-
ditional hierarchy, McCall's wa quick to mention that "for the ake of
every member of the family the famBy needs a head . . .. Thi mean ·
Father, not Mother."i The article clearly tated that Ed wa "a part
of hi family" in way that his own father had not been, but a1 0
boundarie on the length Ed wa willing to go. "One chore again t
whi h Ed con istently reb Is i vacuuming. He on iders it women's
work." !
The article continued to outline the 'ble "manline i sues" that
could ari e when father participated in the hou ework and childcare.
"Often the different kind of live [ Ed] lead come into conAict. ome-
time, when he' particularly preoccupied with a probl m of his own,
the kid ju t plain annoy him. And he feel like lamming the door and
going off for a long walk by himself, or sitting down to a good game
of ard with the boy ."" Togetherne had it limits, and McCall's al-
lowed men the option of physically leaving the hou e. Tog thernes in
the home wa not intended to threaten a power structure, but to pay
tribute to a new kind of dome ticity.6
Advi or in the 19S0s and 1940 began to the family unit a an
organizing prin iple of the American home. Advi or u ed the word
and the idea of "togethernes " in the po twar era to pur ue women'
172 [ The Open- 'Pace Plan ]

dedication to freedom through prioritizing home life. The M e all'
art: I and 0 h r bu;H 11 thi ,,~ l:ltLilutl ' nd it nnnm . d.
vi ors u d the idea of togetherne to recommend a major hang in
the building and decoration of meri an middle-cia home.
Women' magazine uch a M e all' helped to create and

th togeth rn fan . Magazines about the hou were often
called" helter" magazine .6 While Ladies Home Journal had enjoyed
a irculation of 0 er one million in 1906, Me all's circulation reached
almo t five million by the early 1960 .' Many of the e magazines had
long and venerable hi torie of ma irculation. Mo t of the e maga-
zine had mainly women writer and a largely female reader hip.
Women' magazine in the mid-twentieth century gave dome tic ad-
vi or a popular platform. Women' magazine Rouri hed, and women
both wrote and read arti Ie .
Major women' magazine pub!i hed many of the dome tic-advice
manuaJ in mid entury. Many magazine trictly egregated their
taffi by gender, hiring the women in decorating po ition . In 1954,
. 'Home Journal employed Cynthia Me doo Wheatland a the
interior decoration editor and Margaret Da id on a th homemak-
ing editor.9 Th editor of U oman' Home ompanion, Henry Humphrey,
hired women to write hi W01nm's H01ne C()1npallion Household Book in
Harriet Burket, Aline Jordan, K. Joyce Ryan, and Mary Ellen
late provided the advi e for the book, ince Humphrey expre ed "te-
merity in advi ing [women] about the performance of their important
dutie ." 10 The ditors of McCall' joined together to produ e Me all'
Decorating Book in 1964, and another magazine got into the game with
Better Homes and Garden ' Guide to Entertaining in 1969." Through
the e book , magazine pro ided dome tic advi or with more pa e
to explain their ideas. Magazin arti Ie on de orating ould 0 cupya
page or two; the Woman's Home Companion manual wa a full 9 page
of advi e.
Often, in th of togeth rne ., domesti -ad ice books in the
mid-twentieth century featured the talent of a hu band-and-wife
team. Hazel Kory Rockow, Ph.D., wa the enior home economi t at
Brooklyn College when coauthored New rea/ive Home Decorating
with her hu Juliu Rockow, an interior decorator.'t A a family
teanl them elve , the Ro kow had mu h r pe t for th role of home
decorating in family life. "Thi new attitude may well be one of the
[ The Open- 'Pace Plan ] 173
AL Ie r recto 'Jk be set' rmc! (Tal naill

4
•
MallY domestic advi ors I!mbmced the -togetherness· tim/ill 0/IlOltseho/d maTlilgetllll7lt in
tllll 1940 lind 1950. This "db-it-yourself- conple is doing it together as they compleme11t
eacJl otller's Imowledge ofpower tools and design. lagazines alld manuals promoted the
ideal of husbtmd-and-wife decomting, introducing the idea that tlze ltoll ellOld could brillg
thefamil together. (HlI1nphrey, Woman' Home ompanion Hou ehold Book, 201)
h althi t developm nt in the field of pre ent-day marital and family

relation hip ," they wrote. Thi wa no small claim, but the Rockows
went further. "Beautiful home incul ate idea and valu that make
for a de ent, upright 0 iety."'" Linking home d coration .. ith "upright
iet}'" and family life, yen ifit wa a fanta y, wa an important goal.
D me ti ad vi or urged women to embra e the family to the ex-
clu ion of mo t anything el e. In the advi e manual and
174 [ Tlte Open- :pace Plan ]

any job or volunteer work out ide the home wa peripheral to the task
of homemaking. While clo e to twenty million women did have paying
jobs or career in the 1950s, a some women had in every other de-
cade of American history, the editor of the popular magazine under-
played thi aspect of their readers' lives and livelihoods.I... Charlotte
Adams was an unusual domestic advisor in that he wrote her tex.t
for working women. "The 1950 cen u ,If he wrote in her introduc-
tion, " h w d that mor than half th !TIp! y d in th untry
aT morri d :' I~ "[t would b id a)," she wr t , "if th 'hou work
har d qually with th ir hu an But 1 t us n t v ntur into th
r aim of unr ality." I~ Adam manual wa unusu .l in that it id ntifi d
0
and p k to working worn n, bll t it did n t r away rom th n tion

dlat worn n w uld ul ti y alway. b in hllrg of family and h rn
lif! • and it addr d its omm ntary n th hom to worn 1\ only.
Th 1960 a a . g b m in Ameri 8 , and family tog til r-
b am p rt f the new housing d . igns. In p rt • of n w
t fin An ing nd altlu n • thi wns n p riod of
in r a d ng tarts." Advisors sudd nly had a broa audi
T his r nzy wos limit d t th · midd l . and in Iud d th u-
and of r turning s Idi r. and th ir famili s. T he .S. go r t
t d th III with fr du acion and good r t s n hou 'ng I a
providing a ha ll ng for An w g n ra.. i n f l1 In build r, and a n
aud ' f! r dom ti advi .
a na] 1 giJati n h Ip d t th noti nal ob s-
i n with dl hom , T he rvi m n's R adj t Bill (T h r Bill )
of 1 440 and th Int rstat Highway A t f 196 h 'd mill i n f
oldi rs int whit - collar j b (aft r a r " 0\1 g du ati n)
11
d th n into th brand-n w suburbs. . h n w road, I d t th n w
uburb , pr viding 8 way ~ r th whit middl . to omm ut · to th
iti . TI1 • d ral g Admini trati n f r d m ny n w fnmi li •
t build n w h m by . r pair f i ting fU tlJr and
in. t · ad providing mu h b tt r finan iog fI r new h u ing . tart .,19 T I is
m ant that advi. ors h d t inv Ilt (l n pti n th h m t app I
t o th n w uburbl\n r eR id fit ,
•h farnou p twar homebuild r wa William L vitt. H b -
am h us hold n . m aft r hi. ompnny I ar d potat fi Id in L ng
I land. New Y, rk, Rnd built thou and of n w h m , n on d. y in
1 4 • h . ign d 1,4 0 c ntra t ith famili S .IQ L vitt wn h m s in-
Iud d su h fami ly- ori nt d r s as a pi tur wind w wh r th
could wat 11 h r 'hildr n playing and n atti that auld b
[ Til t Optll-Sptll e PIIIII J 175
AL.teL.r _ ecrtelilk bescrer'llClI" atenaal

expanded to make room for future children. Levittown changed the
way many merican thought about home. De pite the of indi-
viduality that accompanied ma ive building program , people
appreciated the family- entered va lue that the new hou e repre-
ented.
advi or hoped that women would make their hou e
onform to new ideal. Although Charlotte Adam admitted that "mo t
of u ar 'stu k' with the quarter in which we live," 21 many middle-
cla familie did have th opportunity to help de ign their future
home , or at lea t to choo e from a election of de ign . Federal home
finan ing in thi era changed to a great extent the relation hip that
middle- la women had with their home by i the control
o r the primary location of variou room. ''Thi is a good sign,"
wrote Hazel and Juliu Rockow in 1954. "(t enhance the likelihood
that women, no longer ontent with drab and home , will con-
tribute new and intere ting ideas."2t Women ou ld exert control over
their by choo ing the floor plan .
The open- pa e plan wa the combined re ult of technology and
ideology. ew method ofhou e fabrication made the open- pace plan
pos ible, eradi ating the need for beam .and upporting walls at mall
int rval . The Prairie hool of ar hite ture advo ated open pace in
the hom in th 1910 and 1920 , and the bungalow sty! of th early
u ed one larg room a a focu for the family activity in the
hou ehold. However, the e home u ually in luded enclosed dining
room in the floor plan. Open- pace advocate even challenged thi
formal dining 'pace in midcentury.2s The los of the dining room -
often a masculine pace reoriented the home toward the
feminine parlor, now called the family room. A hOll ing tart im-
proved beyond ar hitects' wilde t ex . the o-called ranch
hou e enjoyed it mo t popular period.
In the 1950 , the architectural trade magazine HOllse and Home
flaunted pi ture of new floorplan along with explanation of new
technique and building fabric . Ln 1953, House alld Home pre ented
the "most influential hou e" of the year. "Many of America' top build-
er '," laimed the article, "believe that this i the hou e the public will
pt." Thi that the public had a trong voice in the cre-
ation of thi home i in · . a it ugge t that American had
an idea which wa perhap different from th onventional wi dom
of architect of what compri ed a good hou e. Although the article
touched on a pect of roof con truction and new type of
176 [ The Opt1l-Space PLan ]
AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCll""atenaal
plywood, th main thruRt of th~ 9rticl~ concern dth ftoor plan.lt
th Roor plan that"p opl are waiting to buy."i"lt wa an op n-, pa
plan.
The open- pace plan ea ily re ognizable to read r of helter
magazine . In fact, women' magazine and dome tic advi or had an
important role in creating the market for the open- pace plan. Thi i
the "they have been reading about not only in Life but in other
magazine .... An open floor plan ... with excellent cir ulation and an
unu ual amount oflivability,Hnoted House and Hotne.9 5 Thi plan, then,
wa not imply a con eit of architect, but wa a project that American
women had been readjng about and wruting for. There wa a dir t
.P between the new hou e plan and the women' magazine.
The American mjddle-cla public wa ready for the open
plan. They loved the "Trade Secret" hou e of 1953 and jammed the
model hou e in citie acro the country, from Delaware, to Texa , to
Ohio, to Tenne ee. According to architect Thoma Ri ka of Phoenix,
Arizona, "The Trade ret Hou e ha attra ted the larg t ingle-
day crowd in the history of model home opening, and then, traffic
ha been heavy.Hi6 The Mar h issue of the magazine raved: "The Trade
e ret Hou e ha arou ed more enthu iasm in more than any
builder hou e ever erected. In every city where the hou e opened
to the public (15 0 far), record-breaking crowds poured through it.
Hug crowd, long line and traffic jam are now old tori ; 0 i the
almo t unanimou approval. Hi7
o what wa the mo t influential hou e of 1953? At the mo t ba i
level, the floor plan u uaJly dictated an aped living area with a
dining area at one end. The House and Home example in luded a large
living room with many option for u age. "A new kind of flexibility in
room planning ... will let diffi rent familie u e it in different v ay .
The rear of the living room has a study-bedroom on one' marked
off by a folding partition. On another side of the living room i the
dining room combined with an a tivitie room. On the third ide i a
paved terrace. AJl of thi large pace can be rated from the Ii ing
room or becom part of it. Another ection of th article named it a
H
••
"combined dining room and aJl-purpo e family room."t9 The noncom-

mittal attitude of the de cription almo t a carte blanche to u the
room in any of a number of different way made one- ize-fit -
all plan mor palatable to the middle cia . Ea h family ould, logeLIzn:
make deci ion about ho~ to each room.
The new hou embodied together One- tory with a hort
[ The Open- pace Plan ] 177
Alotelorsrecrte I k bescrer'TlClr-atenaal
flight up and a hort flight down, the hou be ame known a the
ranch, or plit-Ie el hou e. Famil' acrificed privacy and noi e re-
duction in favor of more room for family-oriented a tivitie . Instead
of concentrating on an expanded nursery 0 the children could play
together the open plan rea ted the expanded living/ a tivity/ dining
room 0 that the entire family could play, read, work, eat, and watch
televi ion together. In many suburban tract , the ho were built
onto a poured-concrete and had no t. Other fancier ub-
d' . . did include a eparate ba ement "re room." The hou e wa
built to be 'elf-consciou ly devoid of ervant or other help. By limit-
ing 10 ed-off to leeping room (often hared) and bath
the demanded togetherne . It wa the oncrete arena in which
family drama would be played out.
The plan empha ized the role of women in the home.
The kitchen moved to th front of the hou e, giving it more tature,
and the living room often opened up onto the back yard with a liding
door or picture windm . Both of the e innovation were de igned to
make child are ea ier for the woman in the home as he worked in id
and watched her hildren through a window. Both of the e innovation
al 0 gave the woman at home more re pon ibility and Ie s priva y.
Advi or often compared the op n- pace plan to the Colonial "keep-
ing rom." Thi one room hOllsed aJl family a tivities ex ept cooking.
Mary Davi Gillie wrote in her Popular Home Decoration of 1940,
" 0 elf; ctive were their design that we till opy the origination of
our forbear ."!lO Narci a hamberlain's manual claimed to illu trate

how modern women could "profit by what the pa t ha to offer."31 A
they had in the earlier part of the twentieth century, dome ti advi or
u ed " olonial Am rica" a a ymbol of high ideal . The open- pace
plan allowed them to reference their olonial ancestors who, similarly,
had liv d mo t of their live in one room.
Dome tic advi or criticized the Victorian ' u e ofhou ehold pa e.
nnette 1. Warner wrote in 1919, 'The large living-room of the
modern i an attempt to amalgamate into a ingle pace the
intere t formerly repre ented by eparate rooms, uch a re eption-
room, m . parlor, itting room and library." 3' The breakdown
of room differentiation 0 curred be ause of new idea about family
interaction, which continued throughout the twentieth entury. Hazel
and Juliu Ro kow noted in 1954, "The pa t two de ade have brought
a twofold development in modern ar hite ture. Large, many gabled
home have given way to compact, efficiently planned home . The de-
17 [ TILe Open- 'Pace Plan ]

crea e in the ize of dwelling ha led to a reduction in the number
~f imli igyi\.l r Oljl ) until today the twelve or fourteen room home i
comparati ely uncommon."~ Upper-middle-cia home of the nine-
teenth century had librarie, unrooms, porche, nur erie, ewing
room and a plethora of pantries and turrets. Separating activitie and
people through the di crete pace of eparate room was an idea that
had worked in previou era but that contradicted the new ideal of the
1950 . Advisor now focu ed on the trauma to the family cau by a
cramped series of room . Rayand arah Falkner, in their Inside Today'
Homes of 1954 noted that "the space enclo ed literally shape our live '
and wrote that in home with clo ed-in space, "family friction de-
velop [and] tensions find no release." They recommended "adequate,
efficient pace" a the antidote to mo t problem in family life.'" Advi-
or literally believed that the open pace would give familie the room
they needed to find happine s.
Dome tic advi or helped to displace the dining room from Ameri-
can domestic pace. A Elinor Hillyer wrote in her Mademoiselle's Home
Planning Scrapbook in 1946, "A dining-room is a hotly debated que -
tion nowadays to have or to have not." Her conclu ion was that the
dining room had been underu ed for decade and would not be a great
10 to the hou e. Because she wrote her manual for young women,
new and therefore new homemaker, he felt free to recom-
mend a fre h approach. "Frankly, it' no matter offashion; it's a matter
of traight economics, plus maller familie , lack of hou ehold help,
and changing living patterns.... The dining-room, occupied by the
average family at be t only three hour a day, was oon under fire ....
Many young people choo e to let the dining-room go for the
dine in one end of the Ii ing room, or in an alcove off the kitchen or
pantry." ss The dining room had been a tatement of formality in the
middle-clas home for over a century. Dining-room furniture, such a
table, matching chair, and sideboard , had been important feature
of the Eliminating the dining room from the home in favor
of the open-space plan was a major declaration of "changing living
pattern ,n a Hillyer under tood.
Advi or . waning for the dining room led them to advo-
cate the "dinette et." Furniture that wa mal1 enough to fit in the
maller area became popular along with the open- pace plan. How-
ever, Glady Beckett Jone criticized the dinette in 1946 becau e it
"lack the of extending the eating pace." Jone , in her
Manual oj Smart Housekeeping, realized that "the dinette or dining al-
[ The Open-Space Plait ] 179

•
-1iu warmfnimdly room abo"li~ does double dUly,· wrole Elb:abetlt Halsey
ofthis image. Phologmphs ofportablefurnitllre like this rolling cart helped domestic
advisors exploit/how to .wildt OTJer from morefamiliar housefioor plam willi separate
room iT/Lo Ihe open 1jJaclf plan f!fLII 1950s. (Ha L(ey, Ladie • Home JOtlrnal
Book oflnterior Decoration 1959. 141)
ove th arne purpo e a the onventional dining room," but

found thi ituation "regrettable." In her opinion, "a permanent din-
ing room promote the e tabli hment of good eating habits and table
manne rs" for hildr n, and lam nted its los. However, 0 that she
would not app ar to be too critical of a room rapidly from
ar hitect ' plan, he didugge t that the dining room "may be
for other purpose than dining." '11 H rre ommendation was not to get
rid of a separat di ning room, but to make that room a mu ltipurpose
, pa that would b u fu l to all member of the family a a tudy or
•
sewll1g r o m.
pen- pa pl an pro ided decorating hallengee. Ethel Da is
eal wro te in 19 19, "Th q ha ar' a to j u t how one hould
go about ombining the living and dining r oom without making a
hopele me of thing ."~ Early twentieth- entury ad vi or found
family life to be important but th omplete open-spa e pl an wa
not widely imple mented by archite t until the po twar era . In 1955,
hri t ine Holbro k turned to the ba m nt a a "ro m whi h all the
famil y can enjoy a room , hi.ch mig ht be called a . econd living
room.'" Holbrook recommended the use of "the ne tudio couches"
in th pace, and even "a compact )jttle kitchenette." S 8 Her ugge ti on ·
fo r the e ond living room nd re markably imilar to what advi-
I' would later r COnlm nd for the up tail'S op n pace. Holbrook had
t o C Tile Optm- Space Plan ]

Though the oPell~spacl! plall was ofltl1 pri:ted b domutic advisors, Lht limited prim')l
Imd 111.a11daUtdformality rJj the upstairs :pace rJjtttl tIICOumged mort cl'tlltivity ill the
ba ement. The growtll. rJjteen cu/tllre ill the 1940 (Illd 1950s (110 gave lIome decorator:
itl1j>iratiolll0 Ct'ttJUt a specioi roomfor ]OIIIIIJIII e'IUrlmmllt lll. Far awa 'frolll/Irt work~
related .tpactls of up tairs kitchell a/ld study. the ",.e room ' providedJamilies witll. a ellSI!
ofa WcatiOlI gelilwllY wifllillille cOT/jilles of/lUi Iloll~i!ltold. (HtlisI!Y. Ladie . Home
,
Journal Book of Interior Decorating [ /95'1-]. 25!4-)
begun a national movem nt to prioritize family pa e over all other

. consideration in the hou e, but becau e ar hite tural de ign
had not incorporated her con ept, she placed this room in the ba e-
ment.
often dis u sed ba ernent a] 0 called "r
rooms" or "rumpu room ," as important to family life. In the 1930
and 1940s, advi or creativ ly identified the ba ement a room large
enough for family activities. "In the ba ement i an illu tration of what •
can b done with a room not ordinarily u ed" wrote Dorothy Ral y
M
in 19S4. In her 1939 How to be Your O W ll Decorator Helen Kou ,a
writer for Good Housekeeping, celebrated th t. 'With ho an-
na . to the modern new automatic heating sy tems," he wrote in 1939,
"our cellar have new per onalities. San coaJ bin , and discarded
paraphernalia, we now have new pace, where we can let our elve go
in creating a room for recreation and games. We can make it primarily
a room for game with a big op n for ping pong tabl ,or put a
"hMffi RR'!fA A~~ign ~n ~h~ ft~~r· Qr, ~~ ~~ !~~~~ !~ ~ . ~~r!?~~~~!_ ~!?!?~
ft r lunging, fi r . rd g m 8 un tnt Li ing r m fI r th -hilll
C TIIr 0/1/,,,- ~ UCi flull ] 18 J

Koues recommended furniture "sturdy in con truction and genuinely
comfortable." She decorated her prototype ba ement playroom with
a ual furniture, and identified it a an "extra Ii ing room." Her great-
est . of the room that, in con to the re t of the 1930s'
home, it had "big open pace."·o
Gladys Beckett Jones identified "the modern playroom or rumpus
room" as a ' particularly desirable place" in 1946. However, she identi-
fied a major flaw in the use of this room to encourage family develop-
ment. "Little children do not like to be isolated from their elder ," she
wrote, "and they are happier playing in a ground-floor room."·) Al-
though in previou and future eras, or to a different sensibility, "isola-
tion" from the family would be preci ely the point of a eparated play-
room, the mid-twentieth-century advi or thought that the hou ehold
hould encourage family togetherness. When McCall's Decorating Book
di cus ed a place for children in a new home, they noted that "you will
want to include a ... play area.""'2 The of the word "area" indi-
cated that the children would be be t off in a part of a room that adults
al 0 u ed. The basement, ince it provided an isolated space, was not
a uitable room for the American family.
Ray and Sarah Falkner emphasized the family' need of the open-
space plan. They refused to treat the living room as "an isolated unit"
and instead emphasized "the group activiti s for which the room is
intended."·s The family needs must dictate, wrote the e advisor, the
fic decoration of the room. As the Falkner told their reader ,
"Group-living space i for everyone, and all should hare in it plan-
ning. Perhap the most common mistake is to regard the living room
a the woman' domain, po ibly with one corner fitted up for the
man of the hou e. It then become a 'nice room' planned primarily to
elicit admiration from women guest , Heartening family life does not
thrive under uch circu " For the Falkner, the rno t impor-
tant part of home decorating was the empha is on the family. "Plan-
ning for all i not ea y," they cautioned, "but i healthy fun:· ... These
advi or believed that their readers should decorate their homes with
the "togetherne s .. idea) of the family in mind. The home, in their view,
be . . to the entire family.
Many recommended pecific grouping of furniture to
make the room u eful for everyone in the family. Furniture grouping
received much attention in advice manual of the mid-twentieth cen-
tury becau e the living pace wa so large that it needed smaller cen-
[ The Opm-Space Pltm ]

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With MW hom~ownm bajJkd by Iurw to organiu rluir lives within atl opnz-spaa plt11l,
M1TIestic advisors tn'~d to 1Il1lk~ it ~asy. Providing graph papu and cuI-OUI furniture was
()11e way/or advisors to give their r~a~,s Sorlie cr~ativity within the restrictiollJ oJthe
jloo-r plan. Many 1IIllga:dnu and texts t/lCournged UIOmtn to uptrimtnt with furniture
artrmgemtnls, giving thtnl cluts and hillts about cOllwrsatio71 groupi7!KS and amwnitnt
arrnngetlumts, but ItOVlllg tlufillal chcisiollJ <;pell. (Halsey, Ladi s' H o m e Jo urnal
Book of Interior Decorating [1959], 102)
AL.teL.rc. ecrtelilk bescrer'TlCl fY atenaal

Fig. 8. Good balance and semi. privacy
are featured in room with alcove and
bay window.
Though only admitting to "semi privacy,M thisfloor plan suggested a. wayforfatnili.es

to aclliew some separation rif the Living room and the dini7lg room within the L-sllOped
Ope'll plall. New fUnlittm! stICh as the dill~tte set became popular as people no
Longer hlld room for ajitll-sized dining room fable.
( Woman's Home Companion Household Book, 56)
from rigid rules concerning the purpose of each room meant freedom
of choice and the freedom. perhaps more significantly. to change over
time. "The notion that a home is decorated only once to last for a life-
time," the Rockows remarked. "arose out of a psychological reflection
of earlier scarcity economie and is now outdated." 50 The freedom of
the fifties carried over into the home. freeing hou e designer from
outdated restrictions on their creativity.
Dual furniture had been controversial among domestic advisors be-
fore the 1950s. While folding gaming tables and other dual-purpose
[ The Gpe1l-Space PL.an ] 185

oJlvertiblejllmiturt, though a rtainly not Jl I!W il/ lhe 1950s, enjoytd a renaissance as
people s/raimd lo makt lbtir jioor pial! morejitxible. TIle da),brd gave people the ability
to lise Ihe fivil/g room all a daily basis will/out having t{J provide a special room jllSt jar
gut ts. (Halsey, Ladi . Home Journal Book of Interior 0 orating [ 1959], 43)
furniture enjoyed popularity in the eighteenth ntury, advi or f

the nineteenth century did not approve. "Let me urge you," wrote
Margaret ang t r in I 9 , "not to be deluded into the purcha e of a
foldtng-b d .... It i neither on thing nor the other, rna querading
in the daytime a a abinet or a bookca e in alum y way and fooling
n b dy:' " But the am furniture an b inAu n d by diffi re nt ide-
ologie over time. Be au ang ter, and other advi or in the I 90 ,
worried about th hone ty offurniture, they did not care for the qual i-
ti f duaJ-purpo furnitur that would become more important in
th early and mid-twentieth entury.
Dual- purpo e furniture b gan to be treated in advice manual with
a po itive regard in the 1930 and 1940 . The Ludwig Baumann furni-
ture company argu d a early a 1926, "It ha remained for the twen-
tieth entury to develop two-purpo furnitur in u h a variety and
o ex eUent in d ign that a living room may be convert d in a
twinkling in to a ompletely appointed dining room or leeping room."
Although Baumann wa elling it " mart 0 ca ional piece " to a pub-
Ii not y t with op n- pa e plan advi or had already begun
to ee the advantage of multipurpo e furnitur. tudio cou he 0
nam d becau th y ould a pace in a one-r om apartment by be-
oming alt rnately a bed and a cou h, enjoyed unpr eden ted popu-
larity during th ra of th open- pace plan.
Dome ti ad vi or illu trated the conne tion b tween the home and
the outdoor, an important new fronti r. House and Home claimed that
1 6 [ The Opm- 'Pace Plan ]
Al tel r cencll k beser r'llC1 r- 3tenaal

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The popular ·coIIITTumd-post kitchtn.~ touid by and Hom magaz ine in 1953,
provided a tOO for a parmi to watch "~r childrm and cook at '''~ same time. TIUI
command po t provided morejlaibifity but also more responsibility. In this photograph,
bar tools at the kitchell COWlltr allowed both infonnal dining :paa and al 0 a way for
children alUl guests to keep the cook comPtlJly dun'ng meal preparation. (Halsey, Ladie .
Home JournaJ Book of Interior corating [/959]. 195)
ollth, wh r t ar till availabl ) and the id a of being part of

th hou ehold" hile preparing meal .~ 67 Women who planned to ook
th ir own m al want d to feel part of the a tion, but tho with hired
h lp wanted to be ure th ervant wer not part of the family' buiJt-
in "togeth r ..
dvi or and magazin ditor tri d to make th op n kit h n pal-
atable to women. Model and magazine peru ing helped ar hi-
t t figur out what would plea e "th a erage hou witi... in he
i th one who a t th ing vote wh n the family buy." In 1953,
H ouse and H ome determin d that thi typi aI woman "want control of
the hou . h want a ommand po t, not a foxhole. . .. 0, h take
naturally to a weIJ-planned 'open' kit hen." 68 army term, u d
here during th Korean War when many would-be homeowners
over ea in fo hole ill u trate the "hom front" attitude of merican
I
at thi tim . In order to fight the old war and in order to build on en-
u during a onfu ing time women had to be part of the war effort.
The ofth kit hen into a ommand po t placed women
in harge of th on of demo ra y at hom .69
[ The Opm- :paa Plait ]
Al tel r cenc'l k beser r'llC1 r" 3tenaal

Adv: or
lcitch n.
U i n a appli d to kitchen should b taken in mall des,"
wrote Mary Davi Gillie in 1940, "and then only when well r-
coated."60 In the mid-twentieth entury, ad i or tried to make th
kitchen into a family pace rather than a laboratory. They look d to
way to add, a the Woman's Home Companion Household Book ug-
ge ted in 194 , "a livable note to the kitchen." 61 Bringing the family
into the home meant, in many ca e , taking the cienti tout
Ad elebrated the r turn of the family kitchen. Glady B ckett
Jone deemed the new kitchen "the ocialized kitchen" in 1946. he cri-
tiqued the work of efficiency expert who, ince the turn of the ntury,
had recommended the "'uninterrupted working ... [in] effi-
ient compact kitchens." expert, he cautioned, may ha e pro-
vided a clean work pace, but they forgot the importance of the family
in their zeal. "Certain human value have been overlooked," pro-
claimed. "The kitchen hould have been planned to meet family need ."
Her for the 0 ialized kitchen re ommended that
"the dining room and kitchen can be converted into one large kit hen-
dining unit for family u e a a work and playroom." She not d
that making the kitchen a ce ible to other room of the hou e would
n611
en ure that "the famjly group b held together. Jone , and other ad-
vi or, trongly believed that the very nature of the kitchen
emph . the famBy life within the hou e.
Advi or believed that the open kitchen would have dire t impli a-
tion for the tatu of women in ociety. "'Today' hou ewife," claimed
the archite tural editor of HOllse and Home gleefully, "i once again
the center of the family life, no longer in olitary onfinement." Thi
article did not re om mend moving women out of the kitchen but
moving the kitchen it elf. Thi rhetoric did not change the tatu of
women; it instead changed their proximity to the re t of the family. It
u ed "togethernes "a a tool to convince the Am rican woman that
thi kitchen would help her "get companion hip from the re t of her
family." 0' imilarly, a 1955 McCall's article on prefabricated hou e
laimed that the model with a giant "25-foot kitch n-a tivity
n ll
room" in fact" .ze family life. •
Ad· argu d that women worked out ide the home only to im-
prove their family life. Look magazine claimed that worn n worked
'1e toward a 'big career' than a a way of ... buying a new home
freezer." M A Elizabeth e ny Herbert wrote in an article about
freezer in 1954, "Thi i the kind of freezer that could change your
[ The Opm- pau Pion J 1 9

.~ -
't' . -'<
PLAIJ
Deep ftuurs showed up roerywhere in the 1950s and 1960sJrom adverti emmts in
Good to kitchenjioor plans in dome tic-advice manuals. The ideal rifthe
well-kept family who would always have enollgh food appealed to mall)' home eamomists
and home decorotors. In thisjioor plall for all ideal kitchen, lhe deep freezerfound a place
i ll what many co"sidert!d to be the most importallt room. (Koues, American Woman'
ew Encyclop dia of Home Decorating, 522)
whole life."66 The freezer wa an icon of freedom and pi nty. Ad ver-

ti ed ince antly in women' magazine, the home freezer re
the American home and er ed a a d fen e again t the trouble in
the out ide world . ig nifi cantly, the freezer delineated the American
woman an important part of that defen e. A " oman working for a
fr eezer wa a woman who upported her family.
Adverti er tried to represent the freezer a an applian e that could
tr ngthen family bond . Vance Pa kard ommen ted in hi The Hid-
den Per. uader. in 1957 that freezer represented "the a urance that
there i alway food in the hou e; [ inceJ food in the house repre-
ent ecurity, warmth and afety." G7 The new, larger, colder freezer
190 [ T he Open- pace Plan ]
AL.teL.r_ ecrtelilk bescrer'llCl r-atenaal

theoretically freed up much of the week for other
giving her more time to pend on the many level of for
h@f HlmUy. WomHn could sustain family lif~ by birthday cake
for th whol year at on e and then revealing them one by one th
warranted.s
Advi or u ed the freezer a a ymbol of the trength of the Ameri-
can family. While it might eem farfetched to the home freezer a
a major icon of American life, the 1959 Ukitchen in Mo 0\
highlight the international scope of the connection between hou e-
hold appliance and national pride. Vice Pre ident Richard Nixon trav-
eled to Mo cow in July of that year to meet with Nikita Khru hchev.
The two troUed through an exhibit of American technology and
pro eeded to have a di cu ion about the relati e merits of commu-
ni m and democracy.59 Perhap not urpri ingly, given th
fo u of the era, the di cu ion centered on wa hing m and effi-
cient kitchen of on bomb and other nuclear weaponry.70
In Nixon's way of thinking, the global political po ition of the
United State had everything to do with the American dedication to
the family. He the home to be not onJy a again t
but al 0 America' be t irtue. Although ixon did not
refer to and probably had little direct knowledge of the women'
magazine and manual that upported h rhetoric, he had uccinct]y
outlined the dome tic policy of the cold war that had already been the
ubject of hundred of article by dome tic advi or .
In the po twar era, dome tic advi or put their own po itive on
togetherne . Their en helped mute the . that both men
and women felt brewing within the dome tic phere. Dome tic ad vi-
or from magazine editor to decorator, privileged the home above
all in American ociety. The open- pace plan provided advi or
with a concrete emblem of their work. Outwardly portraying dome -
ticity an an wer to commun m and to other international threat,
the advi ors turned inward to the home and enveloped both men and
women in their plan . That there were crack in thi ideal would be-
come more apparent the de ade wore on.71
Some advi or began to expre their di ontent with the open-
pa e plan. Lo s of an attic, a well as of other formerly ba ic private
pace, were point of concern. The attic had been the ubject of many
dome tic-advice treatments in the earlier part of the twentieth cen-
[ The Open- :pace Plall ] 19 1
AL Ie r reet' IJk be set' rmc! IT'al fIaill

tury. Mary Northend' "Making the Attic Livable" appeared in House
and Garden in 1919 and claimed that "additional i an ab olute
n and could be found in the attic. he ugge ted many u e
for the room, from a retreat for the father of the family, "giving him a
den or tudy where he can be quiet and can fu around with hi hob-
bie ,n to "additional room for gue t ." The attic could provide a pIa e
for anybody to "be completely i olated from the family life." 7!1 Becau
of the empha i on family life in the mid-twentieth century, the attic
had been abandoned and any privacy it offered di dained. However,
advi or did under tand that thi 10 could be e erely felt.
'Whatever happened to the attic?" que tioned Good HousekeepilLg
in 1955. 'Where do you go when you're moody or mad? The fine ar-
chite tural line of the open-plan contemporary hou e, which ha no
nook or rannie to catch du t and po e ion and no dangerou
tair to trip up the unwary in the dark, couldn' t be more practical or
beautiful. But the modern hou e i 0 unmy teriou , 0 open and above
board'" That there wa nowhere to put "the Chr tree ornament
between Chri tma tree ... the letter that hould have been thrown
away, the cap and gown, the wedding dre . the ballet tutu, the fenc-
ing foil" eemed to be a olvable challenge. But Good Housekeeping
wa quite circum pect on the que tion of the need for a per onal re-
t . "Now we live in un om' hou e that presuppo e lifo to
be uncomplicated," the editor wrote, but they noted that '1ife ha not
changed much." There are till complication ; people till get "moody
and mad," and they" imply don' t know where to go." 's The article
ended there, but readerurely got the en e that there would be more
que tioning to follow.
In 195 ,Look magazine pointed out that the open plan produ ed a
real lack of priva y, e pecially for women. In the weekly "For Women
Only" ection, the editor que tioned whether women could find oli-
tude in their own home. "To ome, the American bathroom ha be-
orne a anctuary for the p yche." tate of affair in which the only
refuge i the bathroom was ertainly cau e for concern. But even thi
mall hideaway wa no good. A Look pointed out, "In big familie . . .
[ the] bathroom inevitably re emble a three-ring circu more than
it doe a retreat." '· The arti Ie ugge ted, rather than an abandon-
ment of the open plan, a y tern of "room divider" for privacy. But the
magazine did identify the problem.
Betty Friedan' The Feminine Mystique of 1963 provided a trong
192 [ The Opell- pace Plall ]
Al.tCl.r _ ccrtel1lk bcscrcr'TlClI" atenaal

critique of the open- pace plan. She blamed the open-
pace plan for the problem of women in the mid-twentieth century.7S
Friedan began by interviewing the staff at McCall's, who were cred-
ited with starting it all in 1954. "Suddenly, everybody wa looking for
thi ignificance in expecting u to make orne
my teriou religiou movement out of the life everyone had been lead-
ing for the last five year crawling into the home, turning their backs
on the world," a former editor remembered. "But we never could find
a way of showing it that wa n't a mon tro ity of duUne ."76 Even the
very creators of togethernes found it a difficult doctrine to defend.
They realized that if men took over the women' and women
till faced limited career opportunities, there was nothing left for them
to do. The architecture offamily life did not permit any .cal pace
for women to have any exi tence from the family.
Friedan took on the open- pace plan. She del ed deeper into the
problem of the bored, li tle hou ewife, labeling the open- pa e plan
a one cultural ulprit in thi ocietal devaluation of women' lives.
Take, for in tance, the open plan of the contemporary "ranch" or

pHt-level hou e ... which has been built in the millions from Ro Iyn
Heights to the Pacific They give the illu' of more
pace for les money. But the women to whom they are old almo t
have to live the feminine my tique. There are no true wall or door ;
the woman in the beautiful electronic kitchen i never epa rated
from her children. She need never feel alone for a minute, need never
be by her elf. She can forget her own identity in the e noi y open-
plan hou The open plan al 0 help expand the hou ework to fill
the time available. In what is ba ically one free-flowing room, in-
tead of many room eparated by wall and tair ,continual
continually need picking up. A man, of cour e, leave the house for
mo t of the day. But the feminine mystique forbid the woman thi .
The open- pace plan, touted for year by dome tic advi or , wa ex-
po ed by B tty Friedan a a trap rather than a celebration of family
life.
Friedan conne ted women' live directly with their dome tic ar-
chitecture. She wrote about a woman he met who had indicated a
to be a writer. "But when I saw [ her] hou .. Friedan continued,
"I wondered where. .. he would put a typewriter." Friedan noted that
mo t of the women he poke to remained in their suburban home .
[ The Open- :pace Plal! ] 193

When they realized that their live needed to change, "thi moment
of per onal truth wa '" likely to be marked by adding a room with a
door to their open-plan house." 77
According to Friedan, the architecture of women's live failed them
in the uburb of the 1950 . The much-touted embrace of the family
had removed an a pect of privacy from women' live. The open- pace
plan followed directly the mandate et out by dome tic advi or , by
magazine editor, columni t ,interior decorator, and pro-
fe ional architect . Expert both women and men, had praised the
new ftoorplan . Friedan' was a pecific critique on decades of domestic
fan Although blamed the phenomenon on men and the male-
dominated magazine of the 1950 , dome tic fanta y had been
pur ued by women for over a century and a half.
Dome tic advice in the mid-twentieth century both created and
perpetuated the fanta y oftoge Advi or in thi era continued
their wide cultural appeal to middle-cla American women. The ex-
po ure of the of the open- pace plan cau ed advi ors in later
decade to develop new idea . The plan per hap suffered
in the mind of orne women. But ignificantly, women did not reject
the importance of dome tic advice. For over a century, women have
recognized that dome tic advice i for the most part fantasy, imagina-
tion, and The ba e reality of life ha not interrupted the flow of
dome tic fanta y in America. Dome tic advi or celebrated the many
live of women by continually reinventing them.
194 [ The Optn- face Pion ]

,
This is not a story that ends in the 1950s. At the turn of the twenty-
first century, dome tic advice remains front and center in American
culture. At any book tore today, dozens of works on subject such as
entertaining, and interior decorating fill the helve.
Stories about the home are everywhere. ervants, a problem
for nineteenth-century domestic advisors, continue to rile the public,
as female candidates for federal Cabinet positions must withdraw due
to implications of hiring household help illegally. Massive stores uch
as Home Depot encourage both men and women to engage in a con-
stant state of home improvement. Threat of germs continue to plague
homes as Americans search for special sponges and mops that claim to
eradicate these invisible pest. Shopping for the home ha gone beyond
what A. A. Vantines offered in early twentieth-century New York to
include exotic dishware at Pier 1 or pseudocolonial apothecary che ts
at Pottery Barn. People still strive to bring other culture into their
homes; the Turkish cozy corner or ubiquitous Navajo rug in turn-of-
the-century middle- class homes have often been replaced by Kenyan
salad tong , Shaker basket, or Colonial sleigh beds sold at Crate and
Barrel.
Domestic advisors of the turn of the twentieth century carryon a
long tradition of women writing about the home. They picked up cer-
tain aspects of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century advice manu-
als and updated and expanded them into complete volume . Lydia
Maria Child' idea for a budget decorating book, The Arnerican Fru-
gal Housewife, has been updated in many different form , from Emilie
Barnes' Beautiful Home on a Budget (1998) to Lauri Ward' Use What
You Have Decorating manual (1999). Just as early nineteenth-century
advisors told their readers to refrain from having a show parlor, mod-
ern decorators admire sincerity in domestic arrangements. Lifetime
Television's Katie Brown claims to offer "affordable advice" in her
book Katie Braum Entertains. Books such a Marion Talbot and Ellen
Richard's Home Sanitation have new ver ions that take up the early
home economists' call for strict attention to clean, healthy homes. The

per pective" to beach partie and Valentine's Day dinner. "Being a
model i about " fiith once noted, "and 0 i entertaining.'"
B. mith' eaoerly awaited 1999 Rituals and Celebrations divided the
year into twelve pedal ritual. The celebration included partie for
Chri tma and Kwanzaa, a well a a Juneteenth celebration and a
cial ritual for a young girl' rite of pa age to adulthood. B. mith ex-
pand the ways that domesticity can new approache to
time-honored tradition . Her book fills a new market niche, but whi le
mith "think the book ha particular appeal to African American ."
he al 0 believe "there' omething in it for everyone." s Smith bring
national' ue that are important to her, uch a a ceptan e and en-
th a m for African American culture, into the home. The ucce of
her re taurant and of her books on entertaining attest to the
of the e subject.
Cheryl Mendel on, author of the 1999 tome Home Coniforts: The Art
and Science ifKeeping House, deliver meticulous in truction on hou e-
keeping Mendel on em her dual roots in the introduc-
tion, noting that her Appalachian grandmother and her Italian grand-
mother had different role to play in her dome tic education. Her book
carefully de cribe rule such a how long certain food can remain
fresh i.n the cupboard and how often bed heet hould be wa hed. he
recommends leaning out the freezer every week when i.n fact mo t
families are lucky if they get to it on e a year. he offered her book a
an encyclopedia of ort , noting that in the pa t, mother pa ed the e
thing on to their daughters but that many people today live in total
ignorance of the basi of hom maintenan e. Her be teller erved a
a reference tool in a imilar way to nineteenth-century tra t uch a
the Domestic Cyclo-pedia, which attempted to an wer every que tion and
to predict every need of the homemaker even if today' homemaker
i perceived as a part-timer.
Martha tewart, the most prolifi and ucce ful of the modern
dome tic ·advi ors, i chairman and chief executive officer of Martha
Stewart Living Omnimedia. he ha captured the public' imagina-
tion and a hie ed new heights i.n th proliferation of dome tic ad-
vice. In her fir t letter to stockholder of her newly publi company
in 1999, Stewart wrote: "I et out to create a company that would
provide impeccable content, a iduou Iy created, and useful product,
re pon ibly de igned and manufactur d for the wide t po ible audi-
ence in order to enliven, enhan e, and better everyday living:'· Martha
[ Conclusioll ] 197

1990 and in September 1997, he tarted production of a .
how of the arne name. pe ial dition of her magazine, ti r dding,
babies, and holiday , appear annually. he al 0 appear regularly on
th cable T Food Network and on variou morning talk how. Her
radio and new paper appearances called U Martha" are yndicated
in region across the country. he market product for the home in
everal way, from her Martha Stewart Everyday line at Kmart to her
Martha by Mail project kit and luxury item .
In 1997 Stewart left Time-Warner and began her own corporation,
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The company' 1999 annual re-
port noted revenues Of$145 million in the ng department, 1
mUlion from ,and 20 million from merch From
the high-end catalogue and internet ale, the company increa ed it
6
revenue dramatically to 36 million in 1999. The e are number that
most domestic advi or in hi tory could not have imagined. Though
ha alway been popular, Martha Stewart h . al 0 made
it profitable. Altogether, he i perhaps the mo t famou female brand
name in the American con umer world, and she continue to expand
her holding and project .
Martha tewart mo t of the i ue that dome ti ad i-
or of the pa t found important. In an article about the decorative u e
of household flag in the July/ Augu t 1999 . of Martha lewart
Living(MsL), the magazine celebrated both patrioti m and hi torically-
decorating. "Magnificent both in what it tand for and in how
it looks," read the article, "the flag is ynonymous with the ideal on
which thi ountry wa founded." The article went on to
the hi toric links of the practi e ofu ing flag by noting that "Martha's
Federal-style in Westport, Connecticut, wa built around 1805.
Here, the placement of a ingle contemporary ... flag at each win-
dow befits the ymmetry and dignity of a federal hou e."7 Victorian-
era ad vi or had link in their works to emblem of religion or
patriotism.
In the late nineteenth century, home economi t addre ed the way
that air and water entered and left the home, and one hundred year
later, Martha Stewart addre e the same subject. "A hou e' plumbing
y tern ha three related networks of pipe ," the magazine ex
echoing generation of home advi or before it, "The fir t, the water-
upply network, bring water into the hou e and di tribute it
to the fixture . The a drain and wa te network, remo e
water and wa teo The third, a venting network, provide air to the
[ onclusion ] 199

sy tem." a This explanation, and others that acquaint reader with the
inner-workings of their home, echoes the text that brought male-
dominated information systems to women.
A 1997 article brought readers to the familiar world of American
antiques, ju t as Mary Northend had done for her early twentieth-
century reader . "Nothing connect to the table and tradition of
colonial merica," according to Martha Stewart, "quite like the warm
satiny tou h of this lustrou . metal. Hi tory and pewter are a in epa-
rable as the metals that make the alloy.... Everybody ate and drank
from pewter."9 And MSL also brings readers to Lillian Gilbreth's and
Christine Frederick's mor modern idea for the efficiency kitchen.
The ideal kitchen, declared M L in 1995, would hine in the area of
"utility, durability, and good, clean looks." Thi kitchen was "rational-
ized by experience to the implest line , greatest ea e of u e, highe t
afety and lowe t maintenance. Laboratory tables are avail-
able in standing or itting heights." 10
Modern de ign, important to dome tic advisor such as Dorothy
Raley, al 0 finds its place in MSL . While Raley wrote about the dawn
of the machine age in 1984, Martha tewart de cribe metal furniture
more than dec.ade later. "1 love the imple and pure lines ofthe fur-
niture," write Stewart. "Thi furniture is perfectly to meet the
needs of the modern home. Anonymous a it is, this mas -produced
furniture i carefully, sen ibly, and thoughtfully made. A piece that
catches your eye can be made to look perfectly at home anywhere." II
Manuals as the Wcmul1l's Home Companion Household Book of 1948
celebrated the creative of olor. Stewart introduced her line of
Everyday Colors at Kmart in 1997 and noted that "it will be accompa-
nied by a series of color menu with u complements for all 256
paints in the collection." The editor of Martha Stewart Living learned
from advisor before them and continue the teaching that "color can
still be used to give each room a cUstinct character.. .. When alJ color
harmonize, a hou e will be a joy to behold." 12
tewart include a column called "Remembering" in each i ue
of her monthly magazine. Using nostalgic references to her home-
town of Nutley, New Jer ey, or to her early years at "Turkey Hill"
in Connecticut, he' evokes an era or a historical moment when
felt at peace because of certain domestic ideal . Whether a remem-
bered recipe, a family anecdote, or a household project, these inci-
dents remind readers of their ultimate goal, to find domestic harmony
through creativity and ingenuity. When Martha Stewart remember
200 [ Conclu.sioll ]

,
her real or imagined, it give reader a point of refer en e. Martha

Stewart' "Remembering" column are affecting becau e they are a
link to the past. Just like the domcs li ad isors berore h e r, sh d:s u s
patrioti m and religion, cien e and order color, antiqu ,and oth r
culture . She fo u e on furniture and wall paper, on kitchen effi iency
and bedroom decoration. In fact, her entire repertoire i thi type of
link, looking backward to 0 er a century of women writing about the
home.
But he i al 0 a link to the future. When Martha Bruere admon-
i hed her reader in 1912 to ''follow the pinning wheel into th world,"
he could never have imagined what it wou ld mean to ho t an empire
of dome ticity. The image of tewart toasting her initial public offer-
ing (IPO) at the New York to k Exchange with fr h- qu ezed orange
jui e and homemade brioche aught 0 many people' attention -
cifically of the per ei ed cia h between the publi of
to k trading and the private phere of the home. tewaIt'
and, indeed, the ucce of the vast numbers of book and video on
home entertaining, cooking and d corating compel both ph re
becau it hark to the pa t, a world of moral parlor, unholy cozy or-
ner , and ba ement rec room , and because it bring dome ticity out
of the home and into the world.
One year I watched Martha tewart on TV making her own wrap -

ping paper from old, brown paper bag and gold pray paint. Poor
Martha, what a me ! he went to 0 much trouble, too: utting
the bag , praying urli ue de ign , waiting for the paint to dry. It
took quite a long tim and then when he wrapped h r gift . th y
looked 0 homely!
I ould have told h r that a jumbo roll of wrap was on ale at
o ean tate Job Lot for only 1.00 but ho wa I to her
Chri tmas? '"
Thi letter, written tn response to the Providence Journal-Bulletin'

appeal to read r on th occa ion of Martha tewart' " t to the
Rhode I land Flower and Garden Show in 1996, expre e what many
feel i Stewart' ex e ive ob ion with dO-it-your elf homemaking.
Why would any rational per on who could buy wrapping paper for one
dollar attempt to make it her elf? Why would any woman who under-
tand that she ha opportu .. out ide the home give more than a
[ ollcillSioll ] 20 1

moment' thought to etting the table, making the bed, or painting
pale blue moon on the bedroom wall?
tewart' project, in fa t bring fantasy to a level that
many con ider ab urd. Who could po ibly have time to make the
complicated acorn lavender potpourri bag, or ravioli from
cratch? With recipes for cracker and bread tick, and with in truc-
tion for wine-bottle-cork bulletin board and bottle
oap Martha tewart bring dome ticity to a new level of
mplicat d raft that even her nineteenth-century counterparts did
not imagine. To many contemporary the Martha tewart
phenomenon is a tually wor ethan ab urd. In it creation of an un-
attainable ideal, it et women up for failure.
Many women hare the entiment of parodie uch "I Martha
tewart Living?" and "Martha Stewart' Better Than You at Enter-
taining." Stewart' recipe are too complex, they ay, her homemaking
too Did anybody really make candle out of
coral-toned melted paraffin and quahog hell or dye toile in hibi . u -
flower tea to achieve a perfect pink hue" with which to re-
uphol ter a ide hair? 1+ A recent· of the atirical new paper The
Onion parodi d a woman who performed tediou hou ehold chore a
if they were craft. She made her own oap, but thi wa not the only
'·arduous 19th-century chore" he did in h r pare time. "There' noth-
ing more rable than pending a lazy Sunday afternoon hurn-
ing butter," she enthu ed. The article noted that . woman' "love of
grueling chore in pired" by Martha tewart.1.5
Indeed, Martha tewart' ucce in post-1970s America i mind-
boggling to many ob erver . To her critic and there are plenty-
her a en ion to popular acclaim y does not eem possible. In the
de ade in Betty Friedan que tioned the feminine my tique and the
plan in 1963, many individual have joined in her call to
liberate women from the hou ehold. Movement to help women find
opportuniti outside the home have ranged from for day-
care and flexible work chedule to the 1990 "Take Our Daughter to
Work," an annual day of program geared to introducing career po -
to new generations of girl. In the 1970, aying as "A
woman' pIa i in the hou e ... and in the enate" brought attention
to the changing role ofwom n in American ociety sp cifically by em-
pha izing th fact that women were no longer . ted olely with
hom making. Magazine· like Ms. introduced a generation of women to
n w idea. The women' liberation movement, often referred to a the
202 [ Conclusion ]

large t ocial movement in the hi tory of the United tate, ha radi-
cally changed both opportunitie and realities for American women!6
To be a femini t and a subscriber to Martha tewart Living, then,
can be a complicated propo ition. On feel the n d to qualify th
interest in domesticity with a twist on the Playboy reader's insi tence
that he only buy the magazine for the "I only buy Martha
•
Stewart Living for the picture ,.. one could ay, or for the recipe , or
for the gardening tip . Dome ticity has become almo t a dirty plea-
sure, an intere t for which one apologize in public etting. To
many, Martha Stewart Living eem to bring women back into
kind of 1950s suburban nightmare. Even if, as the editor claims, "you'll
never find article in the magazine about getting a man, dieting, or fix-
ing your hair," 17 you will find articles about how to load a .
and how to cut heart- haped crouton for Valentine' Day. tewart'
enterpri e of hyperdomesticity i a cary to orne a it i comforting
to others.
A Stewart gained popularity among American women, her critic
got louder. Martha Stewart became a as ociated with old-fa hioned
. drudgery a Typhoid Mary i with contagiou' A
1995 article in New York magazine noted that tewart "embodie a di-
•
rect threat to three decades of received id about motherhood, wife-
hood, home, career.... Martha Stewart has become an icon largely
by a vision of old-school female control." lOne of
Stewart' har he t critic , Jerry Oppenheimer, hammered her in hi
unauthorized biography for being" har h, and conniving.
He found fault with her gic re-creation of her marriage and
family life and took offen e when he wrote about the e ubject in her
magazine becau e she was divorced and, he claimed, e tranged from
many family members.19 Spy magazine' Greg Easley claimed he would
uncover "the real Martha Stewart a cruel, chronic
delegator."2o Daryl Roy ter Alexander of the New York Times called
Stewart "the late t guru on the labor-intensive life tyle," !l noting
that her direction "pale next to" tho e for eighteenth-century cook-
book, but invoke the arne type of hou ework-a -drudgery image.
Journali t often earch for a historical pre edent to make their point
that Stewart' work revives an old second-class tandard for women.
Christopher Caldwell, for instance, wrote in the Weekly Standard in
1996 that "Stewart is a latter-day Emily Post than an upmarket
Heloi e." 22
The New York Times' Patricia Leigh Brown called Stewart "a
[ ConcLu.sion ] 20S

latter-day Mr . Beeton in Armani,"u and in January 1996 the Lon-
don Times echoed this nomenclature by designating her "the guru of
graceful living, aftn de siecle Mrs. Beeton."2+ . advi or I abella
Beeton wrote elite advice for women in the early nineteenth cen-
tury, and thi comparison make a statement about Stewart' class
pretension . Many commentator have noted the similarity between
the backgrounds of Ralph Lauren (born Lifshitz) and Martha Stewart
(born 1'0 tyra) as children of immigrant who set a tandard for mod-
ern Americans that is ultimately ba ed in the value of Engli h gen-
try.26 Stewart i often een a omehow illegitimately her mar-
ried name to blend in with WASP culture, though in more recent year
he ha her Polish root by, for example, inviting her
mother onto her television show to make Pierogi.
Article about Martha Stewart proliferated in many different ne\ s-
paper and journals throughout the 1990s. Headline uch a the New
Republic' "Money, Time, and the Surrender of American Ta te: Le
Tre Riches Heure de Martha Stewart" (1996) addre ed her role in
the production of cia eliti m!6 Her rise to corporate ucce s wa
chronicled in Business Week's UMartha Inc.: Inside the Growing Em-
pire of America' Life tyle Queen" (2000), and a 199 New York Times
article a ked, "Is Martha Stewart a colonialist tool? An American
populist? Or is she merely a flyspeck on the damask tablecloth of his-
tory?"21 Martha Stewart ha been a feature of article in media out-
let ranging from the erudite New Yorker to the omewhat more hip
Providence Phoenix, in which Beth Wolfensberger pre ented "ten help-
ful hint for anyone who isn't quite loving her yet."t8 Wolfensberger'
humorou article noted that "the natural human impulse" in .
to Stewart's projects is to "freak out" and "then to feel that a) you are
a faulty, di organized creature, or b) that Martha is insane."t9
The 199 annual meeting of the Modern Language A oeiation
( 4LA) and the 1999 annual meeting of the American Studies
ciation (ASA) brought critiques of Martha Stewart into the scholarly
realm. A propo al for a pecial session on Stewart at the MLA que -
tioned how her " ork, "produced by the ulture of late capitali m,"
erves to "construct notions of whiteness and middle-class hetero-
exual identity." These cholars attacked her "aggressive hetero exual
performance" as a repre entation of nostalgia."~o In other
they wondered whether Martha Stewart's concentration on
middle-class married women's homemaking skill was working to
204 [ Conclusion J

bring women back in time to an era of fewer opportunitie . Stewart,
insisted many, was part of a national backlash against women' right.
Indeed. hi t I'i at\ "av~ join d riti in inato
the history of women from the history of domesticity. While early
works such as Nancy Cott's 1977 The Bonds oj Womanlwod discussed
the role of nineteenth-century women in the home, women' hi tory
scholarship soon moved away from the home toward the hospital, the
factory, the saloon, and the department store. In their work, histori-
ans have searched for places where they could see the {;onnection be-
tween women and the home being broken. "While we can learn much
about individuals from the hou es in which they lived," wrote public
historian Page Putnam Miller in 1992, more effort should be spent re-
searching and interpreting "sites that were workplaces and meeting
places."" The editors of Writing the Range: Roa, Class, and Culture inlhe
Womm's West noted in their introduction that when women's histori-
ans first began writing histories in the 1970s and 1980s, they explored
the important areas of "domestic work and childbearing." However,
the editors remained hopeful that "a more women become
they will discover "new areas ofre earch and new ways to think about
gender and history." !!! Many found the association between women
and the home to have been problematic in American history because of
the traditional value placed on the marketplace over what transpired
in the home. "Why are we still talking about domesticity?" complained
one women's history scholar to me as I told her the topic of my re-
earch. "Let's move on."
This book is my answer to that question. It has addressed domes-
tic writing as a way of seeing and understanding American culture.
The hundreds of domestic-advice manuals spanning over 150 years
of history that I read during the course of my re earch convinced me
beyond a reasonable doubt that these books and their authors were
connected with the most important cultural dialogues of their day. Do-
mesticity give these writer a way to interact with and to help con-
struct national ideologies. Catharine Beecher used the home as the
base for education in a wide range of subjects, from ventilation to reli-
gion. Chemist Ellen Richards developed a women's laboratory at MIT
and brought her teachings into the home, and social activists Mabel
Hyde Kittredge and Florence Ne bit attacked what they awa the de-
grading combination of poverty and ignorance of domestic life. Home
economists such as Helen Campbell and Marion Talbot believed that
[ Cone/usion ] 205
AL.teL.rc ecrtelilk bescrer'llClI" atenaal

7. Helen Jack on, Bits of Talk about Home Matters.
.ummins, The Lan~plig"ter, 401.
9. Harland, Common etlSe in the Household, J.
10. See Rowson, Charlotte Temple (1794), Cummins, Tlu Lam.plighter (I 54),
and many other women' novel of thi period. u anna Rowson noted in her
"author' preface" that the book wa written "to your own children ... [ and]
the many daughters ofMi fortune who, deprived of natural friends, or spoilt by
a mistaken education, are thrown on an unfeeling world." At the end of chap-
ter I , ummin noted to her readers that the heroine in trouble. "Poor little,
untaught, benighted oul! Who hall enlighten thee?" The e entreaties to the
reader were common in entimental and al 0 in advice in the
nineteenth century.
I J. Harland, UJmmon SetlSe in the Holtsehold, v.
12. For more on Amelia immon' cookbook, see Nylander, Our Own
Fi7"tside, 212.
IS. Child, l1ut Americatl Frugal Housewife, 8S-84.
14. Eunice Beecher, AU aroulld th.e House, 7.
15. Ibid., 5.
16. Catharine Beecher and Stowe, The A7Iurican Woman's Honu, IS.
17. American Female Poets, S59.
18. Elizabeth Ellet, elected bibliography: Euphemio of Messina; A Tragedy,
Trallslaledfromtheltalian(1 S4); POeltlS, Translated alld Original (1 55); The Queen
ofAmerican Society ( I 70); Smmmr Rambks in tile " "est: anvtiveqfa Trip ill 1852
thmugh Midtiga1l, Illinois and Mimlesota (1 5S); The WOllUII in tlu AlIurican Revo-
lutioll; WOf/UI/. Artists in All Ages and Countries (1859).
19. These journals included Home Circle (Philadelphia), Home Monthly
(Bo ton), HOllrs at Home ( ew York), Household Journal ofP&jJUlar biformatioll,
Amusenullt and DOl1UStiC EC01wmy ( ew York), The Household Magazine (Provi-
d n e), Household MOlllhly (Boston), The Housekeeper's Ammal alld Lady's Regis-
ter (Boston), The Housekeeper's Friend (Providence). These are only some of the
dozens of household journal pubJi hed in the) 60s, 1 70s, and
20. Home All1wnac, J.
2 J. Gardner, The House That Jill Buill, vii.
22. Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste, 5.
2S. Catharine Beecher and Stowe, TIle American IPoman's Home, 16.
24. ElIet, The New Cyclopedia of Domestic Economy, 16.
25. Eunice Beecher, All around the HOllse, 5. Eunice was married to Henry
Ward Beecher, Catharine and Harriet's brother.
26. Eunice Beecher, The Home, 67.
27. Hewitt, Queen ofH01lU!, 401-2.
•
2 . Hale, The Good Housekeeper, 126 .
208 [ otes to Pages IJ - 20 J

29. Practical Housekeeping, 423.
30. Ibid., 465.
S I. Lcsli" The H ouubook, S04-.
52. Ellel, The ew .ycWpedia rif Dom~stic Econom)', 26.
S3. Julia Wright, The Complete Home, 43 .
34. Hewitt, Queen rif Home, 297.
S5. Ibid., SOL
S6. Catharine Beecher and towe, 16.
S7. Julia Wright, The CompLett Home, 25 .
Ibid., 259.
39. ee McDanneIl, MateriaL Christianity.
40. e Bu hnell, Christian urlure.
41. Helen Jackson, Bits of TaLk about HOm/! Matters, 234.
42. HOllie Circle, 4.
48. pofford, Art Decoratioll Applied to Funu'lllre, 282.
44. EBet, The ew Cyclopedia of Domestic EC01wmy, 21.
45. Death in till! Dillillg RoolII, .
46. Ellet, The ew yclopedia of Domestic Economy, 21.
47. Langford, The Hearthstone, iv.
4 . Ibid., 8 .
49. Ibid., 89-40.
50. pofford, Art Decoratioll Applied to Furniture, 192 .
•
5 1. Cook, The House Beatttiful, 45.
SI!. e Garrett, At HOI/Il!, and Grier, Culture and omlor/.
58. ee Bu hman, The Refinement rif America.
54. ee Arne, Death in the Dillillg RoolII.
lark on, Household Decoratio1l, 5. In addition to her advice
55. Clark on and
manual, Uda Clark on wrote two books on art, Brush tndies (1 and Easy
Le 011$ill Drawing alld Paintillg (1 9).
56. Su an Brown, Home Topic, 491.
57. Ibid.
5 . Ibid., 500.
59. HOllse/wld CoIITH!lIim(;ts, 8.
60. Ormsbee, The HOllSe Coniforlable, 191.
6 1. Whipple, TII~ Housekeeper's Book, IS.
62. EUet, The ew .yclopedia ofDonll!stic Economy, 21.
63. Langford, TIle Hearth tOllt, 873.
64. Child, The Americall Frugal Housewife, 90.
65. ee Roger Mo and Winkler, Victorian l1lterior Decaration,
66. Child, The Anll!rican Frugal HOllsewife, 90.
67. towe, HOllSe and HOI/Il! Papers.
[ ote to Page 20-35 ] 209

6 . Eunice Beecher, All around the HOllse, 7.
69. Langford, The Hearthstone, 39.
70. Ell t, The ew Cyclopedw ofDornestic Economy, 21.
71. Catharine Beecher and towe, The America71 Woman's Home, 94.
72. Hewitt, Quem of Home, 10 .
73. Mu um holding Bridge ' work include the ational Mu eum of
American Art in Wa hington, D.C., the Art In titute of Chicago, and the Brook-
lyn Mu um, whkh featured Bridge in their 175th anniver ary exhibit entitled
of Color and Light: Homer, argent and the American Watercolor
Movement."
74. Hewitt, Qllem ofHome, 109.
75. atharine Beecher and towe, American Woman's Horne, 9l.
76. Church, How to Furnish a Home, 7.
77. Euni e Beecher, All around the Houu, 7.
7 . Ibid.
79. Ormsbee, The HOI4Se Comfortable, II.
O. Ibid., 131.
I. Ellet, The ew Cyclopedia of Domestic Economy, 21.
2. Julia Wright, The Complete Home, 165.
5 . Bab ock, HOlluhold Hints, 127.
4. Ellet, The ew .yclopedia of Domestic Economy, 21.
5. Babco k, HO/lSehold Hints, 127.
6 . Julia Wright, TM omplete Home, 597.
HAPTER TWO
The book Home anitatiem: A Manualfor HO/lSekeepers was publi h d in ev-

I.
raj different edition , beginning with s 1 98 (Bo ton: Home
cience Publi her ) and continuing with 1904 and 1911 versions by Talbot,
Ri hard and "the anitary cience lub of the of Collegiate Alum-
nae" (Bo ton: Whitcomb & Barrow ). The book wa rei ued in 1917 by Marion
Talbot alone after Richard' death in 1911.
2. ee Hoy, Chasing Dirt.
3. D'Emilio and Freedman, lntimat~ Matters.
4. e Tichi, lufting Gears, and Tome, The GospelofGmns.
5. ampbell, The Eo iest Way in Housekeeping alld Cooking, .
6 . Ibid., 121.
7. ee Henry, ''Reporting 'Deeply and at First Hand,' " 1 -25 .
. Bancroft, Th~ Book ofthe Fair, 959. Bancroft noted that the e women poke
"at a epa rate of women," and were followed by Catherine oman of
210 [ Notes to Pages 35- 43 J
AJt u srec bes!:. IT'd at r aal

· ey College, .. that not only were women' wage teadily ad-
vancing, but during the pre ent century the occupation open to women had
increa ed a hundred fold ."
9. Campbell, House/wid Ecollomics, 18.5.
10. Ibid., 237.

11. Ibid., 243.
12. Ju tin Morrill Land Grant Act of July 2, 1 62, chap. 130, 12 tat.503.7
U.S.C. SOl et. eq. chap. 130, ec. 4(6).
13. See Lynn Gordon, Gt!ntUr and Higher Education, 99- 100.
14. As quoted in Journal of Home Economics 27:2 (February 1935): 27S. Ai 0
ee Stage and Vincenti, Rethinking HOTM Economics.
15. Apple, "Liberal Arts or Vocational Training?," 90.
16. In 1994, re ponding to from both i and outside the organi-
zation for a rethinking of the profe ional goal of home economi ,the AHEA
officially changed it name to the American of Family and Con-
umer Services.
17. Farmer, Boston Cooki,tg chool Cookbook.
I . Parloa, Home Economics, 55.
19. Kincaid, "Mi Parloa at Home,~ ii.
20. The Women's Laboratory lasted until 1 3, when MIT built new labo-
ratorie with pace for women. For more on Ellen Swallow Richards' work at
MIT. see the MIT Museum. Cambridge, Ma .
21. For more on Ellen Richard. ee Levenstein, "The New England
Kitchen; Horowitz. "Frugality or Comfort," and .. the
ence of Nutrition at the U DA."
22. The University of Chicago, to recognize Breckinridge's importance to
the city of Chicago in general and to the Univer ity of Chicago in pa.rticular,
named a building after her. The building, currently a coeducational dormitory,
wa originally a place for . . .ng women to stay on cam
23.Talbot and Breckinridge, The Modern Hou~/lOld, preface.
24.Ibid., I.
25.Mary Matthew • The House and Its Care, iii.
26.Clavert and Smith, Advanced Course in HOTMmaking.
27.Mary Matthews, The HOllse and Its Care, 22.
2 . Ibid., J 20.
29. . and Home Living, xi.
30. New York tate Colleg of Home Economi at Cornell University,
Tenth Annual Report, 1935 (640.6, C 15a. 10th. 1935).46.
31. Ibid .• 9.
S2. Pey er. Cheating the Junk Pile,2ll.
33. Ibid., ix.
[ otes to Pages 43-51 ] 211
AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

34. Ibid., xi.
35. ampbel\, Household Economics, 2-3.
36. Ibid ., .
37. I bid., 2.
s . Talbot and Brecki nridge, The Modem Household, 4.
39. I bid.
40. Grauel, "Pri cilia lub of Dome ti cience,H36.
41. Frederick, elling Mrs. OnSlIIl/,er, 167.
42. e Ru • n Uncommon Life," 42 .
43. ome illt{) My Kitchen.
ee Frederick,
44. Gilbreth, The Homemaker and Her Job, 95 - 96. Thank you to Jane Lan-
ca ter for with me her i ts on Lillian Gilbreth .
45. White, Hou tkeeper and Home-Makers, 45.
46. Balder ton, Housewifery, 4 - 49.
47. ray, "The Ki tchen," 475.
4 . I bid., 462.
49. Burri -Meyer, Decorating Livable H01llts, 15.
50. Modem Priscilla Home Furnishillg Book, 143.
51. e Blaszczyk, 'Where Mrs. Homemaker I Never Forgotten."
52. B tty and Pat, who appear on Wrap commercials and on that
company' web ite, are home economi ts. Betty worked in the Betty Crocker
T e t Kitchen and as a home econorni t for the Quaker T est Kitchens. he man-
ages the Reynold Kitchens in Virginia. Pat was a home-economics teacher
and exten ion home economi tin Minne ota before becoming the enior home
e onomist for Reynold Wrap in 1990. The t\ 0 disp nse h IpfuJ kitchen tip
on TV and develop new product for Reynold . Many of thei r ad campaign ,
uch a the "mi si ng mom" commercial in 2000, focused on women' u e of
Reynold Wrap to ave time i.n the kitchen (see < ).
53. The link with Good Hou ekeeping gave Armour food credibility. The
ood H ou ekeeping In titute introdu ed its "\ ronc1ad Contra r' in 1902, in
which every in the magazine ca me with a full guarantee. In 1909
th ompany introduced the " al of Appro a1: which told con umer that the
kitchens and work 'hops of advisor had been busy tes ting ea h prod-
uct.
54. Jean dam, Th.e Busilltss ifBeing a HOIISewife, 2.
55. Ibid. , 55.
56. "The Good Hou ekeeping eal: ew Look, ame Promise," the Hear t
orporation, 1997.
57. For more on Maltby, see Bla lczyk, 'Where Mrs. Homemaker I ever
Forgotten."
5 . Ibid., 16 - 69.
2 12 [ oles to Page 5 1- 58 ]
AL Ie r recr Ilk be scI" rmc! (Tal fIaill

59. ee Annmarie Adam, 'The and All That On in It: 165-72.
60. Frederica hank student notebook, The Winterthur Library: Jo eph
Downs olle t;on 0 Manllscr;pts and r~ nt d _ph mera.
61.Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. Campbell, Household Economics, 75.
64. Richard and Talbot, Home Sanitation, 19.
65. Ibid., 54.
66. Catharine Beecher and Stowe, American Wonu11I' HOIII~, 63.
67. Ibid., 59.
6 . Van de Water, From Kitchen to Garrett, 162.
69. Parloa, "Stuffy House ," 125.
70. Parloa, Home Economics, 60.
7!. The House Conifortable, 137.
72. Su an Brown, Home Topics, 536.
73. French, Homes and Their Decoration, 53. Thank you to Robin Veder for
haring with me her " on plant in the home.
74. See Tome , The Gospel ofGenlls, 11.
75. Orm bee, The HOllse Comfortable, 96.
76. Baxter, Tlu Housekeeper's Handy Book, 11.
77. Parioa,Home Economics, 41.
7. ee Tomes, The Gospel of Germs.
79. Krout, Platters and PipkillS, 126.
O. and Talbot, Hom~ Sanitation, 55.
8!. Ibid., 54.
2. Modem Priscilla Hom~ Fllrnishing Book, 1 5.
s. Kittredge, The Honu and Its j\l[anagenulIl, S .
5. House and Garden, January 1919,41.
6. "The Roor of a kitchen hould be painted," wrote the Beecher si ter in
1869, "or, what i better, covered with an oilcloth. To procure a kitchen oilcloth
a cheaply a possible, buy cheap tow loth, and fit it to the size and shape of
the kitchen. Then have it stretched, and naiJed to the th ide of the barn,
and, with a cover it with a coat of thin rye pa teo When thi i dry, put
on a coat of yellow paint, and let it dry for a fortnight: (Catharine Beecher and
Stowe, American Woman 's Home, 371.)
7. Lois Palmer, TOIl7' HOllse, 22.
8 . Motftrn Priscilla Home Furnishing Book, 74.
89. Agnes Wright, Floors, Furniture and Color, 74.
90. See Tome, The Gospelo/Germs.
91. Frederick, Selling Mrs. Consumer, 22.
[ oles to Pages 59-71 ] 2 1S
AL Ie r reel" IJk be scI" rmc! (Tal fIaill

92. ee Dutton, DuPont: 140 Years.
93. Modern Priscilla HOTTU Furmshing Book, 47.
94. Richard and Talbot, Home Sa11itation, 7.
CHAPTER THREE
1. and Talbot, HOTTU Sanitation, 1 1.

2. Nesbit, Household Managt1lumt, 20.
3. Ibid.
4. Zinn, The Twentieth Century, 4.
5. ee McClymer, "Gender and the 'American Way of Life,'" 3-20. ee also
Ewen, Immigrant Tf/ollu!1l in the Lana ofDollars, 156-6S; Diner, Erin's Dal/ghters
in Ameriea; Romo, East Los Allgeles, 140.
6. French, HOTTUS and Their Decoration, 70.
7. "Letter on on New Apparatu ," Good Housekeeping, Janu-
ary 1913, 135.
. ee McCarthy, obLesse Oblige; Muncy, reating a Female Dominion; klar,
Doi11f5the ation's Work; Relatio,1S of Rt CIIl.
9. Evans, BamfoI' Libl!7'ty, 150. Other important women-dominated good
works organizations included the National on umer ' League, the National
A ociation of Colored Women, the National Council of Women, and
the ational Council of Catholic Women.
10. ee chneider and Schneider, Amet'iean Women in the Progressive Era, 107.
I I. See Trolander, ettieTTUnt HOllses and tlle Great Depression, S4.
12. Ro enberg, Divided Lives, 29. e al 0 Linda Gordon, "Women, Mater-
nali m and Welfare," 63- 6.
IS. Bruere, Increasing Home E1ficil!1lcy, 290.
14. ee Martha Bruere, Report, BtHfalo,
Franklin D. Roo evelt Library, Hopkins Paper, Box 65. This i a report to Fed-
eral Emergency Relief Admini tration director Harry Hopkin , who sent out
reporter to inve tigate condition around the country. The reporter were in-
structed to collect information from ocial worker (http://newdeal.feri.org/
texts/449.htm).
15. Ibid.
16. For more on Martha Bruer ,see Horowitz, "Frugality or Comfort," 239-
59.
17. Bruere, Laughing Their Way: Women's HI/mar in ATTUnca (1945); What For-
ests Give (Forest Service, SDA, 193 ).
I . e bit, HOII.Sehold Management, 4.
19. Ibid., 16.
214 [ ate to Pages 71-7 ]

20. I bid., 4 .
21. Kittredge, Tlu Home and Its Managemmt, 4.
22. Ibid., in ert.
25. For more on Kittredge, see her obituary in Tlu New York Times, May 9,
1955. "Crusader for School Lunches Here Is Dead"; also "Mabel Hyde Kitt-
redge; Journal qfHome Economics 47: 10 ( 1955): 7S5.
24. Kittredge, The Home and Its Management, 17.
2S. Wald, Tlu House on Hmry treet, 10 .
26. The "family" was made up of a guard who worked at the fair and an un-
related Irish widow with her three children. The e and all other detail are re-
counted in "Katharine B. Davis and the Workingman' Model Home of
1 95; 1- 20.
27. See Ava 'Clark, Adventures qf a Home Economist.
28. Kittredge, Housekeeping oles, 1.
29. Ibid., 16.
80. Ibid. , 70.
5 1. Bertha Smith, "The of Simplicity; 84.
S2. Ibid., 90.
88. Ibid., 4 .
54. Barker, 76 Hisloric Homes qfBoulder, Cowrado, 155 - 56.
5S. For more on Theodo ia Ammon' "Gwenthean Cottage; e the BOltlder
Daily Camera's Focus section, Sunday, August 26, 1978.
56. Gille pie, "Labor-Saving Devices Supplant Servants; 182-54.
87. See Jen en, · Cro ing Ethni Barriers in the Southwe t; 169- 0, and
JeUi on, Entitled to Power. The home demonstration agent under
the Smith-Lever act went to work in lIlinoi in 191 5 (JeUi on, 16).
5. For more on the panish- peaking exten ion agent, ee Jen en, 'Can-
ning Come to New Mexico:
89. Van and Canon, A MaTl/lal qfHomemaking, 1.
40. As quoted in Harri , "Grace under Pre sure,· 251. For more on home-
extension club , in the Midwest, see Holt, Linoleum, Better Babies and
tlu Modem Farol Woman.
41. For more on Gilbert, see her papers at the Center for outhwe t Re-
earch, General Library, Un of New Mexico.
42. Gilbert, We Fed Tlum CactllS, ix.
48. See Tey Diana Rebolledo, "Introduction," in Gilbert, We Fed Tlum Coc-
tus, xv.
44. Bruere, Increasing Home Efficiency, 16 .
45. Whitcomb, · Children of Many Nationalitie Receive Practical In tru c-
tion,· School Lift, Mar h, 1926, 158-59. As quoted in Romo, East Los Angeles,
141.
[ ol~s La Pages 78- 89 J 2 15
AL Ie r rect" Ilk be set" rmc! (Tal fIaill

nonary: in 1919 aturduy fiCiliCIl! Q[Litcrafi{rb,~; I [ un I t JI" r
folk la -curtain J w.: th y had a piano and a Pol maid"). but i
frequently u ed "lace-curtain I ."
H PTER FOUR
1. Mainwaring, "The Two Room ; 423.

2. Ibid.
3. ee "Ma ulture as Woman"j Pollock, "Modernity and the
pace ofFemininity~; Kardon, d. Tile Ideal Home; The GenderqfModtr-
nity.
4. ee parke, As LOl/g as It ' Pink.
5. Modem Pri cillo HOllie Fumislli71g Book, 2.
6. ee Jone , Mal/WII qf mart HOIl ekeeping.
7. Prie tman, Home Decoration, acknowledgement .
. For more on Emily Po t, ee Ed\ in Po t. Trlle Emily Post.
9. Emily The Per onality of a House, 9.
10. Ibid., 312.
Throop, Furnislling tile Home of Good Taste, 129.
11.
12. Le Corbu ier, Tile Decorative / Irts of Today ( 1925), as quoted in parke, As
Long as It' Pillk, 104. Richard, "Moderni m in Furniture,· 447.
IS. Rutt, Home FUn/islling, 6.
14. Ibid., ii.
15. Ibid ., 6.
16. Richard , " in Furniture," 447.
Wil on et aI., Tile Machine Age in /1merirtl. 43. For more on the Machine
17.
Age. ee: Drexler and Daniel. Introdllctionto 20th Cel/tllr)' Design; Morn
Flapper Furniture and Interior oftile 1920s; Tile treamlined Decade; Meikle,
Twentietll Century Limited; parke. Tile Plastics Age; Terry Smith, Making the
Modern; Kardon, Craft in tlze Macllilu Age; Kaplan, De igning Modernity.
I . Raley, A Century of Progress, 6.
19. Ibid .• 10.
20. Ibid., 13.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid .• 71.
23. Marchand, Advertising tile American Dream.
24. Genauer, J'yfodern Interiors, 52.
25. Ibid., 25.
26. Emily Genauer' paper are held at the rchive of merican rt. mith-
onian In titution, Wa hington, O. .
[ otes to Pages 9 - 109 ] 217

27. Genauer, Modern Interiors, II.
2 . Rutt, Home Furnishing, 6.
29. Waugh, Plmming the Little Hou e, xiii.
50. Koue , How to Be Your Own Decorator, 91.
5!. Rolfe, Interior Decorationfor lhe S11Ulll Home, 114.
52. Burris-Meyer, Decorating Livable Homes, 176.
53. Wil on et al. , The Machine Age in America, 512-14.
54. Emily Post, The Persollality qf a House, 509.
35. The landmark display of the Wakefield Rattan Company' wicker furni-
ture at the I 76 World's Fair in Philadelphia a major boo t in the ales
of wicker furniture. For more on wicker, ee Adam on, Americall Wicker.
36. Koue , How to Be Your Own Decorator, 25-27.
37. Ibid., 29.
5 . Rolfe, Intedor Decorationfor the 11Ulll Home, 15 .
59. Ibid. Light had been an for in the pa t. For example,
the bra tack on eighteenth-century arm chairs helped reflect
andlelight on dark night. For more on nineteenth-century lighting, ee Gar-
rett, At Home, 140-62.
40. Rhyne, " till Life in the Home; 103. Rhyne wa a profe or in the de-
partment of Home Economic at Montana tate College.
41. Burri -Meyer, Decorating Livable Homes, 159.
42. Ibid., 17 -79. For more on pia tics, ee Fehrman and Fehrman, Postwar
Interior Design.
43. Emily Po t, The Personality qf a House, 5 17.
44. Ibid., 320.
45. See Tobey, Technology as Freedom, S.
46. Ibid., 2.
47. Ibid., 21.
4 . Ibid., 20-29.
50. Emily Po t, The Personality qf a House, 441.
5 1. Campbell, Household &onomics, 110.
52. Van Rensselaer and Canon, A Manual qfHome11Ulking, 4.
53. Van de Water, From Kitchen to Garrelt, 7 .
54. Ibid., dedication page.
55. Green. The EffictiVl! Small Home, iii.
56. French. Homes and Their Decoration, 42.
57. Ibid .• 65.
5 . Calkin . A ourse in House Planning and FllrnishiTlg, 45.
59. Ibid., 63.
60. I bid., 57.
21 [ otes to Pages 110- 17 ]

61. Ibid .• 55.
i. The Home and Its Mana tmtn 37.
6~. rench, liomes and 17Ieir D(COrtllio7l, U.

64. Kittredge.The Home and Its Mil1Ulgement, 4 .
65. Prie tman, Home Decorotion, 69.
66. Emily Po t, The Personality of a House, 395.
67. Green, The Effictive tlUlLJ Home, 10 .
6 . Palmer, Tour House, 77.
69. Rutt, Home Furt/ishing, 29 .
70. Home Decorotion, 73.
71. Van de Water, From Kitchen to Garrett, 7 .
72. Home Decorotion, 103.
73. Ibid., 73.
74. Hewitt.Qllttll of Home, 64.
75. See Arne, Deatll in the Dining Room.
76. Good Housekuping, January I , I 90, ii.
77. Throop, Furt/ishing the Home of Good Taste, 129.
7 . Calkin , A Course in House Plannitlg and Fllrnishing, 64.
79. Ibid., 63.
O. Prie tman, Home Decoration, 73.
I. e mes, Death in the Dinitlg Room, 97-149.
82. Quinn. Planning and Fllrnishitlg the HOt/ie, 54.
S. Adler, The New Interior, 3 .
84. Kellogg, Home Fllrt/ishing, I .
85. Prie tman, Home Decoration, 75.
6. Kellogg, Home Furt/ishing, 233.
7. Green, The EJJective Small House, 75.
8. Adler, The New Interior, 3 .
89. Mainwaring, "The Two Room ," 423.
CHAPTER FIVE
I. Modern Priscilla Hot/Ie Furnishing Book, I.

2. Emily Post, The Personality qf a HQuse, 390.
3. For more on the p ychological significance of play for children in the
Era, ee Cavallo, • ocial Reform and the Movem nt," 509- 22.
G. Stanley Hall wa influential in the development of the field of p ychology,
the Child tudy Movement, between the I 70 and 1920 .
4. Koue , The American Woman's New Encyclopedia, 2 7.
5. hultz, Making Homes, 37.
[ Notes to Pages 117- 29 ] 219
AL Ie r recr 'Jk be ser rmc! (Tal flaill

6. Ibid., 36.
7. Ibid., 37.
. Kellogg, Home Fumi hing, 94.
9. Priestman, Home Decaro/ion, 153.
10. Adler, The ew Interior, 114.
II. Richardson, "Important on id ration in Furniture election and Ar-
,.
rangem nt, 442.
12 . Modern Priscilill Home Furnishing Book, 179.
13. Ri hard on, "Important in Furniture ele tion and Ar-
rangement, " 442.
14. Kou ,The American If/oman'
Modern Pri cilla Home Fumishing Book, 179.
15.
16. Marjorie Mill , Home-Makers Guide, 66.
17. Ri hard on, "Important in Furniture election and Ar-
rangement," 442.
1 . Prie tman, Home Decaro/ion, 153.
19. "Quarter for Young Ma ,. Hall e Beautifol, July 1937, 26.

20. Ibid.
21. hultz, Making Homes, 2 .
22. Ibid., 29.
23. Koue , The Anw ican If,Toman's
24. Ibid., 330.
25. ilbreth, The Homemaker alld Her Job, vii.
26. Fr derick, Come into My Kite/un, 21.
27. Halbert, The Beller Homts i\1'alllla~ 479.
2 . Koues, The American lf/omall's ew ElIc),rlopedia, 4.
29. For more on ooperative kitchen , Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revo-
lution, and Allen, Building Domestic Liberty.
3 1. For more on early olor theory, ee Bridget May, "Advi on Whit ," 19-
24.
aikin, A Olll~ e in House Planning alld Furnishing, 39.
32.
ss. Burris-Meyer, DI'coroting Livable Homes, S34.
•
34. Gold tein and Gold tein, rt ill Life, I 4-203 (Fig . 155 and
157). For an xample of pc ific teaching about color ee "The
and Harmoniou ombination of olor; Practical Home Ecollolllics, 18:4 (April
1935): 109.
35. Palmer, '1'Our HOI/St, chap. I.
3. ee Dutton, DuPoll/: 140 uar: , 296-300.
37. d Wolfe, "A Light, ay Dining Room; 203.
3 . deWolfe' biographer Jane mith has credited the tor \ ith
220 [
AJt u sr best:. IT'd at r al

bing "tt. rst p r. on who pulled up ti, bl' I t:n th n \,;n, \ ar J
out the m Uy urtains \ ithin curtain . . .. he simply leared out the
i toriana and let in the twentieth century.H eJane mith, Elsie deWo{ft, intro-
du tion by Diana Vreeland, xj i.
39. Agne Wright, Floors, FUnlilure and olor, 5.
40. · Color in Industry,· Fortune, February 1930, 1l0a.
I. HOIl e Beautifill, Jun 1937, I.
42. Homl! Beautiful, 14.
3. Home: imple ldeasfor Its Decorotion, .
44. Tour Home alld Its Decoratioll, 24.
45. Agn Wright, Floors, FUr1IitUl't and Color, 5.
46. Hill, Redeemillg Old Homes, 142.
47. HOIIIt Beauhfu4 14.
4 . Koues, How 10 Be rOUT Own Decorator, 66.
49. Rurt, Home Ftlnlishillg, 39.
50. Ibid., 309.
5 1. Marjorie MiJI , Home-Maker Guide, 124 .
.5 . Ibid., 66.
53. Burri -Meyer, Decorolil1 Livable Homes, 15.
54. Rolfe, IlIlerior Derorotiolljor llzt Small Home, 30.
55. Bomar, ocial Aspects cljHouseketping, 22. Bomar taught home econ mi
at Ea t arolina Tea her ollege and went on to b the head of the Home Eco-
nomics Department at Kansas tate Teacher' ollege in the 1930 ,from where
publi hed her next book, All IlIlroduclioll to Homemakillg alld it Relalion 10
llze Comml/Ility. Philad lphia: W B. aunder, 1932.
56. Quinn, Plannillg alld Furnishing lhe Home, 162. ee Lupton and Miller,
The Ballzroom, llzt Kitdletl, and lIze Ae thelics clj Wi! le, 33. For more on the cien-
tifle u e of \ hite por elain in turn-of-th - century bathroom, e Tome , The
Gospel cljGerms.
57. Prie tman, Home Deroralioll, 144.
5 . Frankl, "Bath and Bath Room ," 51. hippendale furniture,
popular in England and the meriea n in th mid-to-Iate eighteenth
century. was named for Thoma hippendaJe, a London cabinetmaker. He pub-
a volume of hi The Gelltleman
•
ami Cabinetmaker's Director, in 1754 .
F r more on the d rivation of th e hippendale s ty1 in Europ and th nit d
ee Bowman, American Fumiture. hippendale' work enjoyed a revival
in the United tate in the 1920s with the new int re tin 10ni31 tyle, 0 hi
name wou ld have been familiar to many Hou e alld Gardm r ader .
59. Rolfe. Inlerior Decoratioll for tfzt mall Home, 164.
60. ee Brumb rg. TIzt Body Project.
61. Holbrook. My Better Homes and Gardens Home Guide, 91.
[ oles 10 Pages 141-45 ] 22 1
AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tat fIaill

62. Lupton and Miller. The Bathroom., tJu Kitchen. and the Aesthetics tif Waste,
32.
63. Home: impk ldeasjor Its Decoration.
64. Emily Post, 1~ Per onaLity tif a Hou e, 579.
66. Mary Matthew, The House alld II Care, 161.
IIAPTER S IX
I. Northend. Colonial Home and Their Furni hings, 106.

2. For more on the Art and raft rno ernent. ee Kaplan. The Art thai Is
Life.
5. Kellogg. Home Furnishing. 126.
4. ee Blaugrund and Bowie," lice D. Kellogg: Letter from Pari .-
6. Kellogg. Home preface.
6. Ibid .• 71.
7. ee "Th pirit of Reform."
. Bori , Art and Labor. 64.
9.quoted in Bowman. American Furniture, 151.
10. Kellogg. Home Furnishillg, lH. The color wa produ ed by
"ammonia fume reacting with the tanni acid in the wood" (Bowman. Amel icall
Frlnliture, 1( 1).
J t. Priest man, Home Dt!COr4lion.,
12. Kellogg, Home Furnishing, 126.
IS. Rolfe, blterior Decorotionfor the mall Home, 100.
14. The Ramona Pageant b gan in 1923 and i held annually in April and
May in the Ramona Bowl in Riverside ounty, California. The pageant. featur-
ing a cast of hundred • i one of the longe t-runningoutdoor plays in th United
tate (ee < W\ w. ocialhi tory.org/Biographie I hhja kson.htm » .
15. Emily Po t, The Per ollaLity tif a House. 44.
16. ee Kaplan. Designing Modernity, 19.
17. Kellogg. Home Furnishing, 51.
1 • Prie tman, Home Decoration, 110.
19. Calkin. A Course in Home Plallning and Furni hing, 9.
20. ee Kaufman, ational Parks and the Woman's Voice, 25.
21. Kellogg. Home Furnishing, 1 .
22. alkin. A Course in Home Planning and Furnishing. 57.
2S. The Good Housekeeping Discovery Book o. I, 16.
24. Rolfe. Interior Decorolionjor the mall Home, 51.
25. Your Home and Its Decoratioll, 65.
26. ell and Blackman, Good Taste in Home Furnishing. 55.
222 [ otes to Pages /45-59 ]
AJt u srec besc.h IT'd at r al

•
27. Palmer, Your House, 255.
28. Entrance to Vantine's, 5. Thank you to Mari for sharing with
, I I I I I I I I I I I I
me her mtughts on the m eamngs 0 ASian arb a ts m American ho m s.
so. Colorado State Business Directory (1915), IS09.

SI. Burris-Meyer, Decorating Livable Homes, SS7.
S2. Adler, The New Interior, 8.
33. Prie tman, Home Decoration, 110.
34. Koues, How to Be Your Own Decorator, 41.
35. See Rossano, Creating a Dignifod Past.
36. Holden, "Tenement Furnishings," 312.
37. Kellogg, Home Furnishing, 92.
38. Chamberlain, Old Ro011lSfor New Living, I.
39. Ibid., 7.
40. Boston Herald, December 18, 1926, in clipping file of the Decorative Arts
Photography Collection (DAPC) at Winterthur Mu eum and Library, Win-
terthur, Delaware. Winterthur received the Northend collection of glass nega-
tives in or before 1964 and maintains an open collection of hundred of North-
end's printed of Colonial New England homes.
41. Northend, Coumial Homes and Their Furnishings, 92 .
42. Northend, Historic Homes of New E7Igw.nd, 265.
43. Northend, ·Colonial Fireplaces and Fire-Irons," 488.
44. Chamberlain, Old Roomsfor New Living, 1-2.
45. Ibid., 2.
46. Northend, Historic Homes ofNew England, 128.
CHAPTER SEVE
1. "Live the Life of McCall's; 27- 35. The magazine's editor, Otis Lee Wie e,
took credit for bringing the genre of "women's service magazines· to a new
•
level. "Throughout the bright days of the 20s and the twilight of the 50s - the
long years of the war, the bitter peace and the Korean conflict-in fact, right
up to moment, McCall's has been sen itive to your need as women first ....
M cCall's has been striving to widen your horizons, inspire you to lead lives of
greater atisfaction, help you in your daily task .. (27).
2. ~Live the Life of McCall's; 27.
5. Ibid., 54.
4 . McCall's, May 1954, 61.
5. For more on 1950s in America, see, among others: Lerner, America as a
Civili%atWn; Satin, The 1950s; Zinn, Postwar America; Witther, Cold War America;
[ Notes to Pages 159- 72 ]
AL Ie r recr IJk be ser rmc! ITal flaill

Jezer. The Dark Ages; Kaledin. Mothers and More; Oakley. God's CormJry; O' Neill,
American High; Fehrman and Fehrman, Postwar Interior Design; Hine, POPII/uxe;
Lesley Jackson, The ew Look; Corber. hi the ame of alional eCllriJy; Harvey,
The Fifties; Horn. Fifties lyle; Marling. As Seen on TV; Leibman. Living Room
Lectures; Foreman, The Other Fiftie ; Patter on, Grand Expectations; Coontz, The
Way We ever Were.
6. For more on women's magazine. ee Mc racken. Decoding Women's Mag-
•
azmls, 16 . .
7.Friedan, Tlu Feminine Mystique, 31.
. ee is ue ' of Look, McCall's, Good Housekeeping, American Home, and
Ladies' Home JOllrnal during the 19505.
9. ee Hal ey. Ladies Home Journal Book of Interior Decoration.
10. Humphrey. HTomt!71'S Home Companion Household Book, v.
11. ee Hillyer, Mademoiselle's Home Plannillg Scrapbook; Mc all's Decorating
Book.; Better HOI/US and Garde7lS' Guide to Entertai1ling. The editorial director, ad-
mini trative editor, and art director of Beller Homes alld Gardens were men in
1969, while the entertainment editor. the food editor, and the as . editor
were all women.
12. See Ho kow and Julius Rockow, ew Creative Home Decorati1lg. and Faulk-
ner and Faulkner, Inside Today's Home. In the Faulkner' case, Ray took the
photograph for thi book and Sarah wrote the text.
IS. Ro kow and Ho kow, ew Creative Homl! Decorating, 5.
14. harlottc Adam • I-Ioust!I<et:pillg ajlt!r OffiCI! Hours, ix.
15. Ibid., xi.
16. Ibid., 6 .
17. Kenneth Jack on noted the . . on hou ing starts: "Between 192
and 1933, the constru tion of residential property fell by 95 percent." Due
• to governmental intervention, however, housing tart were up after World
War II . and nu continued to ri e through the 1950 and 1960 . Fed-
eral interference through the FHA and the VA had a large effect on the e ng
numbers. ee Ken.neth Jack on, Crabgra Frontiers, 193.
I . The e are example of what Robert orber ha called con-
gre igning "the ulinity into law: Corber, III the ame
of ationai ecuril),, 2 .
19. ee ibid., 7.
orber identified the finance preference for new housing
start as a phenomenon that "hastened the decline of the inner citie , [and] re-
inforced racial and la segregation of the subu rbs: Many postwar uburbs
had pe ific leas that forbade sale o r ublea e to any non- Cauca ian.
dential zoning law and practice also en ured homogeneity in the n w ub-
urbs. William Levitt once commented that '"we can olv a housing problem, or
w can olve a racial problem. But we cannot combine the two." He cho e the
224 [ oles to Pages 173-75 ]

•
women," Nixon countered by arn~ that "this attitude toward women i Un!-
" Nnv Tork Tinu:s, July 5, 1959, J.
71. In 195 ,Look magazine reported that " cientist who tudy human be-
havior fear that the American male ' now dominated by the American female.
He no longerthe . trong-minded man who pioneered the continent
and built America' greatne ." Look, February 4, J95 ,77.
72. Northend, "Making the Attic Livable," 62.
7S. Good Hausekteping, January 1955, 14.
74. Look February 4, 195 ,44.
75. The Feminine Mystique been analyzed and reanalyzed inee it pub-
lication. Early commentary about the book often credited it with
women' liberation and paving the way for modern femini m. holar ha e
que tioned Friedan' methodology ' she examined only the live of mjddle-
white women and did not include minoritie in her analy i . The magazin
of the 1950 have ince been examined by everal in luding Joanne
Meyerowitz and Ellen McCracken.
76. Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 4S.
77. Ibid., 2S6.
ONCLUSIO
1. Collins, The Western Guide to Feng

2. Carole ugarman, "B. Smith Know Stylish Entertaining," Pl'uvidence
Jaunlal-Bulletin, September 6, 1995, 1.
S. Ibid., 5.
4. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, 1999 Annual Report, 1.
5. Martha tewart,"A Letter from Martha," Martha tetllart Living (April
1997): 12.
6. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 1999 Annual Report, 6-7.
7. Amy Conway, "Flags," Martha tewart Living (July/ Augu t, 1999):
. William L. Hamilton, · Plumbing Repair ," Martha tewarl Living (Feb-
ruary 1996): 52.
,
9. uzanne Charle, "Pewter," Martha tewart Living (November 1997): 192.
10. William L. Hamilton, "Is There a Doctor in the House?" Martha tewart
Living (September 1995): 107.
II. GLenn Peake, "Metal Furniture; Martha tewartLiving(May 1999): 200.
12. Celia Barbour, "Color from Room to Room," Martha Stewart Livillg
(April 1997): 147.
IS. Letter to the Providence Jourllal-Bulletin, January 16, 1996.
14. ·Shell Candles," Good Thing, Martha tewartLivmg( ):
[ oles to Pages 19/-202 ] 227

; Janine Ni hoI, "Proje t Tea-Dying," Martha tewart Living ( pt mber
2000): 2S6.
15. TM Onioll, February 21, 2001 ( e < www.theonion.com /onionS706/
grueling_hou ehold_ I».
16. BaxandaU and ordon, D ear isters.
17. Diane Brady, ~Marlha, In .: In ide the Growing Empire of Ameri a'
Queen," Busi11es ff/eek, January 17, 1'!O00.
1 . Barbara Lippert, "She's Martha (ewart and You're 0(," New York,
May 15, 1995, 2 .
19. ppenheimer, Martha tewart.
20. reg ey, "The Divine Myth tewart: ;py, 1996, 50.
21. Daryl Roy ter Alexander, ~They Did Thing Martha tewart
Dream About," TM ew York Times, Jun 25, 1995, 16.
22. hristopher aldwell, "In Prai e of Martha Stewart,n ff/eekly tandard,
January I, 1996, 4.
2S. Patricia Leigh Brown, "For Martha-holi ,It' Marathon ea on;
York Times Novemb r 2S, 1995, 4.
24. hri topher Goodwin, "Taking the Bis uit," London Times, January 21,
1996, IS.
25. ee Martin Walker, "Th Dominatrix of Domesti ity," TM Guardian,
pril 15, 1996, S. CamiIJe Paglia a1 0 noticed thi compari on, writing, "Like
Ralph Lauren. .. tewart emerged from an immigrant family ... to identify
trongly with a dreamy, high WA P i i n of relaxed town-and-country life:
amille Paglia, Camille," < WW\ . alon.com> (Dec. 7, 1997).
26. Margaret Talbot, "Money, Tim ,and the Surrender of Ameri an Ta te:
Le Tres Riche Heure de Martha tewart " ew Republic, May IS, 1996, SO.
27. Margalit Fox, "In Martha 101, Even Class Anxietie et Ironed Out,"
Y Times t!WS el 1Jice, August I, 199 .
2 . Joan Didion, "Everywoman.com: Getting out of the Hou e with Martha
tewart: ew Yorker, ~ bruary 21 and 2 ,2000,270.
29. Beth Wolfen berger, "How (0 ope with Martha tewart,n Providma
Plweniz, February 2, 1996, 1 .
SO. ZO N wman and Kyla Wazana, "The Hermeneutic of Martha: pro-
po ed pial e ion at th 199 Modern Language A ociation conferen in
an Franci o.
SI. Miller, Reclaiming the Pa t, S.
S2. Jameson and Armitage, Jf/riling 1M Range, 14.
22 [ otes to Pages 202-5 ]
AJt u srec bes!:. IT'd at r aal

Chamberlain, Narcis a. Oid RootnJjor ew Living: How to Adapt Early
Amnican Intenorsjor Motkrn Comfort. New York: H . House, 1953.
Child, Lydja Maria. The American Frugal Housewife. Bo ton: Carter & Hendee,
I 34.
hurch, Ella Rodman. How to Furnish a Hom~ New York: D. Appleton, 1 \.
Clark, Ava Milam. Adventures tif a Home Economist Corvalli : Oregon tate
. niver ity Pres, 1969. .
lark on, Lida, and M. 1. Clark on. Household Decoration.: The Home Made
Attractive in imple and Inexpmsive Ways. Lynn, . 1. F. 7.
Clavert, Maude ru hman, and Leila Bunce Smith. Advanced our: e in
Homemaking. Atlanta, Georgia: Turner E. mith and Co., 1939.
Coli' Terah Kathryn. The Wesurn Guide to Fmg Shui Room by Room.
, Calif.: Hay Hou e, Inc., 1999.
Cook, The House Beaulifol: on Beds atld Tables, tools and
Candle ticks. ew York: ribner's, 1 7 .
Crane, Ro . The Ross Crane Book tif Home Furnishing alld Decoration:
A Practica~ Au/horitative and 'Ympathetic Guidejor the Amateur Home
Decorator. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co., 1933.
Cummin , Maria u anna. The Lamplighter (I 54). New Brun wick: Rutger
deWolfe, EI ie. "A Light, Gay Dining Room." Good Housekeeping, February,
1913, 203.
harle L. Hints 011 Household Taste. Bo ton: Jame 0 good & Co.,
1 74.
Ellet, Elizab thoThe New ~cJopedia tif Domestic Ecollomy. Norwich, Conn.:
Henry Bill, 1 72.
Elli , Pearl. Americanization through Housekeeping. Lo Angele: Wetzel
Publi hing Co., 1929.
Farmer, Fannie Merritt. &stoll Cooking chooi Cookbook. Bo ton: The Boston
Cooking chool, 1 96.
Faulkner, arah, and Ray Faulkner. Inside Today's Home. New York : Henry
Holt and 0., 1964 .
Frankl, Paul. "Bath and Bath Room" House and Gorden, Augu t
1927, 6 \.
Frederick, h ' . e/lillg Mrs. nsumer. New York: The Bu ine Bour e,
1929.
French, Lillie Hamilton. Homes and Their Decoration. ew York: Dodd, Mead
and Co., 1903.
riedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell Publishing. 1963.
Gardn r, Eugene. The House Thal Jill Built, after Jack's Had P''rJVed a Failure.
New York: Ford, Howard & Hulbert,
Genauer, Emily. Modernlntel-iors: Today and Tomonuw. New York: Illustrated
Edition Co., 1939.
Gilbert, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca. The Good Lift: New Mexican Food.
N. Me .: San Vin nte Foundation, 194<9.
230 [ Bibliography ]
•
AL Ie r reet' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

11 day' dam ti -advic women ~What do bri -a-brae and
u h a Martha tewart heryl Mendel on wall treatment· have to do
and B. mith ar parr f a long tradition with cultural ideologie ?
n t arah Leavitt. Their u l-eavin\ thoughtful, imagi-
I gacy f literature that h native, and t:ntcrraining
h me a an expre ion of' eavitt rudy looh around the liv-
r a fa inating genealogy of dam ti i ng room .. ki u:hc: os, and
bedrooms envi ioned by
advi e, b ed n her reading f hundr d of
dome tic advi. or si n e
manual panning 150 year of hi tory.
atharine Beecher and
v r th year, dome tic advi r have
finds, among lace currains
ducat d women about verything ftom mod- and linoleum floor. reli-
erni m and morality to anitation and d ign. giou devori n. romamic
Th ir writing helped create th idealiz d vi ion nationalism, technological
of h me h Id by 0 many Am rican, Leavitt lcal. pop p y holog}', and
ay . lnve tigating cultural theme in dome tic a host of other pre()ccupa-
advice written in th mid-ninet enth century, ti m, illta ts. and anxi-
he demonstrates that the works, which found etie that have shapcd
m aning in kitchen unt r , parlor rug and American culture over the
bri -a-bra , have held the intere t f r ad r p t 150 ·car:. This engag-
in women' rol an ing work rc vers the many
• •
opporrunltle . way• women, and
prt."SeIlt. have used their
orne ti -advi manual have alway been
home. a..\ vehicles to e
the stuff of fant y, argue Leavirc, dem n crat-
their own cultural, social.
ing culrural ideal rather than culrural realiti .
and politi al belief, alter-
But th ri hour e rev al how women und r- ing permanently the way
t od the nne ti n b tween their hom and we think about all thing
th larger world. At it m t fundamenrallevel 'domestic. ,.,
the tru dome ri fantasy w that worn n held Marla 1i1l r.
th p w r to r form th ir iety through fir t University of
r r. rming their homes. Massa hu en
ARA H A. L AVITT i a hi rorian who live

in ilv r pring, Maryland.
The niver iry of orch ~arolina Press

Post ffi c Bo. 22R
hapcl Hill. C 27S1S-22H'
www.lJncpn."ss.lJlH.:.cdlJ
ISBN 0- 8078- 5371- 2
90000
Pnnu:J In s. I"hnw Cc,rbn
9
- -. ~@W M@xiean Diet ." Jou~lIJ]l of
1942}: 668.
- - - . We Ftd Thtm Cactus. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1951<.
Gilbreth, Lillian M. Tht Homnnaker and Her Job. New York: D. Appleton,
1927.
Gillespie, Harriet. "Labor-Saving Devices Supplant Servants." Good
Houstlcttping, January 1913, 132-34.
Gillies, Mary Davis. Popu14r Home Decoration. New York: Wise & Co., 194'().
Goldstein, Harriet, and Yetta Goldstein. Art in E Lift. New York:
Macmillan Co., 1926.
Good Housekuping Discovtiy &>ok No. 1. Springfield, Mass.: Phelps Publishing
Co., 1905.
Grauel, Henrietta. · Priscilla Club of Domestic Science for Everyday
Housekeepers: Modern PrisciUa, January 1915.
Gray, Greta. -rhe Kitchen: In Tht Better Homes Manual, edited by Blanche
Halbert, 462-79. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Green, Lillian Bayless. Tht EffictiVt Small Homi. New York: Robert M.
McBride & Co., 1917.
Halbert, Blanche, ed. Tht Better Homes Manual. Chicago: Univer ity of
Chicago Press, 1931 .
Hale, Sarah Josepha. The Good Houstkttper. Boston: Otis, Broaders, and Co.,
18104'.
Halsey, Elizabeth T. Ladies HCfme Journal &>ok ofInterim Decoration.
Philadelphia: Curtis Publishing Co., 1954.
Harland, Marion. Common Sense in tht Houuhold. New York: Charle
Scribner's Sons, 1880.
Herbert, Elizabeth Sweeny. 'Which Is the Freezer for You?" McCalJ's, May
1954,92.
Hewitt, Emma Churchman. Queen ofHome: Her IUign from 17ifancy tc Age.,from
Attic to Cellar. St. Loui . Mo.: S. F. Junkin & Company, 1889.
Hill, Amelia Leavitt. Redttming Old Homes. New York: Henry Holt and Co.,
1923.
Hillyer, Elinor. Mademoiselle's Homt Planning Smlpbook. New York: Macmillan
Co., 1946.
Holbrook, Christine. My Better HCJmes and Garritlls Homt GUldt. Des Moine ,
Iowa: Merideth Publishing Co., 1933.
Holden, Bertha Hynde. "Tenement Furnishings." HOlLSl' Bta,utifuL, April 1900,
507-15.
HOl4sehold ConVtnitncts, Being tht E.xptrimct qf MallY Pradical Authors. New
York: Orange Judd Co., 1884.
Humphrey, Henry, ed. Women's Home Companion Houuhold &>olt. New York:
Doubleday and Company, 1948.
"Is This 1955's Mo t InRuential House?" House and HCfmt, January 1955,
99- 107.
[ Bibliography ] 23 1
AL t( L r [(Cr' '!lJk be sere r'Tlc' ,.... It '[I loll

•

Jackson, Helen Hunt. Bits of Talk about Home Matter . Bo ton: Roberts Bro .,
) 79.
Jones, Glady Beckett. Manual O'fSmart HOtlSekeeping. New York: Che ter R.
Heck, Inc., 1946.
Ju tin, Margaret M ., and Lu ille Osborn Home Living. Chicago: J. B.
Lippinoott, 19S5.
Kellogg, Alice M. HO'me Furnishitlg: Practical and At·tistic. ew York:
Frederick A. tokes Co., 1905.
"The Kitchen Opens Up." HO'use and Home, June 1953, IS0- S9.
Kittredge, Mabel Hyde. The Home and Its Manage71lt1lt, New York: The
Century Co., 1918.
- - - . Housekeeping DieS: How to Furnish and Keep HOllse in a Tenement Flat.
Bo ton: Whitcomb & Barrows, 191 I.
Koues, Helen. The American 'Poman's ew EllCJclopedia ofHO'me Decorating.
Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Co., 1954.
- - - . HO'W to Be Your OWlI Decomtor. New York: Good Hou ekeeping, 1926.
- - - . How loBe Your OWl) Decorato7: New York: Tudor Co.,
19S9.
Krout, Mary. Platters alld Pipkills. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Co., 1910.
Langford, Laura Holloway. The Hearthstone; O'r, Life at HOTlle, a HOlISe/wld
MatmaL Beloit, Wisc.: The Inter-State Publishing House, 1 S.
Eliza. The HOlISebook; or, A Manual 0/ Domestic EcO'nomy. Philadelphia:
Carey & Hart, 1840.
"Live the Life of McCall's." McCall's, May 1954,27- SS.
Mainwaring, Elizabeth W. uThe Two Rooms." Good HOlISekeeping, December
1902,423.
Matthew, Mary Lockwood. The HO'llse atld Its Care. Bo ton: Little, Brown &
Co., 1926.
McCall's Decorating BO'ok. ew York: McCall, 1964.
Mendelson, Cheryl. HO'me Conyons: The Art atId Science oj Keeping HolISe. New
York: cribner, 1999.
Mills, Marjorie. Home-Makers Guide. Boston: Bo ton Herald-Traveler
1929.
Modern Priscilla Home Furnishitlg Book: A Practical Book for tile Womatl Who
LOTJt!s Her Home. Bo ton: The Pri cilia Company, 1925.
. Florence. HO'lISeh()ld Matlagemellt. New York: age, 1918.
New York State College of Home Economics at Cornell University. 10th
Annual Report (640.6, CS1Sa, 10th, 1935).
Northend. Mary. "Colonial Fireplaces and Fire-Irons." American Homes and
GardttlS, December 1909, 4 8,
- - -, Colotlial Homes and Their Furnishings. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.,
1912.
- - - . Hist01'ic Homes oJNew England. Bo ton: Little, Brown & Co., 1914.
- - - . "Making the Attic Livable." HOlISe and Garlkll, March 1919, 23, 62.
2S2 [ Biblwgraphy J

Auteursrcchtelijk IJcschermd materiaal
•

A CULTURAL HISTORY
•
•
OF DOME TIC ADVICE
BY SARAH A. LEAVITT
The University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill and London

I
Bailey. The House Comfortable. ew York: Harper & Co.,

1 Ill! .
Palmer, Lois. nur Houst: A Wo rkable BookJor tlte Hame Decorator. Bo ton:
Bo ton Cooking School Magazine Co., 192 .
Parkes, Mrs. William. Damestic Duties. ew York: J & J Harper, I 29.
Parloa, Maria. Home Economics. New York: Century Co., 1910.
- - -. Mrs. Parioa 's Kite/ten Compallion: A GlIidefor All Who Wau/d Be Good
Housekeepers. 80 ton : Estes and Lauriat, I 7.
- - - . "Stuffy Hou e : How to Avoid Having Them:' Good Housekeeping,
January 123.
Pey er, Ethel. Clteating lite Junk Pile: The Purchase and Maintenance cif
Hauseha/d Equipntell.ts. New York : E. P. Dutton & Co., 1922.
Plunkett, Mrs. H. M. JPamtll, Plumbers, and Dactars; ar, Hause/wid Sanitalian.
New York: D. Appleton & Co.,
Post, Emily. The Persanality cifa House: The Blue Book cif HOllte Design a1td
Decoratjoll. New York: Funk & Co., 1930.
Practical Housekeeping: A Careful Compilation cifTried and Approved Recipes.
Denver, Colo.: Perry & Abram, J 5.
Prie tman, Dorothy Tuke. Hame Decoration. Philadelphia: Penn Publishing
Co., 1910.
Quinn, Mary J. Planning mtd Furnishillg the Homl. ew York: Harper &
Brothers, 1914.
Raley, Dorothy, ed. A Century cif Progress: Homes and their Furnishings.
Chicago: M. A. Ring Company, 1934.
Rhyne, Edith. "StiU Life in the Home." Practical Honte Economics 13:4 (April
1935): l OS.
Richards, C. A. "Modernism in Furniture." In The Better Homes Manua~ edited
by Blanche Halbert, 447- 49. Chi ago: Uni ersity of Chicago Press, 193 J.
Richard, EUen, and Marion Talbot. Home Sanitation: A Manualfor
Housekeepers. Bo ton : Whitcomb & Barrow, 1911.
Richardson, . "Important in Furniture Selection and
rrangement." In The Better Homes Manual, edited by Blanche Halbert,
427-46. Chicago: University of hicago Press, 193 1.
Richmond, Hilda. ~Making Money at Home." The Modern Priscilla, January
1915.
Rockow, Hazel Kory, and Julius Rockow. t:W Creative Home Decorating. New
York: H. . Stuttman Co., 1954.
Ro lfe, Amy. Illtl!t'ior D l!comJ.ioll for thl! maLl l-lonlt!. N e w York: Ma ' rniUan
1917.
Rutt, Anna Hong. Home Furnishing. New York: John Wiley & Son ', 1935.
Sandhurst, Phillip T. , et al. The Great Centennial Exhibition Critically Described
and Illustrated. Philadelphia: Ma Kellar mith & Jordan, 1 76.
angster, Margaret E. The Art cif Home Making. New York: Chri tian Herald
Bible Hou e, 1
[ Bibliography ] 233
AL Ie r recr IJk be scI" rmc! (Tal fIaill

C 2002
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Founding contributors: Linda Arnold arlisle, ally hindel Cone,
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Leavitt, arah Abigail.
From Catharine Beecher to Martha lewart: a cultural hi lory
of domestic advice / arah A. Leavitt.
p. m.
Includes bibliographi al refer nces and index.
I ON 0 (alk . paper)-
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I. Home economic - History. I. Tille.
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AL.teL.rSrecrtelijk bescrer'TICl r-atenaal

For my parents
Lewis and Judy L eavitt
who fUrnished my first home
with books, bric-a-brac,
and love

•

Dom~ tic Advice Manuals O1ld Articles
Adam, Charlotte. Housekeeping aft" Office Hours: A Homemaking Guidefor the

Working Woma1l. Ne\ York: Harper and Brother 1953.
Adler, Hazel. The ew Interior: Modem Decorationfor lhe Modem Home. New
York: entury, 1916.
Babcock, Emma vVhitcomb. HousehoLd Hints. New York: D. Appleton and 0.,
I 84.
Balder ton, Linda Ray. Housewifery: A Textbook cif Practical Housekeeping. New
York: J. B. Lippencott, 1936.
Baxter, Lucia MiJI t. The Housekeeper' Handy Book. New York: The Hou e
Beautiful Publi hing ., 19 I .
Beecher, Catharine E., and Harriet Beecher towe. T/~ AmuiCD.ll If/oman's
Home; or, Pri1lciples cifDomestic cimce. New York: J. B. Ford & ., I 69.
Beecher, Eunice. AU around the House; or, How to Make Ho"~ Happy. Ne~
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- - - . The Home: How to Make a1ld Keep It. Minneapoli , Minn.: Buckeye
Publishing Co., I 3.
Better Hw~s and Gardens' Guide to Entertaini1lg. Des M ' Meredith Pres,
1969.
Bli , R K. Ho"~ Furnishing, Home Economic BuIJetin No.7, Iowa tate
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 1917-1 .
Bomar, Willie Melmoth. acial A 1>ecls cif HOllsekupi1lg. Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott, 1929.
Brigham, Louise. Box Fumiture. New York: The Century Co., 1909.
Brown, Anna. Home Topics: A Book cif Practical Papers on HOIl t! and
H(m~ Matttrs. New York: The entury Co.,
Bruere, Martha Ben ley. Increasing Hon~ Elficimcy. ew York: MacrnilJan Co.,
1912.
Burris-Meyer, Elizabeth. Decorating Livable Homes. ew York: Prenti e-Hall,
Inc., 1937.
alkins, harlotte Wait. A our. t! ;71 House Plamu'ng a1ld Fumi hil/g. hicago:
cott, and 0., 1916.
Campbell, Helen. The Easie t Way in HOllsekuping and Cooking. New York:
Howard and Hulbert, I.
- - - . Household Economics. Ne\ York: Putnam' ons, I 96.
AL Ie r recr Ilk be scI" rmc! (Tal flaill

•
C;1:;k beset> r Cl rr
Trade Catalog
Adam ,Jean Prescott. The Business oj Being a Housewift. Armour and

Company, 1917.
Cozy H01lU! Helper. Buffalo, N.Y.: Larkin Co., 1920.
Entro.na to Vantine's. New York : A. A. Vantine's, n.d.
Frederick, Christine. Come into My Kitchen. heboygan, Wi c.: Vollrath Co.,
1922.
Home: Simple ldeasfor Its Decoration. Chicago: Martin-Senour Co., n.d.
H01lU! &autiJUL New York: Ludwig Baumann & Co., 1926.
House and Its Pknishing. New York: Grand Rapids Furniture Co., 1910.
Nooks and Carners ... How To Fill Them. t. Louis, Mo.: Wm. Barr Dry Good
Co., 1901.
Shop ofthe Crofters Catalogue, ca. 1906.
Wonder Book, New York: A. A. Vantine' , n.d.
Wright, Agnes Fo ter. Floors, Furniture and Color. Lanca ter, Pa.: Arm trong
Cork Co., Linoleum Divi ion, 1924.
Your H01lU! mui Its Decorotion. herwin-William Co. Decorative Department,
\910.
Magazines and Periodicols
A1III!rican H01IU!
Godey's Lady'S Book
Good Housekeeping
Home Almanac
Home Circle: A Monthly Magazine
H01lU! Monthly
Hours a1 H01lU!
House and Home
House BeautiJUl
Household Journal oj Popl/liIr lnfonnation, AmUSt!fTlt!ltt and D01lU!stic Economy
HousehoLd MagQ.%ilte
Household Monthly
Housekeeper's Annual alld Lady's Register
Housekeeper'S Friend
Journal oj Home Econ01IUCs
Ladt~s' Home JournaJ
Look
McCall's

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Adam, Charlotte, 175 - 76 Bier tadt, Albert, 36
Adam ,J an Pre cott, 57-5 Bli ,Lillie, 106
Addam ,Jane, 76, 12 Blue and White o i ty, 163-64
Adler, Hazel, 122, 124, 131, 137, Bomar, Willie moth, 145 - 44
16 S-64- Bo ton oking hool, 45 - 46, 19
Afri an American, 44, 75- 76, 7, Box furniture, 7, 92- 93
197 Braun, Adolf, 36
Alexander, Daryl Royster, 205 Breckinridge, opboni ba, 7, 45,
Am rican Colonial tyle, 149-50, 4 - 49,51-52
161, 162-70, 17 ,200 Bric-a-brae, 32, 11 -24, 161
Fanny Bak r, 43 Bridge , Fidelia. S6
Elia, 5 Brigham, Low ,92- 95
Amm n , Th odo ia, 4 - Brown, Katie, 196
Anti- lav ry movem nt, 10 Brown, Patricia Leigh, 205 - 4
rchite ture, I , 1.12 Brown, u an Anna, 51
•
Armour Food , 52, 57 Bruere, Martha 74-75, 77.
ork, 70, 141 -42 9. 105
Arts a.nd Craft, 149-52, 16S- 64 Burket, Harriet. I7S
A ian-influenced d corating, 15 - Meyer, Elizab th, 56. 112.
61 18 . 142-48. 16S
Atti , 191 - 92 nell, Horace, 24
Babco k, Emma Whitcomb. 8 95 aid well, hri topher, 208

Barne , Emili , lllii Calkin, harlotte Wait, 115, 117, 121,
Ba m n ts, 17 , 1 0 - 2 18 , 157
Bathroom , 144-46, 192 Campb II, H len, 42- 44, 5 1, 105, 115,
Bauhau chool, 105 2 5
Baxter, Lucia Millet, 66, 91 anon, Helen, 116
Bedroom ,65, 151; for girls and apper-Ketcham a t, 7
boy, 127, 182- 85, 142 rpets. 84- 86, 87, 67, 115, I J
Beecher, atharine, 5-7, 15- 16, Centennial Expo ition, Philadelphia,
1 - 19,22,36,41,65-64,69,205 162
Beecher
•
Eunice, 7, 15, 19, 57 Century of Exhibition,
Beecher, Henry Ward, IS, 24 107-
Beech r, Lyman, 15 Chamberlain, a, 166, 169-70,
Beeton, I abella, 204 17
Better Home campaign, Chamberlain, amuel, 169
Flower , 65-66 Gr en, Lillian 115, 11 , 124
Force, Juliana, 107 Griffith, D. w., 155
Ford, Henry, 165; Ford and company,
140 Halbert, Blanche, 69, lSI, 136 - 37
Fortune magazine, 141 Hale, Sarah Jo epha, 11, l7
Frankl, Paul, 105, 144 Hall, G. Stanley, 12
Frederick, Chri tine, 55, 71, ISS-56, Hall furniture, 25-26
200 Halsey, Elizabeth, 180, 1 S- 4, 188
Freezer, 189- 91 Harding, Warren, 6 •
French, Lillie Hamilton, 59, 75, 94, Harland, Marion, 7, 12- 1S, 16, 19,64,
US, 117 115
air movement, 41, 65-65, Hartford Female Seminary, 16
Friedan, Betty, 192- 94, 202 Heloi e, 20S
Frojen, Boletha, 49 Herbert, Elizabeth weeny, 1 9
Frugality, 10-11, S2, S4, S7-S9 Herrick, Chri tine Terhune, 115
Furniture: hall, 25-26, box, 7, 92- Herrington, Evelyn M., 106
9S, mission, 152-55; dual, 185- Hewitt, Emma Churchman, 19, 21,
86 S6, S7, 12.1
Futurama Exhibition, 107, 109- 10 Hill, Amelia Leavitt, 102, 142
Hillyer, Elinor, 179
Gardner, Eugene, 1 ,59 Hi toric Deerfield, 165
Genauer, Emily, 7, 109-\0 Hobbie, 1:14-:15
General Electric, 140 Holbrook, Chri tine, 145, I 0 - I
General Motor , 140 Holden, Bertha Hynde, 166
Germ, 41, 66- 67, 69, 71, 74- 75, Home Depot, 195
110 Home economic, 6,44- 51,56,5 ,
GI Bill, 175 60, 106, 129
Gilbert, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, 7, Hooker, I abella Beecher, 15
7, 9 - 90 Hoover, Herbert, 7
Gilbreth, Frank, 5S House and Home, 176- 77, I 7- 89
Gilbreth, Lillian, 7, 5S-56, ISS, 200 Hull Hou e, 4 , 76, 77
Gille.spie, Harriet, 85 Humphrey, Henry, i l l
Gillie, Mary Davi , l7 , I 9
Gilman, Charlotte Perkin ,4S Immigrant, 20- 21, 7S- 76, 0, S,
GotUy's Lady's Book, l7-1 ,SO 90-91, 121-22
Harriet and Yetta, 1:18- Indian. ee Native American
S9
Good Housekeeping, 46, 75, Jackson, Helen Hunt, 11,24; Ranwna,
102, 110, 121, 140, 165, 192 ISS
Good Housekeeping te, 57- 58 Japan: decorating in the tyle of, 149,
Government, United tate, 11,44, 15 -59
51, l75 John on, Ea. tman, S6
•
Grauel, Henrietta, 52 Jones, Glady Becket, 102, 179- 0,
Gray, Greta, 56, 157
[ Index ] 247
Jone , Keren Mahoney, 2 Martha tewart Living, 2, 4, 19 -201
Jordan, Aline, 173 Martha tewart Living Omnimedia,
Ju tin, Margaret M., 50 3, 197, 199, 201
Martin- enour company, 141, 145
Kellogg, Alice, 122, 124, lSI, 151-52, Ma culinity, 27-2 ,99, 117-1 , 133-
155-56, 166 34, 152, l1i
Khru hch v, ikita, 191 Ma achu etts In titute or Tech-
Kitchen debate, 19 I no!ogy,47
Kitchen, 137, 143- 44, 187- 91. See Matthew , Mary Lo kwood, 49- 50,
also Model kitchen 147
Kittredge, Mab 1 Hyde, 7, 69, 7 - 3, McCalls, 171-73, 193
5,92- 95, 117,205 McGowan, Linda, 2
Kmart, 4, 200 McHugh, Jo eph, 152
Kneeland, Hildegarde, 56, 137 Mendel on, Cheryl, 197
Ko h, Robert, 67 Miller, Page Putnam, 205
•
Korean War, Mill , Marjorie, 132, 143
Koue , Helen, 110- 11, 12 , 131 , 135- rurniture, 152- 55
37, 143, 146, 164- 65, 1 1- 2, 190, Model kitchen , 52-53
206 Modernage Furniture company, 109
Kraft rood, 57 Moderni m, 71, 9 - 101,103-11,114
Krout, Mary, 67 Modern Language ociation, 204
Modern Priscillil, 55- 56,71, 101- 2,
Labor- aving device, 5 127, 131-S2
Ladies' Home Joumal, 19, 53, 102, Montgomery Ward, 95
152, 173 Morri , William, 150-51
Land Grant Act, 43-44 Mu eum , 106-7, 165, 167
Langford, Laura Holloway, 25, 27,
34- 35 Native Americans, 10, 11,92, 149,
Lauren, Ralph, 204 155-5
Le Corbu ier, 104-5 Ne bit, F lorence, 75, 77- 7 ,91 - 92,
Le lie, Eliza, 21 205
L vilt, William, 175; and Levittown, ew England kitchen, 162
175-76 Ne~ England tyle. See American
Linoleum, 50, 60, 69- 70 Colonial tyle
Literacy, 6, 10 New York World' Fair. ee Futu-
Loe\ y, Raymond, 106, 113 rama Exhibition
Ludwig Baumann ompany, 141, 186 Nixon, Richard, 191
orthend, M ary Harrod, 7, 102,
M a hin ag , 104 14 - 50, 166- 70, 192, 200, 2 6
Magaz ine ; women's, 6, 17, 24, 102,
151- 52, 173- 74, 177 ean tate Job Lot, 201
M ainwaring, Elizabe th, 97- 99, 124 Onion, Tile, 202
Male advi or , I , 2 Open- pace plan, 176- I , 19 1, 193-
M altby, Lucy, 5 94
_4 [ illdex ]
Oppenheim r Jerry, 203 45,47-4 ,59,61,63,67,7 1- 72,
Oriental rug, 158-59 195,205
Orm bee A ne Baile , 34, 37, 65- El ie, 13H}4
66 Ri hmond, Hilda, 9 1
Ri ht cheidt family, 171- 72
Rii , Jacob, 92
Packard, Vance, 190 Ro kefeller. Abbie Aldrich, 106- 7
Palmer, Lois, 69, 11 , 140, 159 Rockefeller, John D., Jr., 107, I 5
Panama-Pa ific International Expo- Rockow, Hazel Kory and
ition, I , 92 173- 74, 176, 17 , 1 4 - 5
Pa.rloa, Maria, 46 - 47, 54, 59, 65-66, Rolfe, Amy, 110- 12, 143-44, 154
69, 103, 1.14 Roo evelt, Theodore, 64
Parlor ,2 - 35,37,67, 117, 151 Ro e, Flora, 50, 11 6
Pa teuT, Louis, 67 Row on, IUlrlotte Temple,
Patrioti m, 4, 17,22,7 , 151, 163, 10
1 5, 169, 199 Ru kin, John, 150
50-51 Ru t, LuciUe 0 born, 50
Pier I, 195 Rutt, Anna Hong, 105, 110, II ,
Piggly-Wiggly food tore, 57 134
Pia tic, 101 , 112 Ryan, K. Joy e, 17S
Playboy, 203
Playgrounds, 76, 12 ang ter, Margaret, I 6
Plumbing, 60- 63, 199 anitation, 4, 7,41, 61- 63,6 - 69,
Plunkett, Harriette, 60- 63 144
Poetry, 16 eal, Ethel Davis, I 0
Porche ,6 , 5 ear and Roebuck, 57, 95, lI S
Po t, Emily, 7,57, 103-4, 114, 117-1 , edgwick, atharin Maria ~
12 , 13 , 146, 155. 203 Sell, Maude Ann, 159
Pottery Barn, 195 ervant , 20-22, 75- 76, I 7-
Practical Hou k ping e rlt r, ettlem nt hou e 76, Bfi
79- 3 Shank , Frederica, 59 - 63
Dorothy Tuke, lOS, 117- herwin-Wllliam ompany, 141,
I , 120-22, 124, lSI, IS4, 144, 159
152, 156, 164 how room. ee Parlor
P Y hology, 12 - 29, 132, JS6 147 hu ltz, Hazel, , 9+, 129-30, IS5,
196
Quinn, Mary, 102, 122 immon , Amelia, 11:
Slate, Mary Ellen, J7S
Raley, Dorothy, JO - 9, 1 1, 200 mith, Barbara, 196-97
Rec room . te Ba ment mith , Bertha, 79, S
Reform mov ment , 76, 0 Smith, Lila Bunce, 49
Rhyne, Edith, 11 2 mith-Lev rAt 6
Richard , R., 105 o ial ience, 42, 12 , 136
Richard ,Ellen walJ w, 7, 40- 41, Social work, 76-77, 9
[ IndaJ 249
pofford, Harriet, 7, 11 , 16, 25, 27 Ventilation, 60, 63 - 64
tewart, Martha, 1-4, ~ 7. 197-205; Victorian era, 9, 2 ,67
parodie of, 202
Stickley, Gu tave, 1- 2, 150, 152, Wakefield, Cyru , 67
154 Wald, Lillian, 76, 0
toddard, Alexandra, 196 Wall decoration, 27, 35-36, 93
towe, Harriet Beecher, Q. 15-16,22, Ward, Lauri, 195
35- 36,63- 64 Warner, Annette, 17
tr amlining, 110 Warner, u an, 12
uffrage, 4 ,52 Waugh, Alice, 110
uUlvan, Mr . Cornelius 1., 106 Webb, Electra Havemeyer, 107
wedenborg, Emanuel, 13 Wedding gift, 120
Old: influence of, on decorat-
Talbot, Marion, 40-41, 45, 4 -49, ing. 154-55
51-52,6 1,63,67, 71 - 72, 195, 140
'lOs Wheatland, Cynthia McAdoo, 173
Taylor, Fr d rick, 53 Wheeler, Genevi ve, 7
Taylori m. et Effi iency Whipple, France Harriet, ~
Tedrow, AJtha, 92 Whitcomb, Emeline, 9
Tenement, 93-94 Whitney, ertrude Vanderbilt, 107
Terhune, Mary. et Harland, Wicker, 67-69, 5
Marion Wil on, Lillian Barton, 91
Terra e , I 7 Wil on, Woodrow, 7
Throop, Lu y Ann, 104, I'll Wl%ard ofO%, The,
Todd, Dorothy, 104 Wolfensberger, Beth, 204
174, 177-7 , 1 2, 191, Women' club, 43, 1fi
193 Womlln's Homll Compalli01l, 173, J
Tu 64,66 5, 1 7,200
Typhoid Mary, 203 Women's rights, 1 - 19,202-3
Work, women' ,19, 112, 175
niver ity of hicago, 7.45, 4 , 77, World' Columbian Expo ition, 43,
0, 94, 12 0, 13
World War I, 7 , 6
an de Wat r, Virginia Terhune, 64, World War II, 114
115, 12 Wright, Agne Fo ter, 70, 141-42
Van Liew, Marion ., 106 Wright, Frank Lloyd, 150, 152
Van Ren elaer, Martha, 115- 16 Wright, Julia Mc air, - 9, 11, 20-
antine , A. A., 159-60, 195 21,22,23,3 -39,41
250 [ lnda ]
AuteursrechleliJk beschermd maleriaal

From Catherine Beecher To Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice Sarah A. Leavitt

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From Catherine Beecher To Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice Sarah A. Leavitt

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Formate disponibile

A

Togetherne and the Open-Space Plan, 171

Conclu ion, 195

Bibliog raphy, 229

be e;h IT'd at r aal

of the dome tic advi or in this book would . pprove of my

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Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

Hilton, Donna Hurley and ae Woo Nam a well a to Jeff and

AuteursrechteliJk beschermd materiaal

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

A '~I SC' IT'd

Martha tewart and her various project owe a great deal to hi -

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Al.tCl.r _ ccrtel1lk bcscrcr'llClI" atenaal

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

CREATING A FRUGAL & HONEST HOME

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

Domestic advice manuals originated in the 1 30s with the Victo-

Alotelorsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

Containing a Large Fund of Useful Information,

HOME DKOO R A7'l ON, llQ U'EHOLlJ MANAG EMEN7~

Many lau-ninetetnth-ctntury dorrustic advice lIumuals qffored a sputacularly wide

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A '~I SC' IT'd

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AL.teL.rsrecrte, k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal fIaill

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL Ie r rect' IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

AL!e r rect" IJk be set" rmc! iTa! naill

Domestic advi or in the mid-to-Iate nineteenth century, then, had

Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

Auteursrech lijk beschermd rraterra<ll

Langford in isted there wa no need for a clock in the dining room:

Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

Iw p, r/()r In III Iw frJ() /1 hdl 0 II .111

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Auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal

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Brown wrote about the parlor a if it ould per onify th hom .

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nance of the Christian family. The parlor, dedicated to entertaining,

AL.teL.r _ ecrtellik bescrer'TlCl fY atenaal

Alotelorsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL.teL.rsrecrte I k bescrer'TlCl r-atenaal

AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal fIaill

AL Ie r rect" IJk be set" rmc! (Tal naill

Aut u sr e ,bese IT'd nat r aal

But huw canfurnishing injure health?

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AL rsr t I bE; (t IT'd atenaal

AL Ie r recto IJk be set' rmc! (Tal fIaill

More and more, we ee, the trend i toward . ·fi handling

Campb 11 mirrored many nineteenth entury ad . in her b -

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Land-grant chools soon opened in every state. Faced with eg-