Domestic Work
 Domestic
work was an extremely time-consuming occupation, but unlike many
jobs
outside the home, domestic jobs were done out of necessity rather
than
by choice. Whether married or single, women did the majority of
the daily
housework. Often, hired help or slaves would contribute, but
usually it
was the responsibility of the women and the children of the house
to complete
the necessary tasks. This is the frontispeice image of a kitchen
scene
from Esther Howland's The American Economical
Housekeeper,1845.
|
| |
|
| Some typical household
chores for
women who lived on farms or in small towns were candle dipping, soap
making,
wood chopping, butter-churning, and gardening, as well as everyday
activities
such as cleaning, weaving, and cooking. The image to the right is of
a woman
churning butter, from an 1809 children's book called A Peep into
the
Sports of Youth, and the Occupations and Amusements of Age. |
|
| |
|
|
| "The Washing Day,"
an
1835 engraved sheet music cover, illustrates the need for many pairs
of
hands to complete the all-important household chores of washing,
drying,
and ironing clothes. |
| |
|
The family usually produced most of the food for
home
consumption, but they would also visit the local shop for other
supplies
as needed. Women who were a little more affluent or lived in a
city sometimes
took a more hands-off approach to running a household by
supervising others
in daily tasks. This John Bufford lithograph, "Feeding the
Pigs,"
from the mid-nineteenth century, shows one aspect of women's work
on a
farm.
|
|
| |
 Merchants
selling goods commonly bought by women used images and words in
their advertisements
that would attract their customers. The art of advertising through
print
did not get its start until the late eighteenth century, but it
became vital
to the country's commercial and industrial growth. This late
nineteenth-century
trade card for Borax Soap is a good example of this type of
advertising. |
| |
|
This 1851 Boston trade card for North American Electric
Washing Fluid
promises to change the way women wash clothes.
|
 |
| |
|
|
| Sewing, weaving, knitting,
and
spinning were an important part of domestic life for women of all
ages,
because they made clothing for themselves and other family members.
If they
could not buy domestic or imported cloth from a local shopkeeper,
they could
buy or make yarn for spinning cloth. Sewing and spinning were often
the
primary responsibility of the daughters or other girls in the house.
This
1856 lithograph of an old woman making thread is by L. H.
Bradford.
|
|
