The
Library of Congress >> Researchers
History of Household TechnologyTracer Bullet 98-1
As a rule, when we consider the effects of technology upon society we think of the golden spike, Kitty Hawk, UNIVAC, the horseless carriage, the Bomb -- developments somewhat removed from our personal knowledge and experience. But during the 19th and early 20th century important interactions between technology and society took place closer to home, indeed, in the home, and this technological revolution, if you will, transformed our daily lives in myriad ways. In chronicling the development and evolution of our homes -- the way we clean, furnish, repair, and launder, and acquire, prepare, cook, and preserve food, we have a wonderful opportunity to celebrate human ingenuity, invention, and the leisure that time- and labor-saving devices have afforded us. Today's children, accustomed to microwave ovens, perma-press, fish fingers, TV snacks, and built-in vacuum systems, are truly fascinated by the artifacts of their culture -- the hows and whys -- and it prompts the older generations to reminisce on the changes that they have experienced and how technology, or its absence, has affected their lives and the lives of their children. The Library's collections can illuminate the hows and whys of domestic technology because of their depth and breadth. Its holdings include old trade catalogs, a plethora of 19th-century magazines reporting invention over a wide range of household technology in articles, advice columns, and advertisements, books describing new products and recording the history of housewares, diaries of women recounting their everyday struggles to feed and clothe their families, and illustrations depicting the evolution of many household objects. This compilation lists sources useful in examining the history of household technology, primarily in the United States during the last half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Not intended to be a comprehensive bibliography, this guide is designed -- as the name of the series implies -- to put the reader "on target."
Andrews, William D., and Deborah C. Andrews. Technology and the
housewife in nineteenth-century America. Women's studies,
v. 2, no. 3, 1974: 309-328. Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. The "industrial revolution" in the home:
household technology and social change in the 20th century. Technology
and culture, v. 17, Jan. 1976: 1-23. Glazer-Malbin, Norma. Housework. Signs, v. 1, summer 1976:
905-922.
Subject headings used by the Library of Congress, under which books on the history of household technology can be located in most card, book, and online catalogs include the following: DOMESTIC ENGINEERING--HISTORY (Highly relevant)
American home life, 1880-1930: a social history of spaces and
services. Edited by Jessica H. Foy and Thomas J. Schlereth.
Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, c1992. 284 p. Cohen, Daniel. The last hundred years, household technology.
New York, M. Evans, c1982. 184 p. Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. More work for mother: the ironies of
household technology from the open hearth to the microwave.
New York, Basic Books, c1983. 257 p. TX23.C64 1983 <SciRR>
Du Vall, Nell. Domestic technology: a chronology of developments.
Boston, G. K. Hall, c1988. 535 p. Hardyment, Christina. From mangle to microwave: the mechanization
of household work. Cambridge, Eng., Polity Press; Oxford, New
York, Basil Blackwell, 1988. 220 p. Lifshey, Earl. The housewares story: a history of the American
housewares industry. Chicago, National Housewares Manufacturers
Association, 1973. 384 p. Seymour, John. Forgotten household crafts. lst American
ed. New York, Knopf, 1987. 192 p. Strasser, Susan. Never done: a history of American housework.
New York, Pantheon Books, c1982. 365 p. Yarwood, Doreen. Five hundred years of technology in the home.
London, B. T. Batsford, 1983. 184 p.
Brooke, Sheena. Hearth and home: a short history of domestic
equipment. London, Mills and Boon, 1973. 168 p. Buehr, Walter. Home sweet home in the nineteenth century.
New York, Crowell, 1965. 159 p. De Haan, David. Antique household gadgets and appliances, c.
1860 to 1930. Poole, Eng., Blandford Press, 1977. 165 p. An Encyclopaedia of the history of technology. Edited
by Ian McNeil. London, New York, Routledge, 1990. 1062 p. Garrett, Elisabeth Donaghy. At home: the American family, 1750-1870.
New York, H. N. Abrams, 1990. 304 p. Glassie, Henry H. Pattern in the material folk culture of the
Eastern United States. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1969, c1968. 316 p. (University of Pennsylvania monographs
in folklore and folklife, no. 1) Hechtlinger, Adelaide. The seasonal hearth: the woman at home
in early America. Woodstock, N.Y., Overlook Press, 1986, c1977.
256 p. Making the American home: middle-class women & domestic
material culture, 1840-1940. Edited by Marilyn Ferris Motz
and Pat Browne. Bowling Green, Ohio, Bowling Green State University
Popular Press, c1988. 212 p. Morse, Sidney Levi. Household discoveries. Rev. ed. Petersburg,
N.Y., etc., Success Company's Branch Offices, c1913. 1173 p. The Official from hearth to cookstove: an American domestic
history of gadgets and utensils made or used in America from 1700
to 1930. By the House of Collectibles, Inc. Editor, Thomas
E. Hudgeons III. 3rd ed. Orlando, Fla., House of Collectibles, c1985.
271 p. Plante, Ellen M. Women at home in Victorian America: a social
history. New York, Facts on File, c1997. 242 p. Smith, Robert Paul. Lost & found: an illustrated compendium
of things no longer in general use: the hatpin, the icebox, the
carpet beater, and oven; household possessions they don't make that
way any more. New York, Charterhouse, 1973. 158 p. Talbot, George. At home, domestic life in the post-centennial
era, 1876-1920. An exhibition, spring 1976 through fall 1977
at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Prepared with the
assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts. Madison, State
Historical Society of Wisconsin, c1976. 88 p.
Ahern, Eleanor. The way we wash our clothes. New York,
M. Barrows & Co., c1941. 140 p. Babcock, Emma Whitcomb. Household hints. New York, D.
Appleton and Co., 1881. 144 p. (Appleton's home books, v. 6) Beecher, Catharine Esther. A treatise on domestic economy.
New York, Source Book Press 1970, c1841. 441 p. Berney, Esther S. A collector's guide to pressing irons and
trivets. New York, Crown Publishers, c1977. 182 p. Child, Lydia Maria Francis. The frugal housewife: dedicated
to those who are not ashamed of economy. 8th ed., corr and
arr. by the author, to which are added, hints to persons of moderate
fortune, some valuable receipts, etc., etc. London, T. Tegg, 1832.
176 p. The Country house kitchen, 1650-1900: skills and equipment
for food provisioning. Edited by Pamela A. Sambrook and Peter
Brears. Phoenix Mill, Far Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire, A. Sutton
Pub., in association with the National Trust, 1996. 266 p. Davidson, Caroline. A woman's work is never done: a history
of housework in the British Isles, 1650-1950. London, Chatto & Windus, 1982. 250 p. Green, Harvey, and Mary-Ellen Perry. The light of the home:
an intimate view of the lives of women in Victorian America.
New York, Pantheon Books, c1983. 205 p. Grier, Katherine C. Culture & comfort: parlor making and
middle-class identity, 1850-1930. Washington, Smithsonian Institution
Press, 1997. 267 p. Jones, Joseph C. American ice boxes: a book on the history,
collecting, and restoration of ice boxes. Humble, Tex., Jobeco
Books, 1981. 100 p. Laughlin, Clara E., ed. The complete home. New York, D.
Appleton and Co., 1907. 313 p. Lupton, Ellen, and J. Abbott Miller. The bathroom, the kitchen,
and the aesthetics of waste: a process of elimination. MIT
List Visual Arts Center. Cambridge, Mass., the Center; New York,
Distributed by Princeton Architectural Press, c1992. 74 p. Mayhew, Edgar de Noailles, and Minor Myers, Jr. A documentary
history of American interiors: from the colonial era to 1915.
New York, Scribner, c1980. 399 p. Peet, Louise Jenison, and Lenore E. Sater. Household equipment.
New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1934. 315 p. Plante, Ellen M. The American kitchen, 1700 to the present:
from hearth to highrise. New York, Facts on File, c1995. 340
p. Thuro, Catherine M. V. Oil lamps: the kerosene era in North
America. Repr. with updated prices. Radnor, Pa., Wallace-Homestead
Book Co., 1992. 364 p. Williams, Susan. Savory suppers & fashionable feasts: dining
in Victorian America. New York, Pantheon Books in association
with the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum, c1985. 335 p. Wright, Lawrence. Clean and decent: the history of the bath
and loo and of sundry habits, fashions & accessories of the
toilet, principally in Great Britain, France & America.
Rev. ed., with additional material by Dave Larder. London, Boston,
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980. 211 p.
Anderson, Oscar Edward. Refrigeration in America: a history
of a new technology and its impact. Port Washington, N.Y.,
Kennikat Press, 1972, c1953. 344 p. Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans, the national experience.
New York, Vintage Books, c1965. 517 p. Cummings, Richard Osborn. The American and his food. New
York, Arno Press, 1970, c1941. 219 p. Dudden, Faye E. Serving women: household service in nineteenth-century
America. Middletown, Conn., Wesleyan University Press; Scranton,
Pa., Distributed by Harper & Row, c1983. 344 p. Early American technology: making and doing things from the
colonial era to 1850. Edited by Judith A. McGaw. Chapel Hill,
Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture,
Williamsburg, Va., by the University of North Carolina Press, c1994.
482 p. An Encyclopaedia of the history of technology. Edited
by Ian McNeil. London, New York, Routledge, 1990. 1062 p. Giedion, Sigfried. Mechanization takes command, a contribution
to anonymous history. New York, Oxford University Press, 1948.
743 p. Gowans, Alan. The comfortable house: North American suburban
architecture, 1890-1930. Bibliography by Lamia Doumato. Cambridge,
Mass., MIT Press, c1986. 246 p. Katzman, David M. Seven days a week: women and domestic service
in industrializing America. New York, Oxford University Press,
1978. 374 p. Martin, Edgar Winfield. The standard of living in 1860; American
consumption levels on the eve of the Civil War. Chicago, The
University of Chicago Press, 1942. 451 p. Matthews, Glenna. "Just a housewife:" the rise and fall of
domesticity in America. New York, Oxford University Press,
1987. 281 p. Panati, Charles. Extraordinary origins of everyday things.
New York, Perennial Library, c1987. 463 p. Rybczynski, Witold. Home: a short history of an idea.
New York, Viking, 1986. 256 p. Schlereth, Thomas J. Victorian America: transformation in everyday
life, 1876-1915. New York, HarperCollins Publishers, c1991.
363 p. Stanley, Autumn. Mothers and daughters of invention: notes
for a revised history of technology. Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow
Press, 1993. 1116 p. Sweet's architectural trade catalog file, Avery Library, Columbia
University [microform]. New York, Clearwater Pub. Co., 1987.
2334 microfiches. Technology and women's voices: keeping in touch. Edited
by Cheris Kramarae. New York, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.
246 p. Vare, Ethlie Ann, and Greg Ptacek. Mothers of invention: from
the bra to the bomb: forgotten women & their unforgettable ideas.
New York, Morrow, c1988. Voices of American homemakers. Eleanor Arnold, editor
and project director. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993.
295 p.
Dissertations can be located by using the following indexes located in the Library's Main Reading Room or on FirstSearch: Comprehensive Dissertation Index 1861/1972- (1973- annual)
Dissertation Abstracts International (1938- monthly) Dissertation Abstracts Ondisc Masters Abstracts International (1962-1985)
Bacon, Elizabeth Mickle. The growth of household conveniences
in the United States from 1865 to 1900. Cambridge, Mass., Radcliffe
College, 1944. 301 leaves. Ogle, Maureen. All the modern conveniences: American household
plumbing, 1840-1870. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms,
1992. 276 p. Strasser, Susan. Never done: the ideology and technology of
household work, 1850-1930. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms,
1977. 422 p.
Bindocci, Cynthia Gay. Women and technology: an annotated bibliography.
New York, Garland Pub., 1993. 229 p. (Women's history and culture,
v. 7) (Garland reference library of social science, v. 517) Current bibliography in the history of technology. 1990-
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1992- ISIS cumulative bibliography: a bibliography of the history
of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies 1-90, 1913-65.
Edited by Magda Whitrow. London, Mansell in conjunction with the
History of Science Society, 1971-1984. 6 v. ISIS cumulative bibliography 1966-1975: a bibliography of the
history of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies 91-100
indexing literature published from 1965 through 1975. Edited
by John Neu. London, Mansell in conjunction with the History of
Science Society, 1980-1985. 2 v. ISIS cumulative bibliography 1976-1985: a bibliography of the
history of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies 101-110
indexing literature published from 1975 through 1984. Edited
by John Neu. Boston, G. K. Hall in conjunction with the History
of Science Society, c1989. 2 v. ISIS cumulative bibliography 1986-1995: a bibliography of the
history of science formed from the annual ISIS current bibliographies.
Edited by John Neu. Canton, Mass., Science History Publications,
1997. 4 v. Romaine, Lawrence B. A guide to American trade catalogs, 1744-1900.
New York, Dover, 1990. 422 p. United States. Patent Office. Subject-matter index of patents
for inventions issued by the United States Patent Office from 1790
to 1873, inclusive. New York, Arno Press, 1976. 3 v. (1951
p.)
Abstracting and indexing services that index relevant journal articles and other literature on household technology are listed below. Some suggested terms for searching are "Household Appliances," Kitchen Utensils," "Electricity in the Home," "Stoves," "Vacuum Cleaners," "Electric Apparatus and Appliances," "Domestic Economy," "Fireless Cookers," "Carpet Sweepers," "Laundry," "Cookery," "Kitchens--Equipment," "Refrigerators," "House Cleaning," "Housework," "Housewives," and variations of these terms. Several of these titles may also be available online. FirstSearch and Eureka, available on workstations in the Science Reading Room and the Computer Catalog Center, contain additional files. Consult reference librarian for the location of abstracting and indexing (A&I) services and computer terminals. Applied Science & Technology Index (1913-)
America, History and Life (1964-) Bibliographic Index (1937-) Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications
(1895-) Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906)
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-)
Writings on American History (1902-) Women Studies Abstracts (1972-)
American Heritage American Heritage of Invention and Technology
American Home Better Homes and Gardens Collier's Early American Homes Early American Life Everyday Housekeeping Godey's Lady's Book Good Housekeeping Harper's Bazar House and Home House Beautiful Housewares Journal of American Culture Ladies' Home Journal Material Culture Montgomery Ward Company Catalog Scientific American Sears Roebuck and Company Catalog Signs Technology and Culture Woman's Home Companion Women's Studies Winterthur Portfolio
Bonney, A. M. Old pots, trammels and trivets. House
beautiful, v. 46, Dec. 1919: 360-361. Bowden, Sue, and Avner Offer. Household appliances
and the use of time: the United States and Britain since the 1920s.
Economic history review, v. 47, no. 4, 1994: 725-748. Brewer, Priscilla J. "We have got a very good cooking
stove:" advertising, design, and consumer response to the cookstove,
1815-1880. Winterthur portfolio, v. 25, spring 1990: 25-54.
Clark, Clifford E., Jr. Domestic architecture as an
index to social history: the romantic revival and the cult of domesticity
in America, 1840-1870. Journal of interdisciplinary history,
v. 7, summer 1976: 33-56. Hoy, Suellen. The garbage disposer, the public health,
and the good life. Technology and culture, v. 26, Oct. 1985:
758-784. McMahon, R. Making housekeeping automatic. Ladies'
home journal, v. 37, Sept. 1920: 3-4. Ogle, Maureen. Domestic reform and American household
plumbing, 1840-1870. Winterthur portfolio, v. 28, spring
1993: 33-58. Ravetz, Alison. The Victorian coal kitchen and its
reformers. Victorian studies, v. 9, June 1968: 435-460. Rockwood, Laura C. Food preparation and its relation
to the development of efficient personality in the home. Popular
science monthly, v.79, Sept. 1911: 277-298. Russell, Malcolm B. Cleaner clothes for less work:
the Upton Machine Company, 1911-1929. Essays in economic and
business history, v. 12, 1994: 383-397. Schroeder, Fred E. H. More "small things forgotten:"
domestic electrical plugs and receptacles, 1881-1931. Technology
and culture, v. 27, July 1986: 525-543. Summers, John. Beyond brown bread and oatmeal cookies:
new directions for historic kitchens. Material history bulletin,
v. 27, spring 1988: 1-13. Thrall, Charles A. The conservative use of modern
household technology. Technology and culture, v. 23, Apr.
1982: 175-194. Two forms of a new dish-washing machine. Scientific
American, v. 82, Feb 14, 1900: 116.
Selected Materials available in the Science Reading Room pamphlet boxes include the following: Bache, Rene. Easy ways to save work in the home: how Uncle Sam, inventor, is constantly devising little things to help women. Popular mechanics, v. 48, Oct. 1927: 578-582. Busch, Jane. Cooking competition: technology on the domestic market in the 1930's. Technology and culture, v. 24, Apr. 1983: 222-245. Cooper, Carolyn C. The ghost in the kitchen: household technology at the Brattleboro Museum, Vermont. Technology and culture, v. 28, Apr. 1987: 328-332. Cowan, Ruth Swartz. Less work for mother. American heritage of invention & technology, v. 2, spring 1987: 57-63. Kline, Ronald R. Idealogy and social surveys: reinterpreting the effects of "laborsaving" technology on American farm women. Technology and culture, v. 38, Apr. 1997: 355-385. The Planning and furnishing of the kitchen in the modern residence. Architectural record, v. 16, Oct. 1904: 384-392. Santiago, Chiori. It all comes out in the wash. Smithsonian, v. 28, Sept. 1997: 84-92. Sipe, Brian M. Earth closets and the dry earth system of sanitation in Victorian America. Material culture, v. 20, summer/fall 1988: 27-37. Some early history of domestic gas appliances. American gas journal, v. 140, May 1934: 107-111, 153. Williams, Rosalind. The other industrial revolution: lessons for business from the home. Technology review, v. 87, July 1984: 30-40. Wilson, D. L. Housekeeping by electricity. Harper's bazar, v. 34, Apr. 6, 1901: 905-907. Zmroczek, Christine. Dirty line: women, class, and washing machines, 1920's-1960's. Women's studies international forum, v. 15, no. 2, 1992: 173-185.
Hagley Museum and Library
The Internet offers a growing number of sites useful in the study of domestic and household technology. The National Museum of Science and Technology of Canada (http://www.nmstc.ca) has an active site that includes articles on housework in the 19th century, including information on various appliances. Use your favorite search engine and the terms "household technology" or "domestic technology" and the terms "museum," "America(n)," or "history" when searching the web for bibliographies, descriptions of courses, museum exhibits, and links to other topics of interest. Compiled by Constance CarterJune 1998 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Top
of Page |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The
Library of Congress >> Researchers February 12, 2009 |
Contact
Us: Ask a Librarian |