Old-Time Happy Housewifery

Album: Sinks and Washpans

Thank God for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell. While other folk go hungry, we're eating pretty well. With home and health and happiness, we shouldn't want to fuss; For by this stack of evidence, God's very good to us. ~ Anonymous

Album: Blue Monday

Laundry was an all day job and blueing agent was freqently added to the rinse water to brighten dingy garments.

Album: Ironing Day

After washing and drying their families' clothes on Monday, homemakers did the ironing on Tuesday.

Album: Mrs. Fergusen's Wash Day

Mrs. Fergusen probably doesn't even own a washboard. She washes her family's clothes with her modern wringer washer. We get a look at her garden as she hangs her laundry out, and then later she brings in the dry clothes off the clothesline. (May 1943)

Album: Daily Hygiene

For a lot of folks, the washstand was in the corner and the privy was outside. And some people had bathrooms.

Album: Water Supply

The world turns softly Not to spill its lakes and rivers, The water is held in its arms And the sky is held in the water. What is water, That pours silver, And can hold the sky? - Hilda Conkling