Santa Clara University Scholar Commons History College of Arts & Sciences 3-1997 Do-It-Yourself: Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinity Steven M. Gelber Santa Clara University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/history Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Gelber, S. M. (1997). Do-It-Yourself: Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinity. American Quarterly, 49(1), 66–112. Reprinted in: • Intimate Concerns: The American Family in Historical Perspective, ed. Joseph M. Hawes and Elizabeth A. Nybakken (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000). • Gender and Consumer Culture Reader, ed. Jennifer Scanlon (New York: New York University Press, 2000). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Sciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in History by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Do-It-Yourself: Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinity STEVEN M. GELBER Santa Clara University IN THE 186OS WHEN HARRIET ROBINSON ANNUALLY SET ASIDE A FULL month for the spring cleaning of her Malden, Massachusetts home, she had the occasional assistance of hired help, but none from her husband William. Over the years, as the Robinsons improved their house by installing weather stripping, repapering rooms, refinishing furniture, and putting in a new mantle, Harriet's biographer Claudia Bushman notes that neither