©2016 Jennifer Lynn Pettit ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A BETTER HOME FOR EVERY BODY: HOMEMAKING AND LIBERAL INDIVIDUALISM IN 1920S AMERICA By JENNIFER LYNN PETTIT A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History Written under the direction of Jackson Lears And approved by _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Better Home for Every Body: Homemaking and Liberal Individualism in 1920s America By JENNIFER LYNN PETTIT Dissertation Director: Jackson Lears This dissertation finds the meaning of twentieth-century American liberalism within the assortment of historical voices who, during the 1920s, promoted the transformation of houses into beautiful, comfortable, well-managed homes. Most prominent among these was Herbert Hoover, and his efforts to promulgate a modern ideal of domesticity coincided with his promotion of an ideology that he labeled American Individualism. Explaining this connection between material culture and political philosophy is Hoover’s belief that “better” homes sustained American liberalism’s presumptions of individual autonomy and consensual self-government. These precursors of civil entitlement and national identity enabled his model citizen to reconcile the antinomies characteristic of the liberal subject: Hoover’s American Individual was, at once, liberated and restrained, singular and identical, distinct from the state and inseparable from it. Hoover’s perception of the better home’s circular function to reflect as well as construct liberal subjectivity was echoed by housing professionals, social scientists, interior decorators, home economists, popular writers, and civic activists. Examining the prescriptive literature these figures authored, the dissertation identifies within their diverse texts a narrative structure and logic that traced the liberal citizen’s, and thus America’s, origin and development to an innate yearning for an appealing home. Perceived as an authentic, metaphysical condition, this desire not only transformed primal drives into productive initiative, but also established the home-loving ii subject’s temporal precedence to the political economy. When created and managed through prescribed standards, the beautiful home aesthetically embodied this priority; its décor metaphorically reconciled liberty’s pursuit with a submission to the collectivizing ideals that constituted the nation; and by focusing and educating desire, the home’s beauty and comfort catalyzed a supposedly consensual enactment of the liberal virtues that enabled its inhabitants to become what the better home aesthetically signified. The modern home idealized during the 1920s was thus a product of public policy, civic engagement, scholarly analysis, artistic design, and literary production through which the liberal state created the condition of its own possibility. Although modernizing the home reinforced the traditional role of domesticity in American liberalism’s reproduction, this project prompted professional decorators, housing experts, and home economists to construe homemaking as an allegory for the performance of liberal individualism and, consequently, to frame the liberal subject as potentially androgynous. Emphasizing homemaking’s essential purpose within liberalism’s developmental narrative, white home economists stressed men’s dependency on their wives’ liberal attributes, which the professionalization of household labor served to display. This attempt to depict homemaking as a mode of liberal identity nevertheless failed to establish an identity between the women who worked at home and the men who relaxed there. African-American clubwomen encountered a different paradox when they similarly sought political opportunity in domesticity’s acknowledged function to cultivate liberal virtues and values within citizens who admittedly lacked them. These activists for racial equality confronted a homogenizing racial binary despite the declared inclusiveness of Hoover’s home ownership and home improvement campaigns. Imposed on black citizens geographically, narratively, and aesthetically, racialized otherness helped to make the home an evocative, private space, one that purportedly enabled a liberated and disciplined American Individual to create a progressive, liberal civilization. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I might have written the majority of this dissertation inside my single-family dwelling, but it reflects the contributions of a large community of mentors and supporters. First, I want to thank my adviser Jackson Lears. I could not have completed this project without the inspiring example of his scholarship nor without his support, patience, and encouragement. Like Jackson, Dorothy Sue Cobble has been involved in this project since its inception. I also owe thanks to Andy Urban and David Brody for contributing their time and intellectual talents to the committee. Although I did not complete the dissertation before their retirement, Nancy Hewitt and Joan Scott made invaluable contributions to its conceptualization. I have benefitted enormously from their mentorship both personally and intellectually. I also want to thank Dawn Ruskai for her constant readiness to offer assistance. At the University of Kentucky, Patty Cooper and Kathi Kern introduced me to women’s history, and they guided my efforts to write a biography of clubwoman Elizabeth Fouse, the master’s thesis in which this dissertation originated. Patty continues to act as an adviser of sorts by always inspiring me with her wisdom, humor, and joy. At both UK and Rutgers, I had the opportunity to work with remarkably generous and dedicated professors, an illustrious list that includes Susan Bordo, David Hamilton, Dana Nelson, Paul Taylor, Deborah Gray White, Jennifer Morgan, Jan Lewis, and David Foglesong. I also made incredible friends and colleagues who have helped to nurture my intellect and my soul. Among these is Caroline Light. She has run many miles with me over difficult terrain both literally and in spirit. Angie Smith was my best friend even before I walked into my first collegiate history class almost three decades ago. This remarkable mother has celebrated every word of this dissertation with me, and as a testament to our friendship, she’s even read sections of it. I am so fortunate to count among my cheerleaders a group of incredibly smart women who exemplify for me the concept of feminist praxis: Thank you Jackie Jones, Heidi Geib, Kim Griese, Judy Dreskin, Jill Kendrick, Kate Elias, Alexis Urriola, and Lisa Alexander. These dedicated mothers iv and accomplished professionals have helped me to articulate the dissertation’s political purpose. I would not have found the time to pursue this objective without my new friends in Cottonwood. My neighbors in this suburban enclave have entertained and fed my children, carted them to various activities, and shared the pleasures and frustrations of being a “stay-at-home” mother. As my mother, Renee Settle, often says, “Every mother needs a wife.” In addition to these neighboring mothers, I owe a tremendous debt to my own for frequently stepping into the role of “wife” so that I could carve out time to work in a work day that is never done. She and my step- father, Sid Settle, and my father, Duke Pettit, have enabled me to perform my often conflicting obligations as a homemaker and as a graduate student who writes about making homes. I’ve learned my most valuable lessons about the meaning of home from the children whose noise and clutter have transformed our house into a home. I’ve been working on this dissertation as long as my children can remember. I am completely humbled by their pride in this accomplishment. Every teacher at Walnut Grove Elementary knows that I am going to be a “doctor” soon, although my youngest is not quite sure why I won’t be administering vaccinations. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my eldest child, Benjamin Thomas McDonough. He’s been a significant part of this project at every phase of its development. I sat for qualifying exams shortly after learning that Ben would be entering my life, and I defended the dissertation proposal four days before his birth. My now freshman in high school has read sections of the manuscript and indulged me as I’ve worked through many of its ideas. It has been my gift, Ben, to be part of your narrative. As I anticipate what lies beyond the dissertation, I am equally excited about the many adventures that await you in your journey toward a home of your own. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Introduction 1 One: A Better Home for Herbert Hoover’s American Individual 48 Two: A Taste for Beautifully Principled Décor 110 Three: Autonomy, Privacy, and the Fetish of a Comfortable Chair 184 Four: Happy Homemakers and the Hub of a Better Home 262 Five: The National Association of Colored Women and the Beautiful Home 339 Epilogue: The Recess of Home 420 Bibliography 442 vi 1 Introduction “The highest civilizations have been built,” Herbert Hoover proclaimed, “by nations in which the mass of the population are home-owners and home-lovers.”1 While Hoover seemed to reiterate a sentiment that had circulated since the earliest days of the Republic’s founding, he uniquely made its realization