At Home in Nineteenth-Century America a Documentary History

AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY

INSTRUCTOR'S GUIDE

At Home in Nineteenth-Century America uses the home as a synthetic tool to pull together stories of nineteenth-century America. The collected documents revisit the variety of places Americans called home – middle-class suburban houses, slave cabins, working-class tenements, frontier dugouts, urban settlement houses – and explore the shifting interpretations and experience of these spaces from within and without. The result is an opportunity to eavesdrop on a wide-ranging conversation that includes a diverse group of historical actors: a domestic servant and Herman Melville, a newlywed housewife and W.E.B. Du Bois, an interior designer and Theodore Roosevelt, all of whom contemplated the power and boundaries of the American home. When brought together, these voices offer an intimate yet broad view of nineteenth-century American history. Recounting the ways in which a variety of women and men created, At Home in conformed to, critiqued, and transformed the ideal of home over the course of the Nineteenth-Century nineteenth century, they sketch a narrative of both inclusion and difference. Nineteenth- century homes and notions of domesticity America seem simultaneously distant and familiar. This A Documentary History sense of surprise and recognition is ideal for the study of history, preparing us to view the past with curiosity and empathy, inspiring Amy G. Richter comparisons to the spaces we inhabit today – malls, movie theaters, city streets, college campuses, even virtual spaces. By permitting us to listen closely to the nineteenth century’s sweeping conversation about home in its various guises, At Home in Nineteenth- Century America encourages us to hear 272 PAGES • 37 HALFTONES our contemporary conversation about the PAPER • 978-0-8147-6914-0 signifi cance and meaning of home anew while appreciating the lingering imprint of past ideals.

WWW . NYUPRESS . ORG NYU PRESS 2 INTRODUCTION At Home in Nineteenth-Century America At HomeinNineteenth-Century tions underliesuchdemarcations? or rooms considered more privatethanothers?Finally, whatvaluesandassump- particular sectionshavegendered orgenerationalassociations?Are someareas spaces accommodateleisure andwhichsupportwork,bothpaidunpaid?Do apartments. Whatdomesticactivitiesoritemsare givengreatest priority?Which They mayreflect ontheirchildhoodorfamilyhomesdorm rooms or interplay amongspatialarrangements,socialfunctions,andculturalvalues. Ask studentstoconsiderthewaysinwhichtheirownlivingspacesreflect the EXPANDED ACTIVITY • • • • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION: people inthepast. ity ofhometoarangehistoricalinquirieswhileemphasizingitsimportance so muchofthisscholarship.Thegoalchapteristounderscore thecentral- have studiedthehomeandexplainsseparatespheres idealatthecenterof fields ofhistory(househistory, socialhistory, urbanhistory, andwomen’s history) physical surroundings and materialculture. Italsodiscussesthewaysthatvarious called homeinthenineteenthcenturyandhighlightsimportantchangestheir domesticity intheUnitedStates.Itaddresses thetypesofspacesAmericans The introduction describes thehistoryandhistoriographyofhome SUMMARY contemporary culture? How clearistheboundarybetweenprivateandpubliclifeinour What wastheseparatespheres ideal? houses anddomesticity? What are someofthedifferent contextsinwhichhistorianshavestudied nineteenth-century Americanhome? ofthe How wouldyoucharacterizethephysicaltransformation NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE 3 CHAPTER 1 Lady’s Book Book Lady’s What types of labor did nineteenth-century women do in their homes and What types of labor did nineteenth-century you find in the portrayals can differences how was this work described? What Child, and Maria work in the documents by Mary Lee, Lydia of women’s Catharine Beecher? associated with women and femininity In what ways did home life become century? in the first half of the nineteenth Jackson Downing, and Herman Melville What do John Angell James, Andrew to domestic spaces and the values of home? relationship suggest about men’s separation of private in this chapter depict the growing How do the sources and public? AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AT As discussed in several documents in this chapter, during the nineteenth century during the nineteenth century As discussed in several documents in this chapter, could many middle-class Americans believed that domestic spaces and goods relationship between materi- shape morals. Ask students to find examples of the concerns about Maria Child’s They might consider Lydia and morality. al culture earrings,” brides’ infatuated with “carpets, vases, sofas, white gloves, and pearl moral influence could be amplified faith that home’s Jackson Downing’s Andrew EXPANDED ACTIVITY EXPANDED QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION: • • • • Godey’s from literature in this chapter include prescriptive Sources Susan Warner Maria Child, and Lydia and documents by Catharine Beecher, Angell James John and femininity. between home considering the relationship and Herman the implications of middle-class domesticity for Melville discuss Jackson Downing describes the and Andrew men and their place in the home, and morality. between architecture relationship SUMMARY between home and a new middle-class relationship the This chapter explores As men’s decades of the nineteenth century. in the early emerging moral order came to be outside the home, domestic spaces moved labor increasingly as bulwarks against expected to maintain them who were associated with women Within public world of business competition. the morally suspect, this ideal of less and less depicted as – was recast domestic labor women’s separate spheres, as an extension of value and instead described labor with economic productive femininity. inherent the Nineteenth-Century of Emergence The Domestic Ideal 4 CHAPTER 1(continued)

The Emergence of the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Ideal Domestic The Emergence oftheNineteenth-Century homes? limited resources andkeepmoral andfewdomesticamenitiesbuild,furnish, homes andmaterialpossessionsbecamemarkersofmorality. Couldpeoplewith on whethereconomicandclassdifferences were erasedorexacerbatedwhen Once studentshaveexplored severalexamples,encouragethemtoreflect so? and 1.3)?Isthesecond,more imageclearlymore richlyfurnished “moral”?How the twoversionsofN.Currier’s lithographReadingtheScriptures (Figures 1.2 How doesareliance ongoods asconveyersandindicatorsofmoralityexplain have read intheadvertisement forHennessy’s CottageFurniture(Figure 1.1)? Montgomery’s makingteaforhermother. WhatmoralmessagesmightVictorians by “truthful”architectural design,orSusanWarner’s detaileddescriptionofEllen NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE CHAPTER 2 5

- Victorian home? and even slaves included in the ideal of the workers, the poor, When were and moral home? On what terms they included by employers, reformers, were How did life in a boarding house challenge the expectations for a respectable house challenge the expectations for a respectable How did life in a boarding uphold and test the ideal of the middle-class moral home? moral home? uphold and test the ideal of the middle-class hold out to did domestic life challenges, and rewards What hardships, of middle-class employers? Consider the working-class women in the homes and Lizzie Clarissa Packard, vantage points of Catharine Beecher, different How did women’s paid labor inside and outside of the home simultaneously paid labor inside and outside of How did women’s Based on the documents by Clarissa Packard and Louisa May Alcott, what Packard Based on the documents by Clarissa women continue to do in their own types of domestic labor did middle-class AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AT EXPANDED ACTIVITY EXPANDED domestic la- worked outside the home for wages, women’s As men increasingly the marketplace. On the one hand, this bor came to be viewed as separate from transformation diminished and even erased the economic significance of wom- • • • Goodenough. owners? • • homes? QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION The documents in this chapter include accounts of boardinghouse life by a life by a boardinghouse this chapter include accounts of The documents in Clarissa by Catharine Beecher, Writings journalistLowell mill girl and Nellie Bly. between mistresses the relationship explore and Lizzie Goodenough Packard, em- Little Women May Alcott’s Louisa from and domestic servants. An excerpt while unpaid domestic labor, women’s phasizes the importance of middle-class the moral home show the impact of Stafford Catharine Maria Sedgwick and Ward narrative Northrup’s Solomon from an excerpt Finally, on depictions of the poor. a contrast to the mor under slavery and offers describes domestic arrangements slaveholders. al slave cabin envisioned by some SUMMARY the public world of paid labor isolation from of home’s Despite the celebration intertwined. This chapter looks beyond remained the two realms and commerce, and unpaid domestic the ongoing significance of paid explore the ideal home to done at home. of work (economic and cultural) the variety labor and reveals Domestic of Labor Persistance The 6 CHAPTER 2 (continued)

The Persistance Labor ofDomestic different pointofview. powering towomen.Howso?Dividetheclassintwoandhaveeachhalftakea examples toaconsiderationofwhetherthisreframing isempoweringordisem- cance ofwomen’s domesticlabor?Encouragestudentstomovefrom thespecific toralization dothetwotextsprovide? Howdoesclassshapethemoralsignifi- has thedepictionofwomen’s householdlaborshifted?Whatexamplesofpas- Frugal Housewife(chapter1).BeecheriswritingonlytenyearsafterChild.How Who Are EngagedInDomestic ServiceandLydia MariaChild’s TheAmerican Have studentscompare the excerptsfrom CatharineBeecher’s LettersTo Persons ston hascalledthisreframing “thepastoralizationofhousework.” associating itwithaninherent femalemoralsuperiority. HistorianJeanneBoyd- en’s domesticlabor. Ontheotherhand,itraisedstatusofwomen’s workby NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE CHAPTER 3 Home, Civilization, and Citizenship

SUMMARY

As the domestic ideal increasingly included those beyond the white middle class (albeit in uneven and problematic ways), it inspired unexpected claims for political rights and supported new notions of citizenship. This chapter documents how politically marginalized groups – advocates for abolition, woman’s rights, racial equality, Native American citizenship, and trade unionism – used domestic norms, goods, and labor to lay claim to “civilization” and to articulate their particular demands.

Sources in this chapter include an excerpt from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and writings by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and Frances Willard. Susan La Flesche depicts Native American domesticity, and Caroline Dall, Wil- liam Sylvis, and the Woman’s Standard consider the relationship between waged labor, domesticity, and gender.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

• In what ways did various groups use the home and respectable domesticity to prove their own or others’ status as worthy citizens? For example, how do Harriet Beecher Stowe, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Ida B. Wells use domesticity to make cases for African American freedom and progress?

• How did claims by and about marginalized groups uphold the white middle-class domestic ideal? What aspects of Victorian domesticity remained unquestioned?

• How did claims by and about marginalized groups transform or critique the white middle-class domestic ideal? What aspects of Victorian domesticity did they challenge?

• How do Caroline Dall, William Sylvis, and the article from the Woman’s Standard portray the relationship between home and the family economy? How do their depictions compare with those by Lydia Maria Child in chapter 1 and by Catharine Maria Sedgwick in chapter 2?

AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA 7 8 CHAPTER 3 (continued)

Home, Civilization, andCitizenship can theybereconciled using examplesfrom thedocumentsinthischapter? significance? Are thetwo interpretations mutuallyexclusive?Howso?Andifnot, same document.)Whatisatstakeinthesedifferent understandingsofhome’s Find examplesofthesetwoarguments. (Insomecasestheycanbefoundinthe ship. Othersources suggest that“goodhomes”are evidenceofthesequalities. morality, civilization,andtheskillsnecessaryforengaged responsible citizen- Some documentsinthischaptercontainarguments that“goodhomes”foster EXPANDED ACTIVITY: NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE

CHAPTER 4 9 - identity? Consider public depictions like the Columbian Exposition and identity? Consider public depictions like the Columbian Exposition of international condemnation Do these marriages. Roosevelt’s Theodore by Mary Antin and Caroline portrayals offered intimate the more from differ In what ways did domestic goods and behaviors serve as markers of national In what ways did domestic goods What elements of the nineteenth-century American home were carried into American home were What elements of the nineteenth-century and what meanings did men and women give to them? the western frontier and values serve as stabilizing influences Why and how did domestic goods new and diversity, social increased in the face of unfamiliar environments, AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AT Shunk? • QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION • • technologies? Documents by W.A. Marin, William Dean Howells, and Stephen Crane offer Marin, William Stephen Crane offer Dean Howells, and Documents by W.A. Mary experiences in the American west. views on domestic ideals and different Ladies’ Home Journal suggest the ways in which do- Antin and an article from women negotiate immigration and growing mestic spaces and goods helped denunciation of Roosevelt’s the account of Theodore globalization. And finally, international and Car marriages, the descriptions of the Columbian Exposition, explicit draw more experiences as a military wife in the Philippines oline Shunk’s international competition, and U.S. imperial- connections between domesticity, ism. SUMMARY feel- and values to create on the use of domestic goods This chapter focuses United of geographic mobility and the in the face progress ings of stability and two meanings of “domestic,” it considers up the Taking States’ global expansion. use of domesticity in the between home and nation and the the give-and-take nineteenth century. American identity at the end of the and assertion of creation of Expansion the Age in Americanon the Move Home The

10 CHAPTER 5 At Home in the Late Nineteenth-Century City City At HomeintheLate Nineteenth-Century goods and private concerns movedintopubliclifeattheendofnineteenthgoods andprivateconcerns Many documentsinthischapter andtheprevious onesuggesthowdomestic EXPANDED ACTIVITY • • • • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION serve previously domesticfunctions. spaces –publicparks,settlementhouses,andwomen’s hotels–designedto Frederick LawOlmstead,JaneAddams,andElizaChesterdepictnewpublic urban homes–especiallyintenementsandapartmenthouses.Documentsby the perceived lossofprivacy, respectability, familyfeelingandrefinement in DeanHowells,andEdithWhartonhighlight Jacob Riis,StephenCrane,William responses tothischallenge. torian notionsofdomesticprivacyandconsiderstherangeculturalspatial industrial city. Thischapterexplores- thewaysinwhichcitylivingchallengedVic distinctions, testingtheresilience andadaptabilityofdomesticityinthemodern nineteenth century, changesinAmericanurbanlifeseemedtothreaten these marketplace andhome,malefemale,publicprivate.Attheendof The domesticidealthatemerged inthe1820srested ondistinctionsbetween SUMMARY mesticity alongside the transformation ofdomestic expectations? mesticity alongsidethetransformation apartment housesreflect thepersistenceofoldernotions respectable do How didproposed housingforunmarriedwomenandthenewmiddle-class Maria Sedgwickinchapter2? portrayals compare withearlieraccountsbyWard Stafford andCatharine and StephenCrane?Inwhatwaysare thesehomesinadequate?Howdo What are thedomesticconditionsofurbanpooraccording toJacobRiis were thesespacestrulypublic? What elementsofhomedidtheytransplantintopublicspace?To whatdegree vocabulary andassociationsofdomesticitytocreate newpublicsettings? In whatwaysdidFrederick LawOlmsteadandJaneAddamsusethe like fortheurbanpoor, themiddleclass,andwealthy? private thatunderwrote home?Whatdidthisblurringlook theidealVictorian distinctions betweenmarketplaceandhome,malefemale,public How didurbanlivingattheendofnineteenthcenturychallenge NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE

CHAPTER 5 At Home in the Late Nineteenth-Century City

century. Ask students to consider the presence of domesticity in contemporary public spaces. Are there public settings in which they expect to feel at home? They might consider particular stores, malls, transportation spaces, even their own schools or campuses. What role does domesticity play in these spaces? Is it addressing similar concerns as in the past? Have we found new reasons and ways to domesticate public life? (continued)

AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA 11 12 CHAPTER 6 Dismantling the Victorian IdealandtheFuture ofDomesticity interconnection? • • • • • QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION pendence ofhomeandcommercial lifeandspacesfortheworkingclass. Michael M.Davis,Jr. andtheIndustrialHousingAssociateshighlightinterde- ness offered bythebungalowhomeandlabor-saving devices.Finally, reformer andMarthaBensleyBruère celebratethecomfort,informality,Wilson, andopen- gender roles thatconstrainwomenandmen.DocumentsbyMaryAbbott,Henry ization. GertrudeBustillMossellandA.L.Hallreject theconflationofhomeand - efficiency oftheprivatehome,dismissingitasprimitiveandcallingformodern Edward Bellamy, HelenCampbell,andCharlottePerkinsGilmanchallengethe teenth-century homebutinsteadreveal variousattemptstothinkoutsideofit. the documentsinthisconcludingchapterdonotrecord theendofnine- ization, technology, andagrowing focusonpersonalityandprivacy. To thatend, ofthecenturyandconsiderschallengesposedbyfeminism,suburban- turn This chapterchartsthechangingimportanceofhomeasaculturalidealat SUMMARY nineteenth century?How dothedocumentsinthischaptersuggesttheir What istherelationship betweenhomeandmarketplacebytheendof What gendered assumptionsdidtheyleaveunchallenged? craftsmanship seektore-gender ofthecentury? domesticspacesattheturn How didthenewvisionofdomesticefficiencyand theriseofmen’s and Godey’s Lady’s Book(Figure. 1.7). Consult theblueprintsfrom theSear’s Homecatalogue(Figure. Modern 6.1) domestic lifeandhoware thosehopesreflected inthelayoutofhouses? architectural adviceinchapter1.Whatexpectationsdoeseachbringto Compare HenryL.Wilson’s bungalowdesigntoAndrew JacksonDowning’s domestic burdens inchapter2. their ideastoClarissaPackard’s recommendations foreasingwomen’s Gilman’s, andMarthaBensleyBruère’s home?Compare visionsofthemodern What are Edward Bellamy’s, HelenStuartCampbell’s, CharlottePerkins depict women’s unpaidlaborinthehome? women’s domesticlaborandthemoralupliftoftheirfamilies?Howdothey dotheauthorsinthischapterrejectOn whatterms theconnectionbetween NYU PRESSINSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE SUPPLEMENTAL ASSIGNMENTS Supplemental Assignments

• Did the Victorian domestic ideal that emerged in the first decades of the nineteenth century prove inclusive or divisive as it developed over the century? Use primary sources to support your interpretation. You might consider the impact of the ideal home on particular social groups. For example, did the domestic ideal create opportunities for women to cooperate across lines of class and race? Or did the conflation of domestic goods and labor with morality sustain class divisions that went beyond income inequalities? How did the Victorian domestic ideal delineate or erase racial distinctions? A thorough answer should consider change over time.

• In the 1960s and 1970s, second-wave feminists argued,“the personal is political.” By this they meant that the seemingly private problems of individual women often had their roots in more public systems of power and meaning making. Many of the documents in At Home in Nineteenth-Century America reveal the ways in which the domestic was political and, in turn, how many public concerns were often addressed or framed in terms of domesticity. Use documents from the volume to explore the relationship between the domestic and the political. What patterns emerge? Does the relationship between home and politics change over time? What stays the same?

• Find your own primary source on the nineteenth-century home and write a brief (no more than 200-word) introduction to it as though it were going to be included in At Home in Nineteenth-Century America. In addition. explain where your source might belong in the volume and consider how it clarifies, complicates, or challenges other sources already included. What will your source add to the reader’s understanding of the meaning and significance of the nineteenth-century home?

AT HOME IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA 13