From Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart : A Cultural History of Domestic Advice

Today's domestic-advice writers--women such as Martha Stewart, Cheryl Mendelson, and B. Smith--are part of a long tradition, notes Sarah Leavitt. Their success rests on a legacy of literature that has focused on the home as an expression of ideals. Here, Leavitt crafts a fascinating genealogy of domestic advice, based on her readings of hundreds of manuals spanning 150 years of history. Over the years, domestic advisors have educated women about everything from modernism and morality to sanitation and design. Their writings helped create the idealized vision of home held by so many Americans, Leavitt says. Investigating cultural themes in domestic advice written since the mid-nineteenth century, she demonstrates that these works, which found meaning in kitchen counters, parlor rugs, and bric-a-brac, have held the interest of readers despite vast changes in women's roles and opportunities. Domestic-advice manuals have always been the stuff of fantasy, argues Leavitt, demonstrating cultural ideals rather than cultural realities. But these rich sources reveal how women understood the connection between their homes and the larger world. At its most fundamental level, the true domestic fantasy was that women held the power to reform their society through first reforming their homes. Marla Miller This engaging work recovers the many ways women, past and present, have used their homes as vehicles to express their own cultural, social, and political beliefs, altering permanently the way we think about all things "domestic." ch. 1. Going to housekeeping : creating a frugal and honest home -- -- ch. 2. The rise of the domiologist : science in the home -- -- ch. 3. Americanization, model homes, and lace curtains -- -- ch. 4. Modernism : no junk! is the cry of the new interior -- -- ch. 5. Color is running riot : character, color, and children -- -- ch. 6. Our own North American Indians : romancing the past -- -- ch. 7. Togetherness and the open-space plan. Acknowledgments 11 Introduction 17 Notes 223 1. Going to Housekeeping 24 Notes 223 2. The Rise of the Domiologist 56 Notes 226 3. Americanization, Model Homes 89 Notes 230 4. Modernism: No Junk! 113 Notes 233 5. Color is Running Riot 142 Notes 235 6. Our Own North American Indians 164 Notes 238 7. Togetherness & The Open-Space Plan 187 Notes 239 Conclusion 211 Notes 243 Notes 223 Bibliography 245 Index 260 This study demonstrates that today's domestic advice writers -women such as Martha Stewart, Cheryl Mendelson and B. Smith - are part of a long tradition. Sarah A. Leavitt crafts a cultural history and genealogy of domestic advice, based on her readings of manuals spanning 150 years of history. In Julia McNair Wright's 1879 domestic-advice manual, The Complete Home, she took the voice of "Aunt Sophronia" and discussed home-making with her three nieces, Helen, Miriam, and Hester.