women to take pride in their laundry and do it themselves with the latest washing technology, the electric machine. Advertisers and domestic columnists cautioned women about the risks of having their clothes washed with the soiled clothes of strangers, that is, the exposure to contagion, and about valuable items of clothing not being handled with care (D’Arcy Collection, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

doi:10.4324/9780203221938-18

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women to take pride in their laundry and do it themselves with the latest washing technology, the electric machine. Advertisers and domestic columnists cautioned women about the risks of having their clothes washed with the soiled clothes of strangers, that is, the exposure to contagion, and about valuable items of clothing not being handled with care (D’Arcy Collection, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

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ABSTRACT

In Western countries during the 1920s, there were more variations in laundering methods than for any other household task. According to advertisements, washing was done by a variety of workers and methods: by hand washing, electric home washers, commercial laundries, and by laundresses who worked in the home, and those who worked out of the home (Cowan 1976b, 162). But something happened between that time and the present to prescribe who is responsible for the task and the type of technology used, not only for doing laundry, but for dishwashing (and other household tasks) as well.