Women at home in Victorian America : a social history

Book

Women at home in Victorian America : a social history / Ellen M. Plante.

Summary:

In Women at Home in Victorian America, author Ellen Plante expands our view of an important, if often-overlooked, figure in the story of America's transformation from an agrarian to an urban, industrialized society: the middle-class Victorian woman. Plante makes generous use of primary sources to explore the ideals, virtues, and exotica of the Victorian domestic sphere and provides readers with an authentic record of the great utopian vision embraced by women of the era.

In Women at Home in Victorian America you will find 19th-century illustrations, descriptions, and contemporaneous accounts of every aspect of Victorian home life, including courtship and marriage, the ideal home, motherhood and childrearing, etiquette and deportment, recipes for home remedies and beauty, and more.

Record details

ISBN: 0816033927
ISBN: 9780816033928
Physical Description: xiii, 242 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York : Facts on File, ©1997.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-237) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Virtuous women. Advice to young ladies -- Courtship and marriage -- The dutiful wife -- The Victorian home. The high priestess of the home -- Victorian houses and home spaces -- Home decoration -- Motherhood and family life. Motherhood -- Children and child care -- The Victorian family -- Manners, polite society and personal appearance. Proper etiquette and deportment -- Entertaining and socializing -- Fashion and beauty -- Home work, handiwork and leisure. Domestic chores -- Handiwork and ornamental needlework -- Home crafts and leisurely pursuits -- Life's passages. Sickness and health -- Old age, death and the afterlife -- Mourning rituals -- Appendix A. Select rules of etiquette for Victorian women -- Appendix B. Nineteenth-century advice and recipes for the toilette -- Appendix C.A select listing of popular names for women during the Victorian Era.

1. Virtuous Women -- 2. The Victorian Home -- 3. Motherhood and Family Life -- 4. Manners, Polite Society and Personal Appearance -- 5. Home Work, Handwork and Leisure -- 6. Life's Passages -- App. A. Select Rules of Etiquette for Victorian Women -- App. B. Nineteenth-Century Advice and Recipes for the Toilette -- App. C. A Select Listing of Popular Names for Women During the Victorian Era.