1900 House

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

*****   Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 09:52:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Baird <jlbaird3@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: 1900 House
To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Has anyone been watching "The 1900 House" on PBS? (I
guess it was on in the UK last year)  I jsut cought
the 2nd episode last night, and I found it
fascinating,  not least because of the insights into
political development.

For those who don't know, its a sort of "Real World",
except its a family thaat is living for 3 months in a
London house which has been remodeled to make it into
a replica of a turn of the century middle-class
dwelling.  Gas lighting, coal stove, etc.  The family
is only allowed to make use of products that would
have been available in 1900 London, and they have to
stay within the budget of an average middle class
family of the time.

The 2nd episode last night showed the family moving
in, and the wife (who was the one who wnated to do it)
breaking down under the workload after a few days,
complaining that the husband was getting the better
deal, etc.  Just watching her and her daughters doing
the wash (12 hours to do a single load!), I wondered
how women ever had time to agitate for suffrage and
the like.  Check it out if you get the chance...

Jim Baird   *****

*****   Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 10:22:10 -0700
To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Brad De Long <delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

This is the reason that the most important thing to get, in Virginia
Woolf's view, was "a room of one's own"...

Brad DeLong

P.S.: Why don't they have servants? A middle-class family in *that*
house would have at least one servant sleeping under the kitchen
table, and more likely two or three...   *****

*****   Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 16:51:09 +0100
To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Jim heartfield <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: 1900 House

The principle insight of the 1900 House series (shown here last year, no
on PBS, this year) seemed to be that, despite protests to the contrary,
most people are wedded to modern standards of living. The sheer
barbarism of the world the environmentalists want to drag us back to is
a salutary lesson.   *****

*****   Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 14:55:17 -0400
To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: kelley <kwalker2@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: 1900 House

> Just watching her and her daughters doing
> >the wash (12 hours to do a single load!), I wondered
> >how women ever had time to agitate for suffrage and
> >the like.  Check it out if you get the chance...
> >
> >Jim Baird

yer avg family had some form of servants, for one.  the suffragettes
were from well to do families for another.  and men did significantly
more -- e.g., men shared in some of the tasks, like bringing in the
water.  AND, people didn't wear clothes like we wear today which
require frequent washing.  see Ruth Schwartz Cowan, _More Work for
Mother_  in it, Cowan explains why survey data reveal that women are
spending more time doing housework than ever before (that was as of
the mid 80s).  part of it is because modern household appliance
actually make more work because along with technological developments
come different standards.  e.g., in the olden daze, bread was of the
quick bread kind or sour dought starter bread.  (corn bread, batter
breads which don't require kneading and elaborate steps).   when the
steam mill emerged, we had finely milled white flour and the women's
magazines (in order to promote purchase) spent considerable effort
advertising the flour via recipes for yeast breads, as well as cakes
that required considerably more effort to make.

kelley   *****

*****   Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 15:20:21 -0400
To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: 1900 House

I doubt, though, that American women in the 80s on average spent more
time baking bread and cakes than before, Martha Stewart
notwithstanding.  So the different standards that account for more
time for housework in the mid-80s than ever before, which Cowan,
Schor, etc. write about,  must mainly concern standards of
cleanliness and care-giving.

Yoshie   *****