I remember reading about immigrants to the US prior to about 1950. The very first thing that they, or those that were "coming up in the world" did when the family got a little money coming in to spend on Mom was to hire the washing done. My brother has a collection of washing widgets (only one machine that worked with Electricity!). It must have been backbreaking work for a single woman, and even a woman and daughters.
During the Depression of the 1930's my mother was in college (poor as church mice, but they lived in Corvallis, Oregon near Oregon State University). When the President of the College realized that they were going to loose all those students who were only just barely making it (my mother and grandmother spent every summer working in the fruit canneries to make her tuition and Grandmother worked in one of the Sorority houses as a kitchen maid) he decreed that every employee of the College would contribute one days pay a month to one of these scholars. In order to make it up to the College secretary that sponsored my mother my grandmother did the lady's silk unmentionables by hand and returned them clean, ironed and properly folded! Many women didn't trust their delicate under things which were frequently silk, or fine clothing to washing machines until fairly late. Washing machines sold like hot cakes though. Wonderful for those big, heavy sheets and workman's pants or skirts. The mangle my neighbor gave me came from the early 1950's. She told me about ironing the frills on her daughter's dressed as well as doing sheets and table cloths. It took skill to do that! The washer with ringer that was in our home was fairly old when I remember pouring an entire box of washing detergent (powder) into it and having suds everywhere! I wasn't allowed to actually use the wringer part because of the danger of getting hand, hair, or even dress caught and dragged through it. Besides, I couldn't reach that high!. I do remember hating having to put up the wash on the clothes line and then get it in. At least we had drying wires in the basement for when it got cold or rainy! My mother even had special racks to insert into pants so they would dry with a crease in them! Ironing meant sprinkling each piece with a little water and rolling it up then putting it in a plastic bag so that everything got evenly damp so you could iron it. This was before steam irons but after the old sad-irons that heated on the top of the stove. No one really saw the need for indoor dryers until the mid to late 1950's in my neighborhood. After WWII, Britain continued to have rationing for several years. Rationing in the US disappeared almost as soon as the war ended. Wanda -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of julian wilson Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 10:40 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: [h-cost] OT regional english for mangle Ok, Guys and Gals, there is obviously a terminology divide between the UK and the USA, as well as a Time divide here. May I put in a comments from an ageing Britisher? Most of you who remember an ironing "mangle" being used by your female relatives seem to have grown-up in the USA, post WW2 - quite a long way after, at that. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
