Keeping
House in the 50s
In honor of Mother’s Day
and my mother’s birthday which also fell in May, I bring you a look at how our
mother’s kept house in the 50s when I was a teenager.
This is a picture of my
mother, Evangeline in 1956. It’s a typical shot of women in that era. I think
this picture was taken when my folks, and my sister-in-law’s folks, the Keizers,
went to visit my brother Harlan and his wife, Kay, when they lived in Texas while
Harlan was in the Air Force.
My mother kept a clean
and orderly home and she was one terrific cook. As my father was mainly a meat
and potato man, we ate hardy every day when he came home from the Cement Plant.
Dinner, or Suppah, as we called it was served at the same time every night and
we all sat down at the kitchen table to eat together or we didn’t eat. Once the
dishes were washed and put away and the kitchen was again orderly, you were on
your own if you came home late. And you’d better not mess up her now perfectly
clean and orderly kitchen in the process of finding something to eat.
Remember this kitchen
set? We ate at one that looked similar to it.
My mother could put
together a holiday meal, such as a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, and have
everything ready, hot, and ready to eat at the same time without the
convenience of a microwave. She did get upset though if everyone didn’t sit
down when she called them. “Everyone, come and sit down before this food gets
cold,” she would say.
When it came to
housekeeping, she was like an efficient machine. No maid you could hire could
have done a better job. Tasks were usually delegated a day during the week. The
wash was done on Monday, the ironing on Tuesday. Most things were ironed, including
my Dad’s undershorts and the bed sheets. There was no permapress.
We had a washing machine
like this when I was real little. It took a long time to put everything through
those wringers.
Cleaning aids consisted
of a bottle of Chlorox, a spray bottle of Windex, SOS or Brillo pads, and maybe
some Vinegar. Scrubbing powders in a can were used for the sink and bathtub.
I found this video of an
enactment of an article found in Good Housekeeping for May 1956, called “Good
Wife’s Guide.” I don’t know of any women who followed these suggestions in that
era, but it did perpetuate the idea of “a woman’s place” at that time. Madison
Avenue did a good job of keeping women where they belonged, “in the home,” and
from advancing in our society as individuals who knew how to do more than clean
house, cook, and raise children. The women’s magazines at that time like Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and others
also set women up as failures in anything but working in the home.
The ads at that time,
like this one, most always showed a woman wearing an apron and doing some chore
in the home.
Who knew that our
mother’s were coveting this amazing Hoover vacuum for Christmas?
My mother and our dear
Aunt Virginia kept up a sisterly rivalry when it came to keeping a clean house.
I remember one day when Aunt Virginia was visiting and she said to my mother,
“Now, Evangeline, you’d better dust off the top of that refrigerator. I think I
see some dirt up there.” Of course my mother grabbed the first rag she could
find and proceeded to wipe it off. And you know that Aunt Virginia was only
teasing her. They were like that with each other.
Keeping a clean and
efficiently run household was important to women in those days, to be sure. A
woman who didn’t do “her work” at home was often looked down upon by her
housewife peers. My mother never failed in her “home work” and only later did we
realize what a difference her “work” made in our lives. Keeping her house
orderly, kept us in order too. We benefitted from her example of “work first
and play later.”
I miss calling her up on
the phone to ask her help in some chore or other or with a recipe I remember
from years past.
To honor her memory I
share with you and your mother one of my favorite recipes of hers:
EVE’S RAISIN CAKE
Put together:
1 pkg. seeded raisins
(if
you can’t find them, unseeded will work just fine)
2 c. cold water
½ tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
½ c. shortening
Put on stove and boil 5
minutes. Cool thoroughly then add:
2 tsp. soda (I assume this is baking soda)
2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups flour
Bake in 350 degree oven.
Makes two loaves.
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