My mom had a great washing machine, on the breezeway with one of those hand cranked wringers. (Her's was electric in 1945 for agitating the clothes, but she had to do final wring by the wringer with a handle.) She admonished me to not ever put my fingers in the crack of the rubber pressers. So of course when she wasn't looking I did, and cried loudly. When will I ever learn!
Sharing this at Sepia Saturday this week...
My grandmother had an electric wringer washing machine and I loved to help her by catching those flat items as they came out the other side. You did need to watch your fingers!!
ReplyDeleteI love doing laundry, and don't find it a chore, but imagine how arduous it was back in those days.
ReplyDeleteSwannanoa? Is there any connection to the Swanee River, I wonder?
I enjoyed your post.
Another local museum I need to visit soon. I've read about innovative programs to help women do laundry in the developing world, especially in places where they must walk long distances to find sources of water. In some ways the washing machine was a major invention, right up there with light bulbs and radio, in the way it liberated women's time and energy for other activities.
ReplyDeleteWonderful selection of photos! My maternal grandmother had one of those scary wringer washers, also electric, in a room off her kitchen. I still remember her lecture about watching my hands and which switch to pull to release the wringers if my hands got caught (luckily, they didn't). I was also taken by the dresses on the line since I have the same grandmother's childhood dress from when she was one -- and it looks similar to these. Nice, nostalgic post.
ReplyDeleteKathy, thanks for coming over and commenting here. Glad you kept all your fingers while helping your grandmother do the washing.
ReplyDeleteKat - at least it is a step up from stones by the river to do the wash! Speaking of rivers, the Swanee is in Florida, and we're about 300 miles north of there where the Swannanoa River is in North Carolina...maybe the Native names were somewhat similar, but of course these are the Anglicized (or maybe Spanish) versions of both of them.
Mike - that's so right, we were fed the propaganda that these helpers of technology to make housework easier would free women up to do something else. I've yet to find a woman who can keep up with her house and then just sit around reading a book and drinking wine, though many of us have put that out as just how our lives are (they're lying!)
Molly - that's great that you have those old beautiful hand-sewn clothes of children's. I remember having so many size 1 or 6 months size clothes for my first child, and he was out-growing them within a few months...so they never wore out.
My Mom had a hand crank wringer first that sat attached to the center of two laundry tubs, and I used to help her crank it. But then she got a washing machine with an electric wringer and I wasn't allowed near it. I'd help her hang the clothes out on the clothesline, though. I thought it was fun back then. Today I'm quite content with my washer and dryer thank you very much! :)
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