Old and Interesting

September 16, 2020 4:51 PM

Antique household equipment, furnishings, utensils - housekeeping as part of social history. Domestic life, household management - how people ran their homes and did the daily chores. Yesterday's everyday objects are today's antiques or museum pieces, making us curious about past ways of life. Old & Interesting takes a look at how these everyday things were used, how people managed their home life - and more.
posted by aniola (15 comments total)

This post about a 13th century technique for cooking via chemical reaction was pretty cool: Cooking without fire
posted by cali at 5:30 PM on September 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS RABBIT HOLE!! :(
posted by Melismata at 6:28 PM on September 16, 2020 [6 favorites]

Further confirmation that I was not born a minute too soon.

It's a mystery to me how people managed to have so many children back when simply getting clean was an ordeal. I am (again) amazed that our species survived beyond a handful of generations.

Fascinating website, thank you for posting.
posted by she's not there at 6:36 PM on September 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

What I want is this site but for the rest of the world.
posted by aniola at 7:37 PM on September 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

What a cool and interesting resource, aniola. Thanks for this post. Some fascinating reading and learning.
posted by nickyskye at 8:36 PM on September 16, 2020

They seem to be making an effort to include more than Europe: Traditional "ironing" in Korea and Japan.
posted by rory at 3:52 AM on September 17, 2020

We need more modern tools with names like Mangler and box mangler
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:40 AM on September 17, 2020

This post about a 13th century technique for cooking via chemical reaction was pretty cool: Cooking without fire

See also cooking with acid instead of heat like ceviche
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:51 AM on September 17, 2020

The cooking without fire technology is still relevant today! It's the same chemical reaction in self-heating hotpot meals.

Thanks for the reminder to check out the rest.
posted by invokeuse at 8:57 AM on September 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

The 1889 book "Japanese Homes And Their Surroundings" (Project Gutenberg) is mostly about domestic architecture but it has a lot of great engravings of tools and objects that the author saw in the homes he visited. Low-Tech Magazine also has interesting articles on pre-electric-era gadgets and how they could be put to use today.
posted by technodelic at 10:54 AM on September 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's a mystery to me how people managed to have so many children back when simply getting clean was an ordeal.

Children were part of the domestic workforce. Even my mother remembers having to get the freshly-washed sheets back from the creek before the school bus came. Great-Grandma made her own soap with the ashes from her woodstove; she had such a big stash of it when she died that Mom still has a piece. It’s absolutely amazing on laundry stains.

Bookmarked for much later perusal!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:03 AM on September 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

As if this website wasn't already very much my cup of tea... Mrs Tiggy-Winkle demonstrating a clothes airer.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 12:40 PM on September 17, 2020

This has made my day:

They that wash on Monday
Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
Are not so much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday
Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday,
Wash for shame;
They that wash on Friday,
Wash in need;
And they that wash on Saturday,
Oh ! they're sluts indeed.

"Standard" version
Halliwell, Nursery Rhymes of England, 1842
posted by kitcat at 1:19 PM on September 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Kitcat, I do love the suggestion that it never rains except on Sundays I guess
posted by applesauce at 3:57 AM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

lots of old irons (via)
posted by aniola at 2:15 PM on October 11, 2020