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In the book Primitives: Our American Heritage by Kathryn M. McNerney is a picture of a gourd and reference to its being used as a container for soft soap. “Newly cooked soap poured in and allowed to “set” was then scooped out as needed with long handled wooden paddles and spoons” (pg. 93). So I am in search of documentation...
I have found some comparisons to people’s heads/brain and soft soap and gourds. I found one reference to the Civil War years.
The Story of a Regiment: A History of the Campaigns, and Associations in the
Field of the Sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 1868
Page 522
"About our hour of retreat…the rebels attacked our outposts…we were notified that a retreat would be commenced…ordered to destroy such articles…Accordingly, I cut up a pair of shoes, mashed in a camp-kettle, and threw a gourd-full of soft soap on the ground."
If anyone comes across a picture or laundry/laundress please look for a gourd. If you find a gourd it may not have been a water gourd but used for soap. I’m trying to find more documentation for using a gourd for soft soap.
I think the use of gourds in this manner may have been so common that is little written about this use…but they might show up in pictures.
Thank you for any assistance in this search.
Susan Armstrong
I have found some comparisons to people’s heads/brain and soft soap and gourds. I found one reference to the Civil War years.
The Story of a Regiment: A History of the Campaigns, and Associations in the
Field of the Sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 1868
Page 522
"About our hour of retreat…the rebels attacked our outposts…we were notified that a retreat would be commenced…ordered to destroy such articles…Accordingly, I cut up a pair of shoes, mashed in a camp-kettle, and threw a gourd-full of soft soap on the ground."
If anyone comes across a picture or laundry/laundress please look for a gourd. If you find a gourd it may not have been a water gourd but used for soap. I’m trying to find more documentation for using a gourd for soft soap.
I think the use of gourds in this manner may have been so common that is little written about this use…but they might show up in pictures.
Thank you for any assistance in this search.
Susan Armstrong