Laundry?

[TraciAnn]

What sort of prices would have been charged for laundry during the war? Let's say I am portraying someone from the US Sanitary Commission or some other aid society... would they have charged for their laundry service, and if so how much? Also, what services would have been offered... washing, starching, bluing, ironing, mending?

I have been searching for these answers, but I can’t seem to come up with actual prices, or actual laundry services, offered to soldiers.

Thanks so much!

~Traci

[MercyAngel62]

Re: Laundry?

Virginia Mescher's Laundry Handbook: A Manual For Creating A Civilian or Military Laundress Impression or Laundry Exhibit and her other book Laundry and Cleaning Practices of the Mid-Nineteenth Century was a great help in preparing for my laundress impression at Fort Granger in 2006.

[Angel of Mercy]

Re: Laundry?

Hi Traci,
If you want to contact the Fort Delaware Society, I believe they have the amounts their laundresses charged (thery were also paid by the gov't). Their number contact info can be found at http://www.del.net/org/fort/

Hope that can help you!

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Laundry?

Laundress work is VERY working class... lower working class. I'd take a look at whether or not Sanitary Commission ladies themselves (who seem to be drawn from more middle class settings) would be doing the actual laundering work, or would be "coordinating" lower working class laundresses to offer the service.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Laundry?

What sort of prices would have been charged for laundry during the war? Let's say I am portraying someone from the US Sanitary Commission or some other aid society... would they have charged for their laundry service, and if so how much? Also, what services would have been offered... washing, starching, bluing, ironing, mending?

I have been searching for these answers, but I can’t seem to come up with actual prices, or actual laundry services, offered to soldiers.

Thanks so much!

~Traci

I did a two part article on Civil War Laundresses for the August and September 2003 issues of Camp Chase Gazette. In Part 1 there was a section on payments of military laundresses but not private laundresses.

In the military, laundresses were contracted by the military the the individual councils of adminstration for each post. Basically, each officer or enlisted man was charged a specific amount, depending upon their rank, for basic laundry services if he decided to use the laundress and any added service such as mending, sewing on of buttons or alterations were extra. Not just any woman could come in and do laundry; they had to have a certificate signed by the army. Any others would be thrown off the premises.

I have not seen any references to amounts charged for individual laundry services such as starching, bluing or ironing. In my research, I would not think that the nicities such as bluing, starching or ironing would have been included, especially for enlisted men. Officers might have obtained those services since they paid more but nothing was mentioned in any of the period accounts I've read.

The Confederate government appropriated money to pay hospital laundresses and they were paid from this money and the pay varied according to the year. At first they were paid $6/month and rations but due to the difficulty obtaining laundresses the pay was raised to $12/mo. In May of 1863, General Order 62 stated that they were to be paid $25/month plus rations and quarters.

In reading diaries of nurses that were associated with the Sanitary Commission, they sent their laundry out to be done. Mary Bickerdyke oversaw laundry done but she was only associated with the Sanitary Commission by neccesity and not by her choice. A great many times, especially in the north, contraband men and women were used for laundry work. Convalescent men were also recruited to do laundry in hospitals.

On the march, there were a few women laundress that traveled with the army and those were documented in the articles. Most of the time, men did their own laundry or paid other men to do their laundry. In those cases, I doubt that bluing, starching, or ironing entered into the picture. In garrison camps, there were more women laundress available but then again, there prices were regulated by the army.

[TraciAnn]

Re: Laundry?

That is certainly a good point to make about the class situation... I fully intend on portraying a lower class woman working under the auspices of the Sanitary Commission. I was asking about the prices and such because I wanted to make some signs... I am working as a Living History Ranger at Vicksburg NMP and we are going to try the laundress thing this weekend. We have most of the supplies we need, including dirty laundry, but I wanted to make some price lists and signs... visitors like to see stuff. Hopefully visitors will get involved and help us with the laundry...

It always seems like most women and children are bored out of their minds at a military park (not all women and children, of course) and doing something like this gets them involved. The women can learn about one job a woman could have preformed during the war and the kids get to get their hands dirty and splash around in some water while, hopefully, learning something about history. A few weekends ago we rolled bandages which are certainly simple enough, but the children loved it and it let them get involved at a place that for the most part is way over their heads.

So I would welcome any suggestions anyone can offer about this laundress thing or any other type of impression we could do here at the Park.

Thanks so much,
Traci

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Laundry?

I can just add a ditto: we visited a living history townsite in Utah year before last, and besides getting their hair licked by the oxen, the laundry station was the big hit of the day. It wasn't a fully-accurate set-up, just due to liability issues with little kids, fires, and July in Utah (outdoor fire restrictions) but even having cold wash tubs with wash boards, brushes, rags to wash, and rope lines to dry was an instructive experience for the kids. The docents running the station talked about laundry to all and sundry while demonstrating some dirt-busting moves.

[KarinTimour]

Re: Laundry?

Dear Traci:

Since it's two days away it may be too late to make any alterations in your plans, but Vicksburg was a town, and civilians would have been doing laundry there. Why not portay civilian inhabitants of the town, doing your laundry together? That would also give a reason for there to be children with you, as probably working women would have had to do most tasks with their children all around them.

You could then dispense with the period signs, and just explain to spectators what you're doing. That also allows you to have the bluing, starching, etc. which you can also explain to spectators.

I agree with Elizabeth, laundry is always a crowd pleaser, and you can easily draw spectator children in as well. Depending on the size of the child, when I've demonstrated laundressing, we've let them try on the yoke (with empty buckets), pump the water to fill a bucket (if you have a pump), let them poke a cautious finger into the soft soap crock, practice putting clothes on the line with the clothes pins (amazing how popular this one is), wring out clothing, stir the clothes that are soaking, etc.

Whatever you decide to do, please come back and post and let us know what worked and what (if anything) you'd do differently the next time.

Best of luck,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[TraciAnn]

Re: Laundry?

Thank you all so much for your suggestions...

We will be stationed near the Shirley House this weekend which was used as a smallpox hospital by the Union Army in 1864. Could we possibly use that bit of history to our advantage? Portray citizens after the siege working at the hospital?

Either way, I think the spectators will love it and it is always fun to actually do something as opposed to sitting around talking about stuff.

One more question... these are the supplies we have: 2 large wash basins, multiple buckets, a wash board, a kettle (though I doubt we can have a fire), soap, clothes line, clothes pins, and a few large baskets for the clothes to be transported in. Aside from those items is there anything else we really need to do this? I would love to have an iron and ironing board, a wringer, a yoke (one has been on my wish list for some time now), and a bunch of other stuff... but what is the bare minimum needed?

Thanks again!
~Traci

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Laundry?

Thank you all so much for your suggestions...


One more question... these are the supplies we have: 2 large wash basins, multiple buckets, a wash board, a kettle (though I doubt we can have a fire), soap, clothes line, clothes pins, and a few large baskets for the clothes to be transported in. Aside from those items is there anything else we really need to do this? I would love to have an iron and ironing board, a wringer, a yoke (one has been on my wish list for some time now), and a bunch of other stuff... but what is the bare minimum needed?

Thanks again!
~Traci

You don't want an regular ironing board as the only ones they had were boards suspended between backs of two chairs. The boards were covered with pads of blankets and then a smooth surface such as a sheet. You can use a regular board or sometimes the boards came in different shapes for bosoms (shirts) or skirts. Wringers might be nice but not necessary and the correct ones, in working order, are difficult to find. Also, the wringer would need something to attach to such as a bench or tub. A copper boiler would be a "nice to have" as would be a wash bench. If you want to do bluing, you would need a third wash tub.

The _Laundry Handbook_ was written for those wishing to do a laundry impression or display and has detailed pictures and descriptions of the laundry steps, items, period laundry instructions, glossary of cleaning agents, answers to possible visitor questions and an extensive bibliography.

[col90]

Re: Laundry?

One more question... these are the supplies we have: 2 large wash basins, multiple buckets, a wash board, a kettle (though I doubt we can have a fire), soap, clothes line, clothes pins, and a few large baskets for the clothes to be transported in. Aside from those items is there anything else we really need to do this? I would love to have an iron and ironing board, a wringer, a yoke (one has been on my wish list for some time now), and a bunch of other stuff... but what is the bare minimum needed?

Traci....since you're working at Vicksburg NPS, they probably have Virginia Mescher's books in their bookstore dealing with this, and I believe she gives all of that information in there...check it out.

Colleen

[KarinTimour]

Re: Laundry?

Dear Traci:

In terms of the smallpox hospital, maybe you could all be family members of someone in the smallpox wards? Perhaps your husbands are in the army, one or more of the children got smallpox, or a mother, aunt or other relative, and you refused to have them go alone to the hospital (perhaps you live outside of Vicksburg, but traveled here after the seige for shopping or some other reason and while in town, someone got sick and collapsed. The Union authorities insisted on quarantine and that the other children and you get vaccinated.

You're not certain you belive or trust in the vaccination, but you couldn't have a child hospitalized all alone and you had no one to leave the other children with, so each family independently came to the same conclusion, and so you're sort of semi-permanently staying in Vicksburg until the sick one is well enough to travel.

You're concerned about getting home, as times are unsettled, but in the meantime, you've got to keep the children in clean clothing, and since you're almost in despirate straights, moneywise, you've gladly taken up the invite from your cousin/friend/other relative who is one of the regular town laundresses. With the end of the seige, the Union occupation and the increase of people coming into town to shop, do business, repair the damage from the seige, she has been overwhelmed with the increase in demand for laundry. She's happy to take on such good workers and is hoping you'll stay permanently. Perhaps one person can be the regular laundress, everyone else can be "pick up" or "parttime" help (some of whom are better than others, more clumsy than others, need more direction than others, more prone to upset buckets or drop clean clothes in the dust, etc.)

Perhaps one of the other reenactors (military or civilian, male or female) can come by to complain about the wash, comment that some of the clothes didn't come back, try to haggle the price down for this week's washing....

By 1864 much of the Union army were travelling without laundresses, so they were always on the lookout for local civilians who could do a load or two of wash for a price. In Mississippi in this period, I suspect that most of the laundresses would have been newly freed former slaves, but there might have been white laundresses as well. As Mrs. Clark points out, this really is an impression for someone who is definately very working class. As soon as a family was even a bit above "barely making it" they sent their laundry "out" so the person who is doing the laundry is just about the bottom of the working pecking order. Respectable, but not making a ton of money on each load of clothing.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Laundry?

Working for a NPS site myself, it is critical to have all the research before the activity is put into action. To be honest, we still are getting more research on some issues that are hotly debated but as long as we have the research on our side then the war what it was.

It is essentially necessary to read both of Virginia Mescher's booklets on laundry. Neither of them are long books and they both provide excellent information on how laundry was done during the mid-century.

Visitors do like doing things but one of the biggest pushes my supervisor has at our site is making it relevant to people but keeping it to the park's mission. We at Petersburg National Battlefield are not here to provide snapshots into things in the mid-century. We provide interpretation based on events that happened at sites we have.

At our City Point unit, we are in a position to tell the story of a laundress, granted our laundress Sarah Eliza Caldwell was a slave. Nevertheless for about a year now I have been communicating privately with Virginia about laundry in the mid-century. The development of items from bluing balls to clothes horses to ironing. We have an original outbuilding which housed the kitchen/laundry facilities. Still after all this communication and my own personal research (in period cookbooks and receipt books) I still have not mounted the exhibit I want for us.

In general I have ordered:

1 Wooden wash tub and 1 wooden Civil War bucket total, and bluing: $672

I still don't have irons, places for ironing, more than one repro wash tub, etc.

Mrs. Mescher in her books has recommendations on how much water you'll need, materials (which could easily surpass the $1000 mark); and on how much time it takes to complete laundry.

This impression is very costly, specific, and our challenge is to make things relevant and yes, keep the public interested. There may be better ways to do so in a limited amount of time with the historic resources you have inside the park.

[TraciAnn]

Re: Laundry?

While I can certainly understand your points, Emmanuel, I would like to address some of the points you make. The living history program at Vicksburg has long been centered on the artillery demonstrations that take place near the visitor’s center… and while I love that portion of the program, I want to expand the program to include more areas of the park and other time periods beyond the siege. We are blessed to still have the Shirley House standing and it creates a wonderful backdrop to civilian interpretation – the cruel truths of war, the startling reality of loyalty, death, illness, disease, and the hope of a family to be laid to rest at the farm they long called their home. If life was perfect, I would have everything I needed to interpret all sorts of stuff there, including impeccable kits for all of the volunteers that work at the park… but life, of course, isn’t like that and I am forced to work with what I have.

This past weekend I was inspired by a group of living historians that volunteered at the park… they had an amazing Sanitary Commission display and one woman portrayed a laundress. She had a really wonderful impression and visitors loved it… it always amazes me how much children love to do Civil War Era laundry. As I looked back over the week, I thought about something the kids (the park volunteers, all of whom are local high school students out there working for way too little money, in the heat of a Mississippi summer, because they love history) could do that would be fun.

I worked at Harpers Ferry last summer and we often did a laundress impression to talk about civilian involvement and the public always responded well. Here at Vicksburg, our resources for civilian interpretation are few and far between… we have a few great pieces and I try to use them whenever possible. So this laundress thing kept popping into my head… I have done it before and I know that I enjoy it, the kids will enjoy it, and the visitors will hopefully respond well to it.

Now, here is the issue that is simply a double-edged sword… I looked up prices online, saw what I needed to get to do this “right” and knew there was no way that we could ever do this impression “authentically”… so does that mean we can’t do it at all? I don’t know the answer to that… When does pure, 100% authenticity have to take a step back? Safety issues are always a first priority when it comes to authenticity and if something cannot be done in a safe manner, then it doesn’t get done. But, in this case, I don’t think that is an issue… so what other issues can force authenticity to step back? In this community here, on the Authentic Campaigner, I am sure some of you are cringing at the very thought of that question… but just stop to think about it for a second. Here at Vicksburg… the LH crew is not outfitted in perfect, hand sewn, authentic uniforms; so do we axe the program completely because it isn’t 100% authentic? No, that is (at least in my mind) a silly idea. So do I axe this laundress thing because I can’t do it in a 100% authentic way? No, I really don’t think so… I do what I can with the things I have and if the issue comes up, I explain to a visitor why the things they are seeing are not 100% authentic. With a little explanation, they normally understand and, for the most part, are thrilled that the effort was made to do something special.

And, being that this is the National Park Service… tying this back to the mission of the park and the greater history of Vicksburg is always of the utmost importance which is why I asked the question about laundry at the smallpox hospital (Thank you, Karin, by the way!). I am certainly not going to go out to a random area of the field and just start doing laundry, it doesn’t fit and it would confuse the public….

I think this is an issue that could, hopefully in a nice way, spawn a good discussion… in the terms of living history for the education of the public in a setting with very limited resources – when can authenticity take a step back? Is it ever OK to not be 100% all the time… or can we use what we have to create something out of almost nothing and hope for the best? Of course if this was an immersion event with the best civilians in the authentic hobby – it wouldn’t be an issue. But it isn’t an immersion event; it is public history with the National Park Service… I can desire to be as authentic as possible, help the kids get to that point, and hope that the public responds to that… but when do I, or even can I, say – we don’t have the correct resources, but we have something that will work so let’s try the best we can?

Thoughts, comments, concerns?
I think this could be a very enlightening discussion and if I have stepped on any toes, hopefully it was done lightly and without too much lasting pain…

~Traci

[Hank Trent]

Re: Laundry?

Is it ever OK to not be 100% all the time… or can we use what we have to create something out of almost nothing and hope for the best? Of course if this was an immersion event with the best civilians in the authentic hobby – it wouldn’t be an issue. But it isn’t an immersion event; it is public history with the National Park Service… I can desire to be as authentic as possible, help the kids get to that point, and hope that the public responds to that… but when do I, or even can I, say – we don’t have the correct resources, but we have something that will work so let’s try the best we can?

Just thought I'd toss in the comment. . . unless there are events out there I'm totally unaware of, I've never seen an event that isn't based on the philosophy of "use what we have to create something out of almost nothing and hope for the best?" Darn, that really seems to sum up the hobby!

I think it all goes back to the "suspension of disbelief" concept, and the idea of "ignorance is bliss." If someone gets the feeling wow, that's just the way it was! they can suspend disbelief, get caught up in the period illusion, and either ignore what's not accurate and compensate with their imagination, or believe it is accurate.

The more one knows, the harder it is to get that feeling, and for different people, different things are more apt to trip their trigger than others. Hence the folks who snark at poor clothing while snapping photos with a modern camera.

Classic example I saw years ago at an 18th century fort: a little old lady in the usual calico prairie dress and matching mob cap, sitting at a treadle sewing machine, sewing under an electric light. A mother and child visitor loved her interpretation, and the mother told the child that's the way they did things in the old days.

And really, that's how we're interpreting at every level of the hobby. Instead of things 100 years out of place, they're a month or a day or a few miles out of place. Instead of the electric light shining on the machine, the anachronisms are pushed farther toward the background. Instead of Halloween-style costume mistakes, the errors are in the dyes or the interior construction or the whalebone substitutes.

If we get to the point of saying, "No, that's not good enough, so it shouldn't be done," there's always going to be somebody better than us, to tell us, "No, you're not good enough, you shouldn't be reenacting." And who among us would be happy to say, just because someone tells us to, "Yep, you're right. Guess I'll sell my things and quit."

Because I'm skirting really close to the "no farbism" rule, I'll make my point quick. :D Rather than the regressive mindset of concluding any old thing is good enough so who cares, I'd say the difference in mindset is looking at what you have and thinking, where can we start progressing from? How accurate can we be with the resources we have, where can we make the easiest improvements, what obviously wrong stuff can we eliminate, why does it have to be done the less accurate way just because that's the way it was always done, and so forth.

A fast learning curve, if it continues, will result in more accuracy in the long run, than a stagnant set of standards no matter how high the standards seem to be now.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net