19th Century Hygiene

Nineteenth Century Hygiene and the Wash Basin Stand The households of the nineteenth century were the domestic domain of the woman, and how she would adorned her home, along with what necessities she sought to include within it, were a focus of her initial household planning. Along with items chosen for décor, to make the home life pleasurable, she would also chose items of necessity; those that were for domestic needs like stoves, tables, chairs, beds and one intended for hygiene, the wash basin and stand. (Beecher 38) An essential item for a woman of any period in history, the wash basin and stand was a very important item of hygiene for a woman’s bedroom of the nineteenth century. These stands, consisting of wooden structures of varying
Catharine Beecher was an influential person in making this transition. In her opinion, “domestic life was more important than any other aspect of women's existence.” (Leavitt 15) Catharine Beecher, Julia Wright, and their contemporaries had certainly noticed and discussed sanitation in the home. They believed in the importance of cleanliness and fresh air, but did not have, or feel the necessity to apply scientific vocabulary in describing their ideas. “The dust and decay of textiles and heavy upholstery took on new significance as Americans began to learn about germs and disease.” (Leavitt 41) The washstand was becoming a common item in nineteenth century bedrooms for hygiene purposes when dressing in the morning, before a meal, or cleaning oneself prior to bed. This was also essential for the cleaning of children, especially babies and toddlers. As stated by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book, The American Woman's Home: “Both the Health, and comfort of a family depended, to a great extent, on the cleanliness of the person.” (Stowe 116) It was Stowe’s teaching that: “In early life, children should be washed all over, every night or morning, to remove impurities from the skin.” (Stowe 121) Handwashing was proved to be effective in preventing infections by Dr. Ignatz Semmelweis [1847], where he demonstrated that "childbed fever was
They evolved from the simplest forms of basic items capable of holding water, to become very ornate and elaborate pieces of furniture, with doors and drawers that held everything from the basic bowl and pitcher, to fold-out commodes with all the necessary toiletries. Major developments in sink design came later in the nineteenth century, as the sink migrated from a loan table with a bowl and pitcher, to having faucets with running water, as bathroom designs were given a great deal of scientific thought concerning efficiency. (Cotton 272) This eventually lead to the bathrooms we know today, with tub and shower, and internal plumbing verses exposed pipes, and with the sinks of today even resembling the old wash basins of the past. The wash basin is not without its own sense of elegance though, it has even had mentions in popular literature and poems, with the poet Louis Zukofsky writing an entire poem dedicated to his washstand titled; To my wash-stand, where he wrote: “To my wash-stand, in which I wash my left hand and my right hand. To my wash-stand whose base is Greek whose shaft is marble and is fluted.” (Zukofsky 59-60) I would not have thought anyone would think of an item such as a simple household washstand would illicit poetry, but it has been essential to women’s hygiene for thousands of years, maybe it was just time to immortalize it as