Episode 35 - Homemaking Q&A
Learning more about Homemaking during WWII
This supplemental post for Episode 35 is all about American wartime homemaking. We took some questions from followers on Instagram and answered them in the episode.
Here is the poem I read in the episode talking about a woman’s kitchen, which I felt fit in so well with our topic:
Kitchen Resurrection
by Bessie K. Jonas (Farm Journal & Farmer’s Wife magazine, March 1942)
Bare board, gray hearth, dull water drip!My kitchen lifeless in the gripOf frozen sleep.Cold hour before the dawnDark and depressing.A creaking grate, a lifted lid,A spark!My kitchen moves to gather warmth,Soft stirrings in the dark.Bubbling, broiling, breathing aroma!Bustle and chatter, dark shadows flee!Sunshine is streaming, pots and pans gleaming,My kitchen is living, its soul is set free!
And this quote from Voices of American Homemakers: An oral history project of the National Extension Homemakers Council edited by Eleanor Arnold, 1985, is especially poignant to this homemaking topic:
“There isn’t anything more honorable, or that takes more ability than being a homemaker. It takes patience, it takes knowledge, and it takes endurance for a woman to really be a homemaker. There is a difference between a homemaker and a housekeeper. A housekeeper keeps a house clean, keeps it picked up, cooks meals. But a homemaker does it with love. Love for her family, love for her mate. There is a lot of difference, and I am proud to be a homemaker.” - Jalie Martin, New Mexico
There are so many aspects to homemaking from cooking, cleaning, caring for children and animals, managing the family’s schedule, shopping & finances, clothing, and in wartime women either worked or helped in an organization of their choice like the AWVS, Red Cross, etc. They helped and learned from other women in the same boat, which I think is one of the great traditions we’ve carried on from generations of women that have gone before.
Women were pulled in so many directions, but the government did acknowledge that homemaking and caring for her children was a full-time job and considered a type of “war job”. Still, it’s not a surprise that women did much more than regular homemaking.
Homemaking Books
We mentioned some homemaking books to keep an eye out for in the episode. Here are the ones from my collection:
Corina mentioned the book The Wartime Kitchen and Garden which is a British publicaiton. She also mentioned 1003 Household Hints & Work Savers - to help you beat the high cost of living by Michael Gore.
And here is another book we talked about: How American Lives, published in 1941. Highly recommend this to read if you can get your hands on a copy. (Check Ebay, Amazon, AbeBooks, and Etsy to start. I wish there was a free digital copy available. It’s a chonky book too.)
Cookbook Feature
This episode’s cookbook feature is Victory Meat Extenders published by the National Live Stock and Meat Board. The booklet doesn’t have a publication date, but it’s very obvious it’s from wartime…
I made a delicious dish called Luncheon Casserole. It’s very basic with simple, affordable ingredients, and it’s full of great flavor and texture!
RESOURCES
Websites:
An interesting video history of refrigeration before electric refrigerators by Adam Rausea
Books/Magazines:
Gifford, Marie. “Buying and Cooking Meats for Two,” Marie Gifford’s Kitchen Service Bulletin, Number 122. Armour and Company (Chicago, IL: date unknown).
The Household Searchlight Homemaking Guide, The Household Magazine, 1937.
2002 Household Helps by Janet D. Meyers, 1943.
Household Streamliners by H. E. Alsup & F. S. August, 1940.
1003 Household Hints & Work Savers - to help you beat the high cost of living by Michael Gore, 1947.
Images:
Easy Washer ad, Women’s Home Companion, Sept 1943, p. 46 (for kitchen picture)
A Better Home, Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945
Doctors Are Scarce, Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945
Working Mothers, Your School Can Help, Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945
Women, There’s Work to Be Done and War to Be Won…Now!, Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945
Mrs. America Buys Clothes with Care, Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945
I'm so excited for new content!
I love that poem at the beginning, and the image of the woman in her kitchen. Thanks for this!