Home » Writing & Publishing » Word Play » Household Words and Catherine Beecher- PART ONE

Household Words and Catherine Beecher- PART ONE

© Sandra Linville

PART ONE

Catherine Beecher (1800-1878), sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher and daughter of Lyman Beecher, wrote A Treatise on Domestic Economy, for the Use of Young Ladies at Home which was first published in 1841. This book holds an important place in American domestic history and went through 15 editions. The last edition, published in 1873, is available to read online.

Beecher was a 19th century thinker who promoted American women as professional homemakers, teachers, and guardians of the nation's morality. She was born in East Hampton, Long Island and educated at Miss Pierce's School in Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1823, her fiancé drowned in a shipping disaster.

Author Jane Smiley opened each chapter of her book, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. with an excerpt from Beecher's book. In an interview with Jane Smiley for the Random House Reader's Guide, she explained her choice. "I discovered Beecher when reading a book about the history of housework titled Never Done. As a research tool Beecher's book offered a great deal of substance to me: it was a guide to what Lidie would know and do. Yet I also loved Beecher's tone of voice and writing style as well as her opinions about what it meant to be a good woman and a good wife. I thought I could piggyback a bit on Catherine Beecher, that she could help me help the reader understand Lidie's story in the context of nineteenth century domestic life."

In Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism (Social Movements Past and Present), author Janet Zollinger Giele discusses the emergence of American feminism and its two major branches, one oriented to upgrading women's domestic role, the other to assuring their voice in the public sphere.

Giele cites Barbara Welter who has described four qualities that were celebrated in the "cult of domesticity" or "true womanhood": piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Giele says "women between 1830 and 1850 were especially praised if they accepted their separate sphere in the home and were religious, somewhat asexual, but morally pure and submitted to parental or spousal authority. Their homes were to be havens of rest from the busy world where they sheltered men and children and upheld the noble virtues and higher motives which they as women were particularly qualified to represent."

In the Treatise on Domestic Economy, Beecher advised homemakers about health, diet, domestic architecture, and household management. She illustrated her vision of the perfect stove, showed her readers how to beautify the home on a small budget and described how to raise children.

The copyright of the article Household Words and Catherine Beecher- PART ONE in Word Play is owned by . Permission to republish Household Words and Catherine Beecher- PART ONE in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.