Food-Related
Marvels at the Turn of the Century
The Pan-American Exposition allowed vendors and manufactures of housewares to demonstrate their products to a relatively new group of consumers-- housewifes. 1901 advertisements targeted those women longing for gadgets and appliances that would ease the most laborious of their chores--meal preparation. Furthermore they claimed that the husband who truly cared about his wife and her role in the household "owed" it to her to provide a kitchen full of every modern convenience. Indeed, the period between 1870 and 1900 was a time of prolific development of home appliances and time saving machinery. Surely, the Exposition's Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was full of men and women crowded around company booths to gaze at the latest cookstoves and refridgerators, not to mention the myriad of small gadgets that the "modern" housewife "could not possibly live without."
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The Ice Box Takes Up Residence
Although the technology of mechanical refrigeration had been under development since the mid 19th century, by 1890, the use of refridgerators was confined to the restaurant and food production industries, especially brewing, dairy and meat-packing. The typical homeowner could not afford such a refridgerator and, given the technology of the period, would probably not have wanted one in the kitchen, since early mechanical refrigerators used toxic gases as refrigerants. (Freon would not come into use until 1928.) Interestingly, advertisements of the turn-of-the century period used the term "refigerator" rather loosely. In looking at diagram leading off the "refigerator section" of the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog2 (see below), one can see that the superior quality "refrigerator" was actually what we today refer to as an "ice box."
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"As packaged foods and other household items began to fill the pantry of the late nineteenth-century kitchen, perishables such as meat, milk and butter took up residence in the icebox. First introduced in the 1860s the icebox had become a necessity by the 1890s as urban populations increased, and one could be found in the great majority of middle-class homes. . ." 1 |
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Left:
One of many ice boxes listed in the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog.
Below: This ad for a Buffalo,
NY manufacturer of "refrigerators" appeared in the Ladies
Home Journal. |
| Since the first mechanical refrigerator designed for the home would not be manufactured until 1913, the ice box remained the dominant means of storing perishibles until well into the 20th century. |
By the 1850's, wood and coal-burning cookstoves were in widespread use throughout the United States. As Ellen Plante points out, "... the introduction of the stove brought technology into the kitchen and as the century progressed, a continuous stream of updated and unproved appliances became available, leading to the eventual development of the coal/oil and gas stoves of the late 1800's."3
By 1901, consumers could purchase stoves heated by coal/wood, gasoline, or oil. There were also combination coal/oil, and coal/gas stoves. While oil and gas stoves tended to be smaller and cheaper to operate, safety features for this new technology were not well developed. A perusal of newspapers of the 1890 to 1910 period will show many fires, injuries and deaths attributed to exploding oil or gas cookstoves. This certainly contributed to the fact that coal/wood stoves were still the dominant cooking appliance at the turn of the century.
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The late 19th century was a lucrative period of development for the household gadget. In their respective books, Earl Lifshey4 and Ellen M. Plante both talk of the development of timesaving inventions like the apple slicer, apple peeler, poppyseed grinder and beer shaver. Also mentioned are lemon squeezers, nutcrackers, raisin seeders, graters of many sizes, sausage stuffers, bean slicers, spice mills, and bread dough mixers.
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Household appliance and gadget makers advertised their wares in women's magazines like Ladie's Home Journal and Harpers Bazar. These periodical publications had numerous columns categorized as "domestic journalisms," providing "helpful hints for housekeepers." However, most had traditionally emphasized cooking and sewing. As the introduction of new household tools exploded in the late 1800's editors expanded these columns to include introduction and evaluation of these new gadgets. The review at right was part of one such column "The Practical Housekeeper," and appeared in the July 1885 Ladie's Home Journal.
In the July 1899
issue of the Ladies's Home Journal, the editor noted a new column,
"Miss Maria Parloa's New Department: Household Helps and New Ideas."
The editor's note stated, "Miss Parloa begins, in this issue, a
new department devoted entirely to the household (other than cooking)...."
By that, he must have been referring to the "techniques" of
cooking for there was no lack of kitchen-related discussion in this
column. Instead of printing recipes or instructing readers in "how
to cook," however, "Miss Parloa" wrote of those gadgets
designed to make the labors of cooking easier. In this first column
alone, she enlightened housekeepers to the benefits of the fruit pricker,
strawberry huller, knife sharpener, cherry stoner and a charcoal broiler
among other domestic tools. One can assume that manufacturers of the
day would have appreciated Miss Parloa's "seal of approval."
Of course one must also consider the extent to which "Miss Parloa"
and other "domestic journalists" may have been influenced
by those manufacturers who were also advertisers in the parent publications.
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In addition to exposing their products through traditional advertizing in newspapers and women's magazines companies exhibited their gadgets and appliances at large gatherings like the Pan-American Exposition. 1901 was certainly a time when business in such products would be a lucrative one, and an exhibit at the world's fair at Buffalo would expose products to hundreds of thousands of potential consumers. Advertisments in national publications included phrases such as "come see our exhibit at the Pan-Am." If visitors did not have time to visit the booths to see the demonstrations, they were often exposed to these new household products through the literature, trade cards and pamphlets distributed by the thousands in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building.
One example of this is The Enterprising Housekeeper.5 The Enterprise Manufacturing Company's Pan-American Exposition exhibit displayed gadgets designed to make work in the kitchen easier for the woman of the house. In a recipe booklet distributed at the fair, the company professed the importance of "saving a woman's time... the well-fitted kitchen represents the engine-room of the home, where energy, health, and happiness are manufactured."
While promoted as a free cookbook full of recipes, it is clear that the Enterprising Housekeeper's primary function was to "sell" the company's many products. See Cookbooks for more on the contents of the Enterprising Housekeeper.
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A few of the other gadgets and kitchen "helpers" that were developed during the late 19th century.
Can
opener Lemon
squeezer
Egg
beater
Ball-Mason
Jar Bottle
cap |
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The domestic use of aluminum had it's beginnings in the cookware industry. Prior to mid-19th century, cookware was made of tin or cast iron. While the first porcelain enameled cooking utensils were made in America by Jacob J. Vollrath in 1874,6 there was a certain danger associated with them since inferior quality products were often treated with enamel containing poisonous metals. Instances of poisoning must have been prominent enough that manufacturers like Lalance & Grosjean felt the need to profess the safety of their products in advertisements. [see the ad at right.] In the 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog, one of the more prominent selling points was that their cookware was produced with enamel that was "entirely free from lead, arsenic and antimony, metals so often used in enamels of this appearance."7
The first stamped and cast aluminum cookware was manufactured by the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (ALCOA) in 1892. Prior to Charles Martin Hall's discovering the secret of producing aluminum inexpensively, utensils made of this metal were reserved only for the wealthy. Indeed, Lifshey tells of Napoleon serving his guests on aluminum plates since they were more expensive than gold.8 However, Hall's process and the considerably cheaper production costs of its Niagara Falls plant made the Pittsburgh Reduction Company the likely leader in aluminum cookware production. By 1900, this lightweight, low-maintenance cookware was regularly available to consumers. [For more information on the Pittsburgh Reduction Company and Niagara Falls, see Electrochemical Comapnies at Niagara.]
There was, however, considerable resistance to cookware and utensils made from this "new" metal. First, aluminum ware was still significantly higher priced than tinware. A coffee pot in the Sears Roebuck Catalog listed for 21 cents while a comparable one made of aluminum sold for $1.60.9 Most surprising however, is Lifshey's observation with regard to aluminum cookware: "...unaccustomed to utensils of such unusually light weight, women were inclined to regard them with suspicion."10 Consider this observation in the context of the technological wonders exhibited at the Pan-American Exposition and there is a certain degree of irony. It is hard for one to imagine that in 1901, a visitor to the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building might look with disdain upon the aluminum cookware exhibited among the other technological marvels at the fair. Why? Because the product was too good?
Indeed, it would take another 50 years of refinement and intense marketing for aluminum cookware to gain it's present popularity.
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Why No Electrical Appliances in 1901? It is interesting, even ironic, to consider that at the time of the Pan-American Exposition, whose most prominent feature was illumination powered by electricity, there was very little domestic use of electrical machinery or appliances. Electric irons and mixers had been patented in the 1880's and in 1901, General Electric and Westinghouse had both developed the first electric toasters. Yet few homes had them and all were susceptible to electrical shorts and fires. In fact, most electrical appliances would prove relatively dangerous until the development of safety devices in 1915. Such danger certainly impacted consumer demand. However, it is surprising to note that despite their emphasis on the development of electricity and electric motors for use in industry, it was the power industry itself that was the source of most resistance in the development of such innovations for home use. Robert Kuhn states that during the early years of electricity, most companies were involved in the manufacture of electrical lights. "The only thing that mattered was the promotion of their electric lights in competition with gas lights."11 Lifshey adds that the "Battle of the Currents" [between direct current (DC) and alternating current(AC)] further handicapped the development of home appliances, at least indirectly. "Not until about 1900 did [AC] win and even then it had much difficulty in overcoming tradition. 12 Certainly Lifshey's statement is supported when one considers the intense rivalry between the Edison/General Electric and Tesla/Westinghouse camps when it came to generating electricity. Margaret Cheney writes of the intense rivalry between Edison and Tesla and notes Edison's aggressiveness in trying to discredit alternating current (AC). She relates instances of Edison publicly electrocuting animals to illustrate the power of alternating current, and then asking audiences if they really wanted such a dangerous force entering their homes.13 Of course this rivalry was not the only force that may have turned consumers away from the idea of using electric mixers and toasters. While electric trolleys and arc lighting were common in larger cities at the turn of the century, so were accidents involving electrocution. Newspapers often described in graphic detail, the effects of electrocution on the human body. Such graphic images would certainly make many a homeowner leery of allowing such a powerful source of danger into the home. While danger and consumer ignorance were factors in the delay in electric appliance development, the "Battle of the Currents" probably was the key factor. The fight over AC/DC was long-lasting and as a result, delayed the production and development of electrical devices for use outside of industry. Since manufacturers could not develop and produce appliances without knowing what type of current would be available to power them, it would be well into the 1910s and 20s before electrical products for home use would become widely available to consumers. It is not at all surprising that the General Electric Company and Westinghouse would become the leaders in the electrical appliance industry. |
References:
1.
Ellen M. Plante, The American Kitchen, 1700 to the Present: From Hearth
to Highrise (New York: Facts on File, 1995), p. 145.
2. 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog. Fred L. Israel,
ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1968. p. 104.
3. Plante, p.70.
4.
Earl Lifshey. The Housewares Story; A History of the American Housewares
Industry. Chicago, National Housewares Manufacturers Association
[1973.]
5.
Johnson, Helen Louise. The Enterprising Housekeeper: Suggestions
for Breakfast, Luncheon and Supper. 3rd edition. Philadelphia, Pa.:
Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Pennsylvania, 1900.
6. Lifshey, p.154.
7. 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog, p.130.
8. Lifshey, p.164.
9. 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog, pp.132, 136.
10. Lifshey, p.165.
11.
Robert A. Kuhn, president of the American Electrical Heater Company,
(Detroit) 1971. In Lifshey, p.224.
12. Lifshey, p.224.
13. Margaret Cheney. Tesla, Man Out of Time.
New York, N.Y. : Barnes & Noble, 1993.
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Last updated: 10 June 2010
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