Cultural Postcards

This postcard shows an ironing scene from a laundry in Zanesville, Ohio.

This postcard showcases the cultural norms for the time period it represents. Women were working in a laundry of factory-like proportions. They were ironing as if working on a factory line. This postcard highlights the gender beliefs of the time, some of which have persisted to this day.

Who usually does the laundry at your house? Why do you think that a women usually does the laundry? How different is the laundry depicted in this image different from one you would see today?

Items kept by a family packrat might have other examples of cutural norms from past time periods. What examples can you find?