Laundries Largest Buildings in the Eighteenth Century Backyard

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  Specialized tools, like this goffering iron, crowd the hearth on washing day.
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  Linen undergarments protect finer outer layers.
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  Soap shavings stand ready for hot water.
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  Constant scrubbing was the laundress' fate.
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  In many households, water for washing had to be fetched from a well.
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  Soap and elbow grease are the only remedy for soiled linen.
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  A tub of suds and a bucket of water were called for on laundry day.
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  Laundries were outfitted with drying racks and clothes lines.
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  Curator Linda Baumgarten examines surviving garments.
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  Rarely washed, 18th-century silks show little wear.
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  An owner's mark ensures a fair reckoning when laundry is sent out.
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  Blazing coals transfer their wrinkle-coaxing heat to a ready iron.
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  Colonial ironing boards were comprised of wool blankets pinned to tabletops or on top of built-in dressers.
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  A small finishing iron removes the last wrinkles.