Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the New England Home, 1760-1860

The ideal New England home, as perceived in the late 19th century, was warm, welcoming and comfortable, a hive of hard work and frugality, a stable haven from the rapidly changing world outside. This conventional image had a solid basis in reality, maintains Nylander, who mines diaries, letters, wills, inventories, newspapers, advice books and travel accounts for this delightfully intimate portrayal of New England home life. Director of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Nylander delineates a complex barter economy in which farm produce was a common medium of exchange and people swapped specialized work skills. Contrary to the popular image, however, she shows that change was a household constant, with the coming and going of friends, family, help and travelers. Enlivened by 162 period illustrations, her survey affords a rare glimpse of middle- and upper-class housework, clothing, kitchens, diet, socializing and much else. BOMC alternate. (Apr.)