Portable Bathtubs: Tub Bathing from the Early 19th and 20th Centuries

Bathing, from the early 19th to the early 20th centuries, required stamina and fortitude. Without indoor plumbing, bathing involved filling small portable tubs with water, bucket by bucket. This, as well as different attitudes about cleanliness, meant that few people fully immersed themselves in water.

According to 19th–century physician John Bell, pains of the head, teeth and eyes would yield to the foot bath.* Cold water and constant rubbing of the feet while in the bath helped to dispel illnesses as well.
Description
According to 19th–century physician John Bell, pains of the head, teeth and eyes would yield to the foot bath.* Cold water and constant rubbing of the feet while in the bath helped to dispel illnesses as well. The Boston–based Dover Stamping Company's catalog of tinwares advertised foot tubs that matched toilet wares such as toilet jars, carriers, and pails.
The tubs came in extra finish, gold band, paneled (painted decoration with flowers, grape leaves, or cherries), plain, or marbleized painted oak or walnut. This brass and tin foot bath with decorative handles of bearded faces and a reeded edge was more elaborate than any of those advertised.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*John Bell, A Treatise on Baths, (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1859): 298.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840 - 1880
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.67.899
catalog number
67.899
accession number
269842
With daily bathing becoming more accepted by the 1880s, many attempted to develop innovative ways to heat bath water and to incorporate the portable bathtub within a room setting. The Mosely Folding Bath Company advertised a folding bath in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Catalog.
Description
With daily bathing becoming more accepted by the 1880s, many attempted to develop innovative ways to heat bath water and to incorporate the portable bathtub within a room setting. The Mosely Folding Bath Company advertised a folding bath in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Catalog. This tub, disguised as a mirrored wardrobe, folded down and out of its wood casing into the room, revealing the heater above.
This was similar to Bruschke & Ricke’s combined sofa and bathtub of the same period. The sofa’s bolster concealed a water tank and heater, while the seat unfolded to reveal a bathtub. Often, large rubber aprons protected the wood or carpeted floor. Accounts of igniting sofas and burned bathers dampened the product’s appeal. Since neither bathtub attached to plumbing nor pipes, used bath water drained into a basin and then required emptying.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
date made
1880-1900
manufacturer
Mosely Folding Bath Co.
ID Number
1977.1217.13
catalog number
1977.1217.13
accession number
1977.1217
In the early 20th century Sears, Roebuck & Co. Inc. continued to advertise the hat–shaped bathtub for $4.20 in their catalog. In 1900, for five cents more, one could purchase a “Combination Bath Tub,” a cross between a sitz and a hat tub.
Description
In the early 20th century Sears, Roebuck & Co. Inc. continued to advertise the hat–shaped bathtub for $4.20 in their catalog. In 1900, for five cents more, one could purchase a “Combination Bath Tub,” a cross between a sitz and a hat tub. Though an awkward–looking contraption, the advertisement claimed that there was “nothing better made in a tin tub.”*
This hat tub likely had years of use. Though well worn, traces of the first green coat of paint can be seen beneath the second layer of beige on the tub’s exterior. The Sears 20th–century example notes that its 3-X tin bath was japanned and varnished on the outside.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*Joseph J. Schroeder, Jr., ed., Sears, Roebuck and Co. Consumers Guide, Fall 1900, (Northfield, IL: DBI Books, Inc., 1970), 920.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860 - 1900
mid 19th Century
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.238049.0085
catalog number
238049.0085
accession number
238049
A bath in a sitz or sit tub was said to provide relief from inflammation of the brain and organs of the chest, as well as nervous fevers.* The bather sat partially immersed up to the navel, in cold water with the head supported at the back and the feet dangling over the edge.Phys
Description
A bath in a sitz or sit tub was said to provide relief from inflammation of the brain and organs of the chest, as well as nervous fevers.* The bather sat partially immersed up to the navel, in cold water with the head supported at the back and the feet dangling over the edge.
Physician John Bell wrote A Treatise on Baths in 1859 in which he defined baths by the manner of water application to the body, by the bath’s temperature, and the parts of the body immersed in water. He categorized such a bath taken in this type of tub as a semicupium (lower half of body), cold (40°–70°), immersion type.
This tin tub, now worn and unattractive, shows evidence of a fomer beauty. Hints of red paint beneath the current chips of cream indicate that it was a red tub, with cream–colored striped accents on the base and a cream interior. The arm rests, ending in bold scrolls, lend elegance to the form.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
* John Bell, A Treatise on Baths, (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1859): 295-296.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.238049.0084
catalog number
238049.0084
accession number
238049
This tub is similar in shape and size to those advertised for a child’s use in the 1869 Dover Stamping Company’s catalog.
Description
This tub is similar in shape and size to those advertised for a child’s use in the 1869 Dover Stamping Company’s catalog. Mid to later–19th century advice books encouraged more frequent bathing for children.
Julia McNair Wright’s 1879 Complete Home: An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Life and Affairs recommended “If you want your child to be vigorous in play and exercise, give it an abundance of baths: bathe it every day, using warm or cold water—never hot, never freezing, but warm or cold water as best agrees with your child’s constitution.”* Parents likely bathed their children in the kitchen near the warmth of the fire and near a ready source of heated water. The Saturday night bath became a ritual in many households.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*Julia McNair Wright, Complete Home: An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Life and Affairs, (Philadelphia, Pa.: J. C. McCurdy & Co., [1879]), 136.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860-1880
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.238049.0087
catalog number
238049.0087
accession number
238049
Until the mid–19th century, the application of soap in the bath was uncommon. Most soap, made from tallow, was specifically for washing of clothes.
Description
Until the mid–19th century, the application of soap in the bath was uncommon. Most soap, made from tallow, was specifically for washing of clothes. Only the wealthy had access to the imported, specially wrapped, and expensive perfumed toilet soaps.
Occasionally hemlock branches and herbs such as tansy, wormwood, and chamomile were steeped in a vapor or foot bath to assist a cure, rather than to scent or cleanse the bath. The bather lay or sat, wrapped in blankets, on strong sticks of wood set across a large tub of scalding hot water and herbs.* This tub is the largest of the portable bathtubs in the collection and could have been used for such a purpose.
Later in the 19th century, Mary Gay Humphrey in the Woman’s Book recommended bran, oat, or almond meal as accompaniments to the bath. If one had greasy skin, she suggested adding borax or ammonia to the water.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*Lydia M. F. Child, The Family Nurse, (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1997; Originally published in Boston by Charles J. Hendee in 1837), 135.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840 - 1880
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.238049.0086
catalog number
238049.0086
accession number
238049
The tub takes its name from its form in the shape of a hat. The patient sat either on the bath’s ledge or on a chair outside the tub with his or her feet and legs in the center of the basin.
Description
The tub takes its name from its form in the shape of a hat. The patient sat either on the bath’s ledge or on a chair outside the tub with his or her feet and legs in the center of the basin. The Dover Stamping Company, a tinware firm in Boston, Massachusetts, listed this form as such in their 1869 catalog. The spout for emptying the bath water is beneath the ledge.
We know of Nathaniel Waterman, the tub’s maker, through his membership in the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association and his listings in the Boston City Directories at 85 Cornhill Street from 1842 to 1846. He learned the tinsmith trade at a young age and his firm, the Waterman Kitchen and House Furnishing Wareroom, existed in Boston for over forty years. According to accounts, his store was a “veritable museum of all conceivable household necessities and conveniences.”*
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1795–1892. (Boston: Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1892): p. 100.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840 - 1846
maker
Waterman, Nathaniel
ID Number
DL.68.0724
catalog number
68.0724
accession number
275377
Nineteenth–century bathtubs were viewed as furniture rather than fixtures. As such, tin tubs were often decorated with painted stripes and swags or marbleized to imitate wood.
Description
Nineteenth–century bathtubs were viewed as furniture rather than fixtures. As such, tin tubs were often decorated with painted stripes and swags or marbleized to imitate wood. This tub, with its multicolored stripes around the top edge and its painted wood stand, would fit appropriately among the other "fancy" household furniture of the period. This tub likely was used in a dressing room or bedroom.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830 - 1850
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.68.0723
catalog number
68.0723
accession number
275377
By the early 20th century, many in cities and towns lived in homes with bathrooms. Consumers now viewed tubs as plumbing fixtures rather than furniture, along with sinks and toilets.
Description
By the early 20th century, many in cities and towns lived in homes with bathrooms. Consumers now viewed tubs as plumbing fixtures rather than furniture, along with sinks and toilets. In providing recommendations for fixtures in this new room, advice manuals and sanitary specialists preached against the heavy, free standing tubs behind which dust and dirt could collect.
Bathtub manufacturers began to market built–in porcelain tubs, which they claimed were more durable and more easily cleaned than those of metal or iron enamel. Soon porcelain tubs came in various colors, “lend(ing) themselves to the most refined artistic and delicate (bath) decorations.”* The Trenton Potteries Company, maker of this sample, was one of the larger manufacturers of porcelain tubs in the United States.
Many bathers, now accommodated by indoor plumbing and hot water, took to the tub for pleasure and relaxation, as well as to get clean. Ivory Soap advertisements emphasized this: “Ah—my Ivory bath—it’s a pleasure—pure pleasure.”** The bathtub became the center of the cleanliness ritual. The bathroom was on its way to becoming one of the featured and larger areas of the home in the later 20th and 21st centuries.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th century, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*Archibald M. Maddock, II, The Polished Earth: A History of the Pottery Plumbing Fixture Industry in the United States, (Trenton, NJ, 1962), 275.
**Ivory Soap ad, 1953
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 20th century
1900-1920
manufacturer
Trenton Potteries Company
ID Number
1980.0823.01
accession number
1980.0823
catalog number
1980.0823.01
The hip bathtub is similar to the sitz bath and the terms are often used interchangeably. In 1859 Bell notes that the “ . . .
Description
The hip bathtub is similar to the sitz bath and the terms are often used interchangeably. In 1859 Bell notes that the “ . . . hip bath has of late acquired vogue, as part of the water cure, and by some superficial readers, it is looked upon as a novelty.”* Bell may be suggesting that people are now actually enjoying the amenities of the bath, rather than viewing it as merely healthful.
Warm or tepid hip baths were encouraged for the elderly. Their skin was protected from the heat of the tin by “linen damask, thick bird’s eye diaper, or white huckaback” towels that lined the interior of the tub. In her 1845 Manual on Domestic Economy, Eliza Leslie frowned on cotton towels, which “are not used by persons of genteel habits.”** Bathing experts recommended vigorous toweling after the bath to promote blood circulation and to remove dry skin.
Though this tub is a cream color, many tinware catalogs advertised hip baths in brown or green with a marbled interior.
For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
*John Bell, A Treatise on Baths, (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1859): 207.
**Eliza Leslie, The House Book; or, A Manual of Domestic Economy. For Town and Country, (Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1845), 302.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840 - 1860
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.238049.0097
catalog number
238049.0097
238049.0097
accession number
238049

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