1860 - 1880 Child's Bathtub

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.

Date Made: 1860-1880

Maker: unknown

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: World

Used: BathingReferenced: Portable BathtubsSubject: ChildrenPersonal Hygiene

Subject:

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life, Bathtubs, Family & Social Life, Domestic Furnishings

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Related Publication: Dover Stamping Co., 1869

Credit Line: Kenneth E. Jewett

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: DL.238049.0087Catalog Number: 238049.0087Accession Number: 238049

Object Name: Tub, Bathtub, bath

Physical Description: tin (overall material)iron (overall material)wood (overall material)Measurements: overall: 31.5 cm x 87.5 cm x 60.5 cm; 12 3/8 in x 34 7/16 in x 23 13/16 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-0dc6-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_310679

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