In this fourth week of Women's History Month, we are looking at books focusing on material culture that will help you better understand her life.
Title: No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting
Author: Anne L MacDonald
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Synopsis: "Here is the Colonial woman for whom idleness was a sin, and her Victorian counterpart, who enjoyed the pleasure of knitting while visiting with friends; the war wife eager to provide her man with warmth and comfort, and the modern woman busy creating fashionable handknits for herself and her family. Macdonald examines each phase of American history and gives us a clear and compelling look at life, then and now. And through it all, we see how knitting has played an important part in the way society has viewed women—and how women have viewed themselves.
Assembled from articles in magazines, knitting brochures, newspaper clippings and other primary sources, and featuring reproductions of advertisements, illustrations, and photographs from each period, No Idle Hands capture the texture of women’s domestic lives throughout history with great wit and insight." (Amazon)
Why You Need This Book: This is a huge book on a topic that was a part of many of our ancestors' lives. Was your female ancestor truly "just a housewife?" This is a good example of what can be learned by everyday household tasks that women were engaged in.
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