1900 House

[Brad De Long]

>Has anyone been watching "The 1900 House" on PBS? (I
>guess it was on in the UK last year)  I jsut cought
>the 2nd episode last night, and I found it
>fascinating,  not least because of the insights into
>political development. 
>
>For those who don't know, its a sort of "Real World",
>except its a family thaat is living for 3 months in a
>London house which has been remodeled to make it into
>a replica of a turn of the century middle-class
>dwelling.  Gas lighting, coal stove, etc.  The family
>is only allowed to make use of products that would
>have been available in 1900 London, and they have to
>stay within the budget of an average middle class
>family of the time. 
>
>The 2nd episode last night showed the family moving
>in, and the wife (who was the one who wnated to do it)
>breaking down under the workload after a few days,
>complaining that the husband was getting the better
>deal, etc.  Just watching her and her daughters doing
>the wash (12 hours to do a single load!), I wondered
>how women ever had time to agitate for suffrage and
>the like.  Check it out if you get the chance...
>
>Jim Baird
>

This is the reason that the most important thing to get, in Virginia 
Woolf's view, was "a room of one's own"...

Brad DeLong

P.S.: Why don't they have servants? A middle-class family in *that* 
house would have at least one servant sleeping under the kitchen 
table, and more likely two or three...