Her Half of History

Housewives are practically invisible in the historical record, so the general impression is that not much changed for them between the dawn of civilization and industrialization. That is almost certainly not true, and this episode is a discussion of what little we know about being a housewife in the pre-industrial era. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Heating things up has been under humanity's control for millennia. But keeping things cool is a modern miracle, and this episode shows how housewives did (or mostly didn't) manage it. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pic...

It is ridiculous to try to cover the history of cooking in one episode, but it would be equally ridiculous to ignore it in a series on housewives and housework, so here is the grand overview on how your dinner got cooked, from fire roasting all the way to the microwave. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Some household chores are more or less a thing of the past, but taking out the trash is a task that has grown over time. It's also transformed beyond all recognition. This episode discusses what women of the past had in their trash and what they did with it. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

How many shopping trips does it take to keep the household running? And is it a man's job or a woman's? And what was it like when you got to the shop? Some of the answers are here in this episode. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, tra...

 Women have done an enormous amount of cleaning over the millennia, but precious few bothered to write down what that meant. The daily grind of housewives is largely hidden from history, but this episode covers some of what we do know about spring cleaning, whitewashing, carpet beating, and dishwashing, plus a few tidbits about the invention of the vacuum and the dishwasher. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Keeping out the night was a substantial, and sometimes insurmountable task for housewives of the past. This episode talks about the hazy origins of artificial light through the centuries to a time when lighting your house is so easy you probably don't even think of it as housework. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

The drama of housewifery continues with the most time-consuming task there is: spinning, weaving, and sewing. There are four major natural fibers, and they are flax, cotton, wool, and silk. Each of the great civilizations, plus most of the not-so-great ones, had at least one of the those to work with, and women were (usually) responsible) for getting the fiber from plant (or animal) to fashion sta...

Laundry has been on the household chore list ever since people first learned to spin plant and animal fibers into fabric. This episode traces its history from the days when a rinse in the stream was all you could do, to Romans pounding it with their feet, to Victorian women hauling and boiling 400 pounds of water for it. Until the 20th century when the automatic washer and dryer miraculuously reli...

Since I began this series with a discussion of how we got to the point where women could write novels at all, I thought it would be fitting to wind it down with a discussion of how far we've come since Murasaki Shikibu and the world's first (great) novel. I'll also give you an explanation of how I chose the ones I chose and a long list of the women I didn't cover, in case you're in need of your ne...

African-American women wrote novels in the 19th century, but Zora Neale Hurston brought the art to a whole new level in the 20th. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. Join ⁠Into History⁠ for a...

Agatha's mysterious disappearance is solved (sort of) and she goes on to become the bestselling novelist in history. Plus, a bit about why she is still so appealing, even a full century after her first books were written, and despite some heavy criticism from some quarters. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for...

Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time. This episode takes her from an idyllic childhood, through multiple proposals, into a world war, out through her first several books, and into her own mysterious disappearance in 1926. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a gener...

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been given 118 times. Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to win it. Listen to hear the story of the prize and the woman. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠Buy⁠ ⁠Me a Coffee⁠. J...

Back in the day, authors lost control of their work the instant it was published (and sometimes before). Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy, was an enormously successful author, and she insisted her stories belonged to her. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus...

Not many novels get more attention in History class than they do in English class, but Uncle Tom's Cabin is the exception. This episode tells the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Yankee white woman who fired up the North in the cause of emancipation. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls...

Frankenstein is an instantly recognizable icon. This week I tell you the story of the woman behind the monster. Mary Shelley achieved only moderate success in her lifetime, but since that time has been called the mother of science fiction, and also of horror, and even the wicked stepmother of genetic engineering. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Su...

The teenage Jane Austen sometimes got tired of her textbooks. But instead of whining about it, she parodied them. In this episode I bring you a brief introduction followed by the full text of Jane Austen's "The History of England by a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian," which is a very good description of exactly what it is. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcrip...

Jane Austen wrote only a handful of novels, but they are so well-loved that 200 years on she still has an enormous number of readers, fan-fiction writers, and film adaptations. At the same time, her critics have accused her of being unbearably trivial and even boring. Listen to find out why she wrote the way she did and why so many of us still love her. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) f...

The Tale of Genji is often listed as the world's first novel. Is it a novel? Is it the first? That's highly contentious, but whatever you decide, Lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote this classic a very long time ago. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction....

This new series covers ground-breaking novelists, but today I focus on how writing got to the point where anyone could write a novel. The story covers thousands of years, four continents, and three ancient women: Enheduanna, Artemisia, and Xu Mu. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures. Support the show on my ⁠Patreon page⁠ for bonus episodes, polls, and a...

Mary's life is not well documented, but we know more about what life was generally like for Jewish peasant girls at the time, so listen in to hear about baking, weaving, farming, clothing, home-building, marriage, childbearing, and widowhood at the turn of the Millennium, with a brief foray into various conflicting means of dating the birth of Mary's first son. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistor...

Whether you are religious or not, Mary's story is an important part of world heritage. She is obviously the great female figure throughout Christianity, but she is also highly honored in the Koran. There have been over 2000 sightings of her claimed since the year 40 BCE. Millions of people pray to her daily. Millions more read her story regularly. The modern world was shaped in part by people who...

This woman is a superhero. She escaped herself and then put herself in danger many times to help others do the same.  During the Civil War, she served as a nurse and educator and spy and commanded a charge of armed men. All without any formal education herself. After the war she continued to find so many ways to help her fellow human beings that if she were anybody else, that would be THE story. A...

In 1868 Elizabeth Keckly published a remarkable book called Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. It showed the horrors of slavery and also her subsequent success as a fashionable dressmaker and also her complicated friendship with Mary Lincoln. Listen in for the story of a woman as remarkable as her book. Visit the ⁠website⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sour...