Mary got lucky because she saw this book before I did!!
Although, it wasn't until we got home that she realized what a great treasure it really was...it was all about LAUNDRY!!
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| From the cover, she thought it was about a mangle (remember those?). Both our mothers had one... |
As a matter of fact, Mary -- there is a "Ironrite" for sale RIGHT NOW, EVEN AS I WRITE THIS POST -- AT THE SALVATION ARMY store in Davenport, Iowa. It had been $400, but yesterday, I saw it was marked down. 75% off. So it's only $100 -- but still no takers. The last one I saw being sold at an auction went for $5.....so what is that, a 99.5% discount?? lol...
Anyway -- BACK TO MARY'S MOST EXCELLENT LITTLE BOOK...
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| The first page... |
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| The pictures are sooo great. See the aprons? |
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| Their marketing approach was to present us with a perfect pretend family...The Martins... |
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| This chapter explains the three different types of material. Animal (silk, wool); plant (cotton, linen); and man-made (polyester, nylon...) |
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| Every page had (fake) real life situations...Bobby getting grass stains on his baseball pants, the soldier husband leaving stuff in his pockets, etc... |
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| There were photos, and detailed, specific instructions about getting out all kinds of stains... |
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| Some of the common remedies were kerosene, carbolyic acid (?), hydrogen peroxide...Laundry rooms in the 40's were apparently full of all kinds of chemicals and odd things. Lard?? |
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| They spent some time explaining the proper care and treatment of wool blankets. Which were an investment, meant to last for generations. Certainly a much different way of thinking THEN as opposed to NOW... |
Here's a link to a post I wrote about washing wool blankets..
RITA WASHING BLANKETS
Awesome book! Of course, you made me curious, so I had to google carbolyic acid. Not the easiest thing to figure out. However, soda pop is considered a carbolyic acid. And a type of carbolyic acid is used in baked and canned foods to prevent mold.
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