This print offers a highly idealized view of New England life in the 1770s. Every human in the picture is working- save the young boy holding a honey pot and placed directly in the center. Even the female baby to his right is play-working, as she holds a mortar and pestle; at her feet is a frying pan. Missing from the picture is the man of the household, whose place is clearly outside the domestic sphere. Images like this were often made and distributed in the second part of the 19th century, part of a process that created an image of a thrifty, forthright, and hard-working New Englander over that of the stingy, closed-mouthed, and cold “Yankee.”
H. W. Pierce, photographer. A New England Kitchen. Print. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/2002-01-508/. Accessed on October 15, 2024.
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