The Science of Child-Rearing: Mothering in the Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Century

In this paper, I draw upon archaeological evidence drawn from five late nineteenth to early twentieth-century American housesites: two from California, two from Louisiana and one from Alabama, from different yet intersecting class and race backgrounds. Despite the diversity of economic, employment and ethnoracial experiences of these families, ultimately, in the material culture of these families we can see how each household was shaped by child-rearing, medical, political and economic discourses outside of the home.