Source: Wikimedia Commons
Houses built before the twentieth century frequently had one small closet or none at all, and the reason is not that people were deprived of storage. It is…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Every American town of any size had a livery stable near its middle, and it was a paid service business rather than a barn somebody let people use.…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In the corn country of the Midwest, the cobs left over after shelling were a household fuel. Not a last resort - a sensible choice for a particular…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Sauerkraut is the one preservation method that works by encouraging decay instead of preventing it.
Canning, drying, salting and cooling all do the same thing - stop biological…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
When a chair seat gave out, nobody threw the chair away. The frame was the expensive part and the seat was the part designed to wear, so a…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Every autumn, in the cold parts of the country, American households packed the bottom of the house.
Straw, spoiled hay, cornstalks, raked leaves, spent bedding or soil was…