Professor To Talk On Women’s Roles

In tribute to Women’s History Month, the Queens Historical Society will host a guest lecture by Queens College Professor of Anthropology Dr. James Moore. Moore will tackle the changing issues of women’s roles in Flushing from the 18th to the 19th century. Moore will use his archaeological findings to illustrate what daily life was like in past Queens’ households.
The lecture, “Thimbles, Teapots and Women’s Work: The New Domesticity In Early 19th Century Flushing,” will be held Sunday March 26 at 2:30 p.m. at the Society’s Flushing headquarters, Kingsland Homestead, located at 143-35 37th Avenue. The lecture is free of charge with regular admission to the house museum, $5 for students, $3 for adults, and $2 for seniors.
Serving as both a business and residence, 18th century Queens homes might appear chaotic to the modern world, with a combination of family members and employees working together interchangeably, doing a wide range of activities from cooking to budgeting. This nature of managing a household would soon change as the 19th century brought distinct divisions for residences and places of business, creating boundaries between the shared duties of fathers, women and children.
The 19th century brought work outside of the household. This move, effectively, would segregate women from the workplace, leading to new formal divisions in household roles. Women and children found themselves belonging at home, removed from the workplace and forced to focus exclusively on life at home. The onset of this “New Domesticity” marked the emergence of a new role for women and redefines the previous definition of women’s work.
For more information, call Mitchell Grubler at 718-939-0647 .