William L. Clements Library

“The Servant Question”: Materials on Domestic Service in the JBLCA

Overview

The Janice B. Longone Culinary Archive at the William L. Clements Library is home to a series of printed material s on the history of domestic service in the United States, which can help to facilitate research in several areas of American history. The JBLCA holds over fifty items, mostly books, related to this topic, covering the period from 1762 to 1950. The strength of the collection is the 19th and early 20th centuries. The items can be found by searching the University of Michigan’s Mirlyn catalog. Additional information on research topics and searching the collection can be found below.

Research Topics of Potential Interest

Economic and Labor History

The books and pamphlets in the collection touch on various aspects of American economic and labor history, including the both the market revolution and the industrial revolution. In particular, the texts might be used for examining how the relationship between servants/domestic employees and masters/employers changed as the industrial revolution opened new opportunities for day laborers, women, and immigrants. A dominant theme throughout the 19th and 20th centuries was the problem of keeping good help, which might be helpful to researchers interested in understanding the role of broad economic shifts in labor and social relations in the home. Additionally, researchers could use the history of domestic service as a microcosm of the shift from thinking of servants as part of an extended family to the rise of contract and wage labor, and, in the 20th century, new concepts of scientific management and home economics. Titles of interest in the collection include: Annual Report of the Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Servants (1826), The Family Monitor (1830), The House Servant's Directory (1827), and Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home (1920).

Related secondary sources providing a context for related social, economic, and political shifts in the nineteenth century include:

What hath God wrought: the transformation of America, 1815-1848
Hatcher Graduate E338.H69 2007

The market revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1848
Hatcher Graduate HC 105.S381 1991

From bondage to contract: wage labor, marriage, and the market in the era of slave emancipation
Hatcher Graduate HD 8066.S681 1998

Chants democratic: New York city & the rise of the American working class, 1788-1850
Hatcher Graduate HD8085.N5 W67 1984

The rise of American democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln
Hatcher Graduate E302.1.W551 2005

Social Relations

Researchers interested more specifically in shifts in social and domestic labor relations as a result of shifting political ideology will also find material of interest in this collection. Many of the books and pamphlets indirectly address shifts in social relations, expectations and duties inherent in the master/servant relationship, and the role of political rhetoric in shaping relationships between different socioeconomic classes. Books written from the employers’ point of view touch directly on complaints about disobedient and ungrateful servants, as well as the problem of “keeping good help” in a society that touted the concept of the equality of all men, and perhaps all women. Meanwhile, books written as advice to servants help illuminate common problems and employer expectations for proper behavior. In particular, researchers may find this collection useful for exploring how the concept of the “decline of deference” noted by several historians was or was not manifested in 19th century relationships of employers and their domestic workers. Titles of particular interest to researchers are the late 18th-century publications The Well-Ordered Family (1762) and Religious Courtship (1793), as well as various 19th-century books, including Advice to a Young Woman at Service (1825), Plain Talk and Friendly Advice to Domestics (1855), and Letters to Persons Who are Engaged in Domestic Service (1842).

Related secondary sources include:

Capitalism and a new social order: the republican vision of the 1790s
Hatcher Graduate JA84.U5 A751 1984

The age of federalism
Hatcher Graduate E310.E451 1993

The transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790
Hatcher Graduate F229.I81

Radicalism of the American Revolution
Hatcher Graduate E209.W651 1992.

Immigration

The books and pamphlets on domestic servitude also touch indirectly on the history of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. Several of the books discuss how to work with and confront problems with immigrant servants. The publications could also be used to trace how immigration patterns affected labor relations, employer/employee relations, and expectations of servants. Researchers might also find this collection relevant for exploring changing attitudes toward various ethnic groups, as well as differing attitudes toward domestic and foreign domestic workers. The Servant Girl Question (1881), and The House Servant’s Directory, or A Monitor for Private Families (1827) touch on this issue from distinct points in American history.

Related secondary sources include:

The transplanted: a history of immigrants in urban America
Hatcher Graduate E184.A1 B59 1985

Guarding the golden door: American immigration policy and immigrants since 1882
Hatcher Graduate JV6483.D3541 2004

Erin's daughter's in America: Irish immigrant women in the nineteenth century
Hatcher Graduate H31.J66 ser.101 no. 2

Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish foodways in the age of migration
Hatcher Graduate GT2853.U5 D55 2001

The Irish Bridget: Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930
Shapiro Undergraduate HD6072.2.U5 L96 2009

Gender

Almost all of the books and pamphlets touch on the issues of gender, discussing the various roles and expectations of male and female servants, as well as the rise of the separate spheres of men and women in the 19th century. Researchers could explore the role of women as both servants and household managers, the varying roles of male and female domestics, and the conflicts among women of varying socioeconomic classes through these publications. Particular titles of interest might be The Complete Bachelor (1897), The Female Instructor (1817), The Young Lady's Home (1848), and What One Woman Thinks (1893).

Related secondary sources include:

The bonds of womanhood: “woman's sphere” in New England, 1780-1835
Hatcher Graduate HQ 1418.C84

Women at work: the transformation of work and community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826-1860
Hatcher Graduate HD6073.T42U54 D79

The politics of domesticity: women, evangelism, and temperance in nineteenth-century America
Hatcher Graduate HQ1423.E671

Out to work: a history of wage-earning women in the United States
Hatcher Graduate HD6095.K44

Catalog Records and Searching

All currently identified holdings on the topic of domestic service are listed below, with call numbers and links to Mirlyn records. Researchers interested in searching more broadly in this area will find the Library of Congress Subject Heading “Household employees” particularly helpful. You may search all of the University of Michigan Libraries for this term to locate items at the JBLCA as well as secondary sources and primary sources located elsewhere. To locate items housed specifically at the JBLCA the search can be limited from the “Search in:” drop-down menu to the William L. Clements Library.

List of Clements Holdings on Domestic Service, in Chronological Order, 1762-1963

The well-ordered family: wherein the duties of it’s [sic] various members are described and urged …
William L. Clements C2 1762 Am

Religious courtship: being, historical discourses on the necessity of marrying religious husbands and wives only: as also, of husbands and wives being of the same opinions in religion with one another…
William L. Clements C2 1793 De

Friendly hints to a servant
William L. Clements Broadsides Small

Advice from farmer Trueman to his daugther Mary: in a series of discourses designed to promote the welfare and true interest of servants
William L. Clements C2 1810 Ha

A new system of domestic cookery: formed upon principles of economy and adapted to the use of private families
William L. Clements Cookery 1808 Ru

A new system of domestic cookery: formed upon principles of economy and adapted to the use of private families
William L. Clements Cookery 1813 Ru

A new system of domestic cookery: formed upon principles of economy and adapted to the use of private families
William L. Clements Cookery 1814 Ru

The female instructor, or, young woman’s friend and companion: being a guide to all the accomplishments which adorn the female character …
William L. Clements Cookery 1817 Fe

A new system of domestic cookery: formed upon principles of economy and adapted to the use of private families
William L. Clements Cookery 1823 Ru

Advice to a young woman at service; in a letter from a friend
William L. Clements C2 1825 Sa

Annual report of the Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Servants in New York
William L. Clements Serials 2 So

The house servant’s directory, or a monitor for private families
William L. Clements Cookery 1827 Ro

Third annual report of the managers of the Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Servants In New-York
William L. Clements C2 1812 Ro no. 10

Philadelphia, July 20, 1830. Address to the public of the Society For the Encouragement of Faithful Domestics
William L. Clements Pam 1830 So

Fifth annual report of the managers of the Society for the Encouragement of Faithful Domestic Servants in New-York
William L. Clements Serials 2 So

The family monitor, or a help to domestic happiness
William L. Clements C2 1830 Ja

The family monitor, or a help to domestic happiness
William L. Clements C2 1831 Ja

A whisper to a newly-married pair from a widowed wife
William L. Clements Cookery 1833 De

Letters to persons who are engaged in domestic service
William L. Clements Cookery 1842 Be

Of the duties of servants
William L. Clements Broadsides Small

Miss Beecher’s domestic receipt-book: designed as a supplement her treatise on domestic economy
William L. Clements Cookery 1846 Be

Domestic cookery: useful receipts and hints to young housekeepers
William L. Clements Cookery 1846 Le

The young lady’s home
William L. Clements C2 1848 Tu

Plain talk and friendly advice to domestics: with counsel on home matters
William L. Clements Cookery 1855 Pl

Miss Beecher’s domestic receipt-book: designed as a supplement to her treatise on domestic economy
William L. Clements Cookery 1855 Be

Domestic cookery: useful receipts and hints to young housekeepers
William L. Clements Cookery 1855 Le

The common things of every-day life: a book of home wisdom for mothers and daughters
William L. Clements Cookery 1857 Bo

The philosophy of housekeeping: a scientific and practical manual for ascertaining the analysis and comparative value of all kinds of food, its preparation for the table…
William L. Clements Cookery 1867 Ly

The new cyclopaedia of domestic economy and practical housekeeper: adapted to all classes of society and comprising subjects connected with the interest of every family…
William L. Clements Cookery 1872 El

Mrs. Hale’s new cook book: a complete cookery book for all classes with rules and illustrations for household management and full directions for carving, arranging the table…
William L. Clements Cookery 1873 Ha

Indian domestic economy and receipt book: With Hinudstanee romanized names: comprising numerous directions for plain wholesome cookery, both Oriental and English…
William L. Clements Cookery 1877 Ri

The servant girl question
William L. Clements Cookery 1881 Sp

Svensk-Amerikansk kokbok: samt radgivare for svenkst tjenstefolk i Amerika
William L. Clements Cookery 1882 Sv

Practical housekeeping: a careful compilation of tried and approved recipes
William L. Clements Cookery 1883 Wi

Buckeye Cookery: with hints on practical housekeeping
William L. Clements Cookery 1885 Bu

What one woman thinks: essays of Haryot Holt Cahoon
William L. Clements Cookery 1893 Ca

Customs and fashions in old New England
William L. Clements Cookery 1893 Ea

The home: its selection, management, and preservation
William L. Clements Cookery 1896 Ho

The secret of a happy home
William L. Clements Cookery 1896 Ha

The complete bachelor: manners for men

William L. Clements Cookery 1897 Co

Domestic service
William L. Clements Cookery 1897 Sa

The expert waitress: a manual for the pantry, kitchen, and dining- room
William L. Clements Cookery 1898 Sp

The Philadelphia Negro : a social study / by W.E. Burghardt Du Bois ; together with a special

report on domestic service by Isabel Eaton
William L. Clements C2 1899 Du

The expert maid-servant
William L. Clements Cookery 1904 He

Platters and pipkins
William L. Clements Cookery 1910 Kr

Simple directions for the butler
William L. Clements Cookery 1917 Wa

Simple directions for the chambermaid
William L. Clements Cookery 1917 Wa

Simple directions for the cook
William L. Clements Cookery 1917 Wa

Simple directions for the waitress or parlor maid
William L. Clements Cookery 1917 Wa

Letters to a young housekeeper
William L. Clements Cookery 1917 Pr

Letters to a young housekeeper
William L. Clements Cookery 1918 Pr

Household engineering: scientific management in the home
William L. Clements Cookery 1920 Fr

Encyclopaedia of etiquette: what to write, what to do, what to wear, what to say: a book of manners for everyday use
William L. Clements Cookery 1922 Ho

The perfect hostess
William L. Clements Cookery 1931 He

Secondary sources

Domestic servants in urban areas in the 19th century: preliminary research.
By Parks Canada.
William L. Clements H4 Ca

Yes, Ma'am! : glimpses of domestic service, 1901-51 / by M.C. Scott Moncrieff.
By Scott Moncrieff, M. C.
William L. Clements Cookery 1984 Sc

Domestic enemies : servants & their masters in Old Regime France / Cissie Fairchilds.
By Fairchilds, Cissie C.
William L. Clements Cookery 1984 Fa