Index 
Human Rights Joie de Vivre Morality War
It seems that beginning in the 1870 census the term, the first after the Civil War "Keeping House" was a directive of the census bureau for entries in the "Occupation" etc. column for wives' of the "heads of households" or perhaps other matriarchs or family adult women. "Housekeeper" and, more commonly, "Domestic Servant", usually abbreviated as "Dom. Svt." refers to servants in another household for pay or keep. Perhaps the directive was to preserve distinction between white ladies and black, ex-slave servants while at the same time giving dignity of recognition to the newly freed slaves. Seems like a fine distinction to me. In checking it seems this directive was maintained until 1900 when the entry for "Occupation" was left for "housewives" but not for domestic servants. Such "Keeping House" persons were not assigned any occupation. Perhaps the change reflected industrial revolution changes of men working and women "staying home" and not "working". I am sure there are other such directives decipherable from the records, but I am just too dense to see them. I am also sure it's a lot easier, if the objective is to learn of more of such things, to look them up somewhere. But the fun is the occasional discovery in one's own mind from disparate sources, and I hope to randomly encounter more in my perusals of long-forgotten hints about vetted perceptions of the times of roles and places of men and women. It seems a compromise in values occurred at a time when values were high on the agenda; they always during and after wars, they justify the killing. |