Book Smart

The Saturated World: Aesthetic Meaning, Intimate Objects, Women’s Lives, 1890-1940 (University of Tennessee Press, 2006)

By Beverly Gordon, professor and chair, Department of Environment, Textiles and Design

Much as we try to deny it, daily life often is, well, tedious — an endless round of laundry-doing, grocery shopping, bathroom- cleaning, picking up this, dropping off that. This is “the background” to what feminist philosopher Mary Daly dubbed “the foreground,” the arena in which great men did great things.

How do we make our backgrounds bearable, and perhaps even interesting? In the past, Gordon says, white middle-class women created a “saturated” world.

“Domestic amusements” played a crucial role in the saturated world as a respite from and enhancement of day-to-day life. Indeed, many of the diversions that Gordon studies were — and are, even today — playful versions of “serious” domestic chores.

In addition to home party-giving, chapters in the book deal with the creation of collage albums or scrapbooks; dress-up activities, many of which were staged for special photographs; the making of dolls and figurines; and collecting, usually antiques.

Gordon says that her new book integrates all her previous scholarly endeavors. In the past, she has investigated aspects of women’s history such as organizing and attending bazaars, collecting, producing fancywork and textiles, and more. Throughout her career, she has challenged the workplace values that traditionally extend far beyond the workplace.

“I’m reclaiming what has been trivialized, developing a counter-argument to workplace values especially: Time is money, getting ahead is all that matters and so on. I’d like to see a more interrelated saturated world that embraces aesthetic intensity, including the stimulation of many senses; childlike openness or wonder; a playful expressiveness; and connection with other people and even things,” she says.

“The history of women’s experience demands a fuller examination of historic reality — it’s a means of understanding a universal human need or propensity. It gives us a viewfinder to look at ourselves.”

While researching the book, Gordon took many scholarly avenues, including visits to special collections and historic sites.

One such destination was the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, once the home of the du Pont family of chemicals, nylon and munitions fame. Gordon worked there as a research fellow in the mid-’90s, and she was able to document and articulate some rather provoking truisms about how the genders have been regarded.

“Henry Francis du Pont is considered the collector extraordinaire of American antiques. His sister Louise Crowninshield was involved in many of the same pursuits as her brother — she even introduced him to collecting. Yet, she has been dismissed as a dilettante, while he has been lauded to the skies! They were a perfect case study — they grew up in the same family, but their gender training and attitudes were quite distinct. I was really excited when I realized that I might be able to explain why they have received the historical treatment that they have,” Gordon says, adding that the story of the siblings might evolve into an article of its own some day.