Help sustain and improve this project by donating to the American Social History Project.

Home
About
Search
Teaching WBA?
Textbook

The American Woman’s Home

These were the frontispiece and title page of a popular 1869 guide to the “formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian Homes.” Intended to instruct young women on their proper role in the middle-class home, this book was continually expanded and reprinted after its first publication in 1841. Its lessons about “domestic science” ranged from the correct way to raise children to the appropriate type of picture to hang in the parlor.

Source: Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, The American Woman’s Home or, Principles of Domestic Science . . . (1869)—American Social History Project.

Who Built America? An Open Educational Resource has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and funding from The Ford Foundation, Digital Scholar, and the City University of New York Central Office of Library Services. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Open Educational Resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Contact
Terms of Use and Permissions
Feedback
Login

© American Social History Project, Inc. 2026