Farm Women and Gas Engines: The New Technology in the Barnyard

In this illuminating study of gasoline engines on the farm and how women interacted with them, author Carrie A. Meyer reviews advertising in farm magazines, the commercial history of Sears, Roebuck and Maytag, and the memories of Hoosier homemakers to help trace the evolution of gas engines in the barnyard. Women's interaction with gas engines, which first appeared on midwestern farms before 1900, has been neglected and misunderstood, in part because surveys taken a hundred years ago failed to recognize women's role in the barnyard and failed to ask the right questions. Producers of farm gas engines, nevertheless, did recognize women's role in the barnyard and appreciated women as prospective users, as early as 1897. Meyer shows that “Women's early reluctance to embrace the engine helped push manufacturers to design better engines.”