Art in the Parlor: Consumer Culture and Currier and Ives

Much has been written on the origin and evolution of the women's sphere in the nineteenth century, perhaps adequately summarized in 1869 in a phrase from the women's magazine, The Household, in an article titled, "Women's Relations to the State": "Woman is the divinely commissioned teacher of her race" (qtd. in Husband and O'Loughlin 101). The purpose of American Woman's Home was to guide women in creating and running an efficient, harmonious Christian household or, more specifically, to guide young wives through the intricacies of family psychology, social interchange, and home furnishing.