Museum Opening May 1 with New Exhibits

Backus-Page House Museum starts the 2016 season on Sunday, May 1st at noon.  There are updates to the Mary Storey Textile Arts Room exhibit.  Brand new until June 30th on the second floor of the house is the must see Kist exhibit.  Stop in to see what Scottish settlers brought with them to the New World.  In case you missed it last season we've left our Beds, Baths and Beyond exhibit intact with the addition of a tub suitable for babies.

Hours of Operation from May 1 to Thanksgiving Monday
Tuesday - Friday  10am - 4:30pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Holiday Mondays  Noon - 4:30pm

Admission: Adults $5, Children/Students $2.00
Group Rates with 6 or more adults are $3.00/adult

Group Tours, Tea Parties, Catered Picnics, and Facility Rentals by appointment.  519-762-3072
Tell your Grade 3 teachers that we are taking bookings for pioneer studies field trips.  info@backuspagehouse.ca

Behind The Scenes of Beds, Baths, and Beyond #12

Hair

·       Most didn’t wash their hair very often, but there were other ways of keeping it “healthy.”  Women brushed their hair more than 100 times a day to make it shiny.  To treat dandruff, they rubbed bran into their scalp.

·       Brushing and combing your hair would dislodge dirt and also spread the natural oils and fluids across the length of the hair, improving its conditions. 

·       As the century developed, the habit of washing one’s hair with water began to be promoted.  A range of washes for the hair were widely recommended, most of which were relatively basic.  Rosemary water was particularly popular. It removed more grease than just water. 

·       By the 1840s, occasional washing of men’s hair with water was creeping in, led by women, who had adopted the process first.  For most, it meant a swill around in cold water to dislodge the dust and dirt, but some were willing to risk soap, although it did tend to leave the scalp sore in some people. 

Behind The Scenes of Beds, Baths, and Beyond #11

Brushing Your Teeth

·       Toothbrushes were not common, so people had to find other ways of keeping their mouth clean.  Some people brushed their teeth with frayed twigs and gunpowder and mouthwashes were made out of everything from lemon juice to wine.  Rubbing gums with wool that had been coated with honey helped to get rid of bad breath, but it was not a great way to fight cavities.

·       The first toothbrush was patented in 1857.

·       By later in the 19^th century, toothbrushes looked the same in shape as they do today but had handles of bone or wood and bristles generally of horse or pony hair. 

·       The usual word for toothpaste was “dentifrice” and many such pastes were made at home with the simplest being no more than a little soot or salt.  Commercial forms could be bought over the counter, and most, whether home-made or bought were simply flavoured and often coloured abrasives—in effect, polishes. 

·       One recipe for such a polish was: coral, cuttlefish bone, dragons blood, burnt alum and red sanders, orris root, cloves and cinnamon, and rose pink, all to be powdered and mixed- was called American tooth powder.  The cuttlefish provided polish, gently abrading the teeth, burnt alum gave recipe a “medicated” taste and may have also had a small antibacterial effect.  The coral, dragon’s blood and rose pink were used for colouring and spices were added to give flavor and scent to breath.

Toothbrush patent drawing.  

Behind The Scenes of Beds, Baths, and Beyond #10

Soap Making

• ·       Lye was made from ashes when trees were burned down around the homestead and were placed in a barrel, called a leach, which was put on top of a board. 
• ·       The board was raised at one end, the bottom of the barrel had a narrow slit which allowed water to seep through, a bucket was placed under the slit and as the water passed through the ashes, it trickled out as lye.  Lye was very dangerous; it could burn the skin badly and the throat if the fumes were breathed in. 
• ·       Animal fat and water were boiled in a kettle and became tallow. 
• ·       The lye was added to the tallow and they were boiled together over a fire, usually outdoors.  Tallow took the strength away from the lye. 
• ·       Bayberry tallow was added to the grease and lye for bath soap. 
• ·       Ammonia and borax for laundry soap. 
• ·       The liquid soap was poured into a pan or box and allowed to harden overnight and was cut into bars the next day.        
  
  
  
  
       

Behind the Scenes of Beds, Baths & Beyond #9

Washing

·       Being presentable was generally accomplished by washing the face and hands and otherwise showing a neat outward appearance with emphasis on the smartness of clothing. Such hand and face washing usually took place in one's bed chamber, with a basin and a relatively small amount of water.

·       The stand-up wash was the main form of personal hygiene and the start of most people’s daily routine.  For men and upper and middle-class women it happened as soon as they rose from bed.

·       All a person needed was a bowl, a slop pail, a flannel, some soap and a single jugful of hot water.  Cold water was also an option and many used it, hoping to improve their circulation. 

·       With a single jug of water it is perfectly easy to wash and rinse the whole body.  A little water is poured into the bowl and the flannel is dipped in and then wrung out.  Some soap is applied and scrubbing the body can begin.  When this first bowl of water became murky, it is emptied into the slop pail and freshly filled from the jug. 

·       Body washing could be done in sections and it also allowed a person to remain mostly dressed throughout.  Once the last drop of clean water was used finally to rinse out the cloth and washing bowl, the slop pail was taken out and disposed of.

Pictured is a wash stand from inside the Backus-Page House Museum.

Behind The Scenes of Beds, Baths, and Beyond #8

Water

·         Some settlers got their water from a nearby spring, but most dug a well as near to the house as they could because hauling water was backbreaking work, usually done by the women and children. 

·         People did not bathe or wash their clothes very often and when people did wash themselves or clothing, the dirty water was often thrown right outside the house so seeped into the nearby well, sometimes making it dirty or causing illness.

·         Water was boiled in pots over the fire and poured into a bathtub for those that could afford one. Bath water was shared. The head of household would be first and he would get the fresh warm water, and then the next person according to station.

Soap

Most people, except very rich people, didn’t use soap until about the second half of the 19th century.

Soap, made from tallow, was specifically for washing of clothes. Only the wealthy had access to the imported, specially wrapped, and expensive perfumed toilet soaps.

Soap could be bought at the general store, but most people preferred to make their own.  Basic soap was made from lye and grease.  Other ingredients, such as borax, ammonia, resin, wild ginger leaves and tallow of bayberry were sometimes added. 

Behind the Scenes of Beds, Baths & Beyond #7

Skin Care and Cosmetics Part 4

1850

Rouge, Liquid: Take carmine, 2 parts, pearlash, 1 part, and water, 9 parts; mix.

Pearlash; (potassium carbonate. pearl ash) the primary component in potash, a white salt that softens hard water, used in soap and as a mild drying agent.

Pearl Powders, for the Complexion:

1. Take pearl or bismuth white, and French chalk, equal parts. Reduce them to a fine powder, and sift through lawn.

2. Take 1 pound white bismuth, 1 ounce starch powder, and 1 ounce orris powder; mix and sift them through lawn. Add a drop of attar of roses or neroli.

Pearl White: Take nitrate of bismuth in solution, and add it to a dilute solution of chloride of sodium until the whole of the bismuth is precipitated; collect, wash, and dry the powder with great care.

Bismuth; a white, crystalline, brittle metal (element) with a pinkish tinge as it oxidises.

Lawn; a plain weave linen.

Orris; a root from Iris flowers, used as a fixative with other substances to ensure stability.

Nitrate of bismuth; bismuth and concentrated nitric acid.

Chloride of sodium; (sodium chloride) salt.

**We do not recommend you try these recipes at home.  

Behind the Scenes of Beds, Baths & Beyond #6

Skin Care and Cosmetics Part 3

To Blacken the Eye-lashes and Eye-brows: The simplest preparation for this purpose are the juice of elder-berries; burnt cork, or cloves burnt at the candle. Some employ the black of frankincense, resin, and mastic; this black, it is said, will not come off with perspiration.

Frankincense; an aromatic resin obtained from the Boswellia family of trees.

Mastic; a resin obtained from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus), it is harvested as a hard brittle translucent yellow resin, but then worked (chewed) it softens and becomes a bright white and opaque gum with a slightly pine or cedar flavour, and was used as a breath-freshener and teeth-whitener; used in make-up as a bonding agent.

Rouge, For the Complexion: Take carmine in fine powder, one part, and levigated French chalk, 5 parts, mix.

Carmine; a bright red dye produced from the shells of the      cochineal insect.

                                                     French chalk; soap-stone, or stealite, is a magnesian mineral, harder than ordinary talc, which it otherwise resembles, and forming a whiter and richer powder.

**We do not recommend you try these recipes at home.  

Behind the Scenes of Beds, Baths & Beyond #5

Skin Care and Cosmetics Part 2

Lip Salve la Rose: Take an ounce of alkanet root and 12 ounces of olive oil, digest with a gentle heat, then add 16 ounces of suet and 8 ounces of lard. Strain, and while cooling, stir in 3 ounces of rose-water and 3 drops of attar of roses.

Attar; a natural perfume or essential oil extracted from the juices of flowers, herbs, spices, tree bark, &c.

Macerate; to soften or break into pieces using a liquid.

Spermaceti; a white translucent liquid wax found in the head cavity of the sperm whale.

**We do not recommend you try these recipes at home.