Care and Management of a Linen Cupboard
In the era of cloth not paper napkins, of tablecloths, and dish cloths it was important to know how to care for those items and preserve them in the best manner.
“A Linen cupboard should be in an airy dry situation to prevent mildew, not against an outside wall.
One shelf should be set apart for table linen, another for bed linen, a third for bedroom and bath towels, others for dusters, tea-cloths, oven- cloths, etc. In order that each article may have its fair share of wear, everything as it comes back from the wash should be laid at the bottom of its own respective pile and the clean supply be given only from the top.”
~Annie Butterworth, Manual of household work and management
In her Efficient Household Purchasing chapter of Household Engineering Christine Frederick advises January as the best time to purchase household linens. The same holds true today.
Mrs. Frederick also felt that there needed to be detailed records of where linens and clothing were stored including the date of purchase, size and number of items (such as bed sheets), and other such distinguishing details written on a card and placed in with other House Records.
Another timely tip, this one on alternative ways to keep bugs at bay from your fine linens came from Practical Housekeeping…
Lacking closets, vintage homes would use an armoire such as this to store clean linens.
“In the country remote from drug-stores, many housekeepers use the dried leaves of sage, thyme, spearmint, and other highly scented herbs. These are gathered after the housewife has laid in all she may require for cooking and medicinal purposes, are tied in bunches and dried, and then laid among the clothes in the large wooden chest ; or a pole is laid from rafter to rafter, and the clothing is hung over this, and casings of calico or old cotton quilts are carefully pinned around each garment, the bunches of herbs being also pinned at intervals about the clothing.” ~Practical Housekeeping 1887
