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Posted on 08/29/2025 6:32:36 PM PDT by kawhill
To properly understand an object, it is necessary not only to understand its function but also to understand the web of values, associations, and historical contexts that surround the object. If we are to put the chamber pot in its proper place in Victorian society, it is necessary to understand the chamber potâs history and the values that emerge from that history.
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Is that what you put in it? I always thought it was something else.
Potty ping.
I am very attached to my Ben Butler chamber pot from the Museum of the Confederacy in New Orleans.
I have, however, repurposed it. It is now my coin jar.
My maternal grandparents, born in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1872 and in 1880 were familiar with chamberpots and with outhouses.
At least it isn’t about the Trial of the Star Chamber Pot, that was something no one wants to see. đ
đ¤
I certainly would not be happy, though, with getting up in the night and heading outdoors....
Its not so much the dark or the cold so much as the bears.
No. It isn't.
Thundermug.
đ
A few of them linger in the farmhouse of the family homestead.
Missouri...February....
Spoken like one who never had to use an outhouse in the snow, or one in 1100 heat for that matter.
My house in philly i just sold was built pre-indoor toilet. The addition on the back was bottom floor kitchen and second floor bathroom. I have a dresser with a marble top that i set up with a chamber pot while selling the house calling the setup a 1/2 bath.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1009-N-Lawrence-St-Philadelphia-PA-19123/10198824_zpid/
check out the bedroom with the chamber pot on the dresser
No. Not even close.
I asked https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-the-raio-of-105-office-98lmZhzARESy7SsdfbTnpg#14
Hereâs a comprehensive, organized list of things from our daily lives that would be utterly missingâor radically differentâif a person woke up in almost any year before 1800. This includes both technological/material conveniences and aspects of social/family/community life often cited as having diminished or changed in the modern era.
What Modern Life Would Lack (Pre-1800)
Everyday Comforts & Home Technology
No electricity: No light switches, electric lights, power outlets, or electric appliances (including phones, internet, TV, computers).[1][2]
No central heating, air conditioning, or on-demand hot/cold water: Heating was from fireplaces or stoves, cooling was by opening windows or seeking shade, and hot water required boiling manually.[3][4]
No refrigeration: All food was preserved by smoking, salting, drying, cellars, or root storageâno refrigerators or freezers.[5]
No indoor plumbing or flush toilets: Water was drawn from wells or streams and carried inside. Baths were rare luxuries, toilets were outhouses or chamber pots.[1][3]
No washing machines, dryers, or dishwashers: Cleaning was entirely manual and labor-intensive.[2][1]
Food & Grocery
No supermarkets or modern stores: Shops were rare, limited, and specialized. Food variety was highly seasonal and local.[6][5]
No processed, packaged, or fast food: Everything was made from scratch using local ingredientsâno snacks, sodas, frozen meals.[7][1]
Food insecurity common: Famine and crop failure were real dangers.[7]
Transport & Mobility
No cars, bicycles, trains, buses, or airplanes: Travel was only by foot, horse, or occasionally boat; very slow and dangerous.[3][5]
No paved roads, traffic lights, or public transit.
Communication & Information
No phones, texting, mail as we know it, internet, or media: Important news traveled slowly by messenger or word of mouth.[8][3]
No books for mostâilliteracy was widespread outside educated classes.[9]
Health & Medicine
No doctors, hospitals, or accessible medicines as we know them: Most illnesses were mysterious and deadly; very little effective medical knowledge.[9][3]
High rates of childhood mortality and early death.
No vaccines, no antibiotics, poor understanding of sanitation.
Work & Mechanization
No mechanized farming: All agriculture was by hand or with animal power.[5][3]
No factories, typewriters, or office equipment.
Almost no banking as we know it, no insurance, no credit cards.
Safety & Law
Limited policing, slow justice (no 911), no fire alarms or organized emergency services.[7]
What Past Generations Had (and We Often Miss Today)
Social/Family/Community Life
Large, multi-generational families: More siblings, cousins, extended kin; family was central for survival and identity.[7]
Accelerated maturity: Children assumed adult responsibility at a much younger age (helping on farms, apprenticeships, or even marriage in teen years).[10]
Village and neighborhood closeness: Everyone knew each other; community support was essential and constant.[7]
Deep religious faith and shared moral foundation: Church attendance was nearly universal. Faith structured community, law, and daily routine.[11][10]
Rituals, slow time, and less distraction: Fewer outside entertainments meant more home singing, storytelling, and time with loved ones.[10][5]
Self-reliance and practical skills: Most people grew/made/fixed what they needed with their own hands, fostering strong self-sufficiency.[7]
Strong church and work communities: Occupational guilds/unions, regular church events (weddings, funerals, worship), and civic festivals.[10][7]
Apprenticeships and hands-on learning.
What Was Harder, But Brought People Together
Shared hardship and mutual dependence: Surviving harsh conditions (weather, scarcity, illness) forged resilient bonds.[10]
Common moral codes and behavioral expectations: While sometimes restrictive, there was clarity and predictability to social life.[11]
Strong attachment to land, locality, ancestry, and tradition.
In Summary
If you woke up before 1800, you would immediately lack:
light switches, running water, hot showers, refrigeration, telephones, internet, grocery stores, modern transport, accessible medicine, and much more. But youâd findâsometimes by necessityâcloser family circles, accelerated adulthood, shared religious and moral frameworks, hands-on skills, and thick ties to community and tradition.[4][11][1][3][5][10][7]
This contrast between material convenience and social interconnectedness continues to shape discussions about what progress really means for human well-being.
â
https://www.dar.org/museum/creating-ideal-home-1800-1939-comfort-and-convenience-america
https://www.dar.org/museum/exhibitions/creating-ideal-home-1800-1939-comfort-and-convenience-america
https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/lifestyle-comparison-then-and-now.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0RL36Ha4ks
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-life-looked-like-150-years-ago-america-photos
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/tire-size-chart-article
https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/life-in-early-america
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/telephone-technology-timeline/
https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/c.php?g=339878&p=2287722
https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/social-and-family-life-in-the-late17th-early-18th-centuries/
https://visiblemagazine.com/what-changed-our-simple-societies-over-time-and-where-are-we-heading/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6perBcIneNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEOrb-EtsZg
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/from-tech-to-society-how-weve-changed-in-a-decade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(before_1890)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEXBf-avcps
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/understanding-social-change-world-back-normal
About all those things, Obama would say, “You didn’t build that.” And Joy Reid would say, “Da white man didn’t invent that.”;-)
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