Domestic Space

Taking forward the debate about 19th-century domestic space, drawing on fields of design history, gender studies, social and economic history and literary criticism. The contributors look at various topics, such as the abolitionist interior and the consequence of Victorian gas lighting.

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This volume takes forward the debate about 19th-century domestic space, drawing on economic history and literary criticism. To date, studies of 19th-century domestic space have discussed a feminized, middle class "sphere", often using domestic guides and fictional representations of domesticity to generate their arguments. This collection explores a range of theoretical issues. The authors include: Lynne Walker and Vron Ware writing on the abolitionist interior, Ann Colley investigating childhood space, Sarah Milan on the consequences of Victorian gas lighting and S.J. Kleinberg reviewing the boundaries of privacy and domesticity in the 19th century United States. The editors have avoided an exclusive focus on the bourgeois home and to stimulate an historcized discussion of material culture.