Archival Anecdotes: Dirty Laundry

Humans have been facing the drudgery of laundry for as long as we have been donning clothing. It's a miserable chore that seems to drag on, even with machines at hand.

Many of us can say that we've washed clothes by hand for one reason or another. But few of us truly know the work that went into washing the tough and durable clothing of the 19th and early 20th century.

During that time, the washbo...