House Servant's Directory, or, A Monitor for Private Families: Comprising Hints on the Arrangement and Performance of Servants' Work
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A01=Graham Russell Hodges
A01=Robert Roberts
African American studies
antebellum social relations
Author_Graham Russell Hodges
Author_Robert Roberts
beautiful
Beautiful Polish
Category=DSBF
Category=NHK
Coal Fire
Coffee Urns
Cross Corners
dessert
Dessert Plates
domestic service history
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fire
Foot Plate
historical domestic work practices
household management techniques
irons
leather
masculinity in labor
oil
plates
polish
Salt Spoons
servant-master dynamics
shammy
Shammy Leather
Silk Handkerchief
Soft Linen Cloth
Soft Soap
Soft Water
sweet
Sweet Oil
Tea Caddy
Tea Pot
Water Decanters
Winter Time
Winthrop Sargent
Product details
- ISBN 9780765601155
- Weight: 453g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Oct 1997
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Robert Roberts' The House Servant's Directory, first published in 1827 and the standard for household management for decades afterward, is remarkable for several reasons: It is one of the first books written by an African American and issued by a commercial press, and it was written while Roberts (ca. 1780-1860) was in the employ of Christopher Gore (1758-1827), a former senator from and governor of Massachusetts (and ancestor of the novelist Gore Vidal). Gore Place, where Roberts worked from 1825 to 1827, is one of the grandest neoclassical mansions built in America. Not only was the extraordinary set of recommendations that Roberts made about relations between servants and their masters unique for its time, but his many recipes for cleaning furniture and clothing and for purchasing, preparing, and serving food and drink for small and large dinners are also still useful today. As portrayed in Graham Hodges' introduction, Roberts' own story is a unique window into the work habits and thoughts of America's domestic workers and into antebellum African American politics. Of particular note is Roberts' contribution to the emergence of new self-perceptions of black manliness. Written at a time when male Americans in general were reconsidering the construction of masculinity, Roberts' advice to his fellow servants fostered black dignity for work that few felt merited respect, and his counsel to employers on proper treatment of their servants insisted on their humanity and respect for their skills.
Roberts, Robert; Hodges, Graham Russell
