Old Washboard Laundry Days

by Edward Fielding

Title

Old Washboard Laundry Days

Artist

Edward Fielding

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Vintage memories of the good old days of washing laundry by hand.
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Photography by Edward M. Fielding
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A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument.

The traditional washboard is usually constructed with a rectangular wooden frame in which are mounted a series of ridges or corrugations for the clothing to be rubbed upon. For 19th century washboards, the ridges were often of wood; by the 20th century, ridges of metal were more common. A "fluted" metal washboard was patented in the United States in 1833. Zinc washboards were manufactured in the United States from the middle of the 19th century. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, ridges of galvanized steel are most common, but some modern boards are made of glass. Washboards with brass ridges are still made, and some who use washboards as musical instruments prefer the sound of the somewhat more expensive brass boards. One of the few musical instruments invented entirely in the United States is the Zydeco Frottoir (Zydeco Rubboard), a distillation of the washboard into essential elements (percussive surface with shoulder straps) designed by Clifton Chenier and built by Willie Landry in 1946.

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March 14th, 2013

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