laundry in history

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In a place created to destroy people, Hack refused to be dehumanized and cheated death. He tied a string around his neck and pulled it before daily inspection, rushing blood to his head and hiding his yellow, jaundiced skin. Otherwise, if he appeared sick, he might have been sent to the gas chamber.

As a laundry worker at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he found valuables that gave him hope — diamond rings, gold watches and large emeralds — that he recovered from the confiscated clothes of inmates. 

Throughout history, the humble act of doing laundry has, at times, transformed into a radical act of resistance. From women’s suffrage movements to civil disobedience in the face of apartheid, laundry has moved beyond a domestic chore and into the realm of powerful political protest. This post takes a deep dive into the times and places where fabric and defiance were spun together—and where hanging out the wash meant airing out injustice.

 In the shadows of World War II, where battles raged not just on the front lines but in back alleys, bunkers, and barracks, the humble laundry took on a role far darker than anyone could have imagined. Amid the countless covert operations carried out by Allied forces, one of the most chilling involved the deliberate poisoning of enemy uniforms—weaponizing the very clothing worn by Axis soldiers.

Chicago’s hotel industry, to say nothing of its countless brothels, required hundreds of thousands of sheets and towels to be cleaned every day. This, combined with the personal needs of millions of residents and tourists, meant that the revenues of the cleaning business actually rivaled those of bootlegging. 

 Laundry work during World War I and World War II, especially in Nazi Germany and labor camps across Poland and surrounding areas, became a grim and harrowing experience for those forced into this labor. For many Jewish, Romani, and other marginalized groups targeted by Hitler's regime, doing laundry in labor camps symbolized both the drudgery of their oppression and their daily fight for survival. 

  The Jim Crow era stands as one of the most divisive chapters in American history, marked by laws and customs that upheld racial segregation. During this time, the laundry industry was no exception, serving as a poignant example of the systemic inequities and social injustices that defined the period. 

 The right to organize was key to unionizing laundry workers for the first time way back in 1937. That right was guaranteed by the Wagner Act, passed just two years earlier in 1935. In 2021, the right to organize is again a key issue for workers and for the AFL-CIO, the country’s top labor union body. They are demanding that Congress pass the PRO Act—the Protect the Right to Organize Act. 

 The next time you pass the parking lot on Third Street between St. Francis Place and Harrison Street, imagine a laundry named Yick Wo housed there.  

It was the scene of one of the earliest legal victories for civil rights in the modern era. 

In Ireland, the Magdaline Institutions became associated with the Catholic Church, and by the mid-20th century there were at least a dozen industrial laundries in the Republic of Ireland. Women were confined to the laundries for life and were forced to work long hours in poor conditions.

 On every Indian Wars Army post was an area called, variously, soapsuds row, suds row, or sudsville, where the company laundresses lived and worked. Most mornings would find these women preparing for their day’s work. 

  Founded in 1901, Capital City Laundry was in operation for most of the 20th century. At its peak, the family-owned and operated dry cleaners included a dozen locations across Montgomery, far more than its closest competitor.  

 Blanchisseuses or lavandieres were wash women, whose job was to wash and iron clothes for families who hired them to do so.

I wanted to write about these colourful women of past and their history, as they were an integral part of everyday Paris.

In the challenging landscape of combat zones, the significance of efficient Laundry Units in maintaining the well-being and readiness of military personnel cannot be understated. These specialized units play a vital role in ensuring that uniforms remain pristine, reflecting the discipline and dedication of our forces. Every crease, every thread – a testament to the meticulous care taken in the harshest environments.   

 "Vintage" washboards with a corrugated metal or glass surface for rubbing clothes clean are quite a modern laundry tool, from the inventive 19th century. Beating the laundry against a rock with a stick, stone, or board is a more ancient way of getting the dirt out.   

 Victorian advice on housekeeping routines set in stone the idea that Monday should be wash-day, so that everything could be dried, pressed, aired and folded well before Sunday, the day of rest and clean clothes. The rhymes in the left-hand column show there's a long tradition of a "virtuous" weekly laundry cycle starting on Mondays. 

 Lye soap was the soap of pioneer America, a mixture of boiled animal fat and lye: lye made from water run through ashes from a wood fire. This had been the basic recipe for many centuries and produced a dark soft soap known as black soap. The lye could be used on its own for laundry, with soap as a second line of attack. 

 Ponches, possers, plungers, stompers, dollies - naming old laundry tools

We've mentioned before that it's difficult to get a detailed picture of regional differences in the names for simple domestic items - let alone differences from one English-speaking country to another. 

Before washing machines, doing laundry was a day-long affair. Washing was often done at a riverside and clothing would have to be vigorously rubbed against rocks or a washboard. If washing clothing at the water source was not possible, multiple trips would have to be made to carry water from the river to a large basin in the home instead. The arduous task of washing clothing would typically be undertaken by women, servants, and sometimes soldiers. Laundry was done this way for thousands of years. 

Ching Lee Laundry, the oldest Chinese-owned laundry in the United States, closed its doors Saturday after 140 years of continuous operations by the same family.

On its final day of operations, a steady stream of the shop's longtime customers, some who've been coming to Ching Lee (which translates to "victory" in Cantonese) for generations themselves, came to bid farewell. Many brought with them flowers, cookies, cards, and tears.