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| Examining Elizabeth's china and a book about Angelica Kauffmann Photo Courtesy of Sarah Sutton |
My graduate class Managing
History, taught by Dr. Hilary Lowe, partnered with PhilaLandmarks this
semester to reimagine the story of the Powel House. Each student was assigned a
topic stemming from the house, and we are researching and planning out
self-guided tours dealing with our topic. My topic is Elizabeth Willing Powel. My main
research question is: how does Elizabeth's story relate to everyday women of
the time? How did Elizabeth's story differ from the women walking the street in
front of her mansion? I hope to answer these questions and more by looking
deeply into the lived experiences of women in the eighteenth century.
Can the story of one woman stand in for the story of all
women? This is sort of a loaded question, but I plan on diving into it with my
tour of the Powel House. My topic is Elizabeth Powel, famed salonniere,
hostess, and business woman. Well, many people don't know she was a business
woman actually. Elizabeth was one of a kind; she could dance like a lady and
speak like a man. But what made it possible for Elizabeth to learn these
skills? In all honesty, money made this possible. Elizabeth grew up with access
to books of all sorts, training in language and writing, and the opportunity to
taste foods from all over the world. Most women never had these chances, and I
believe it is important to tell those stories as well. I want visitors to come
out of the Powel House with more knowledge about the lives of everyday women in
the eighteenth century. I plan on using Elizabeth's story to show a comparative
look at ordinary women.
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| Viewing the Tour Guide Binders Photo courtesy of Sarah Sutton |
In my tour I will talk about the problems that women had to deal
with in the eighteenth century, but also their triumphs. I wanted to tell the
story of ordinary women because typically, house museums are the ultimate
domain of women. Most historic house museums were created/saved/founded by individual women
and women's groups. House museums often tell the lesser known stories of
history - stories of servants, food, women, and child-rearing. A house was the
place where a woman's story would unfold, and this is what makes the Powel
House the perfect place for a tour about women in the eighteenth century. As for my tour stops, I plan on stopping in
the front office, dining room, ballroom, and drawing room. I am unsure if I
want to enter the servant's area, aka the room that was set up to represent the
Powel's bedroom. This room causes a lot of problems for me because it wouldn't
effectively tell the servant/slave story of the house because it is dressed up
as a wealthy person's bedroom...and it wouldn't tell the story of an eighteenth
century bedroom either because it is not accurate.
Some of the specific women's issues I'll be touching on look
like this:
Front Room/Samuel's Office: This is a tricky room, because
it is typically explained as Samuel Powel's domain. However, I will interpret
this room as a place of business for both of the Powels. Elizabeth took over
Samuel's business ventures after his death, which was the privilege of an elite,
and intelligent, widow like Elizabeth. I will use this room as a jumping-off
point to talk more about women's limits in the business world and the larger
economy of the Revolutionary period.
Dining Room: Looking at the china which was gifted to Elizabeth, I will introduce the topic of class and wealth. Elite Philadelphia women were able to purchase items like this because of
transatlantic buying and selling. Philadelphia's Society Hill elites were
strongly influenced by the refined and civil societies of Britain and France. I
want to explore the relationship between women, education, cooking, and
transatlantic influence.
Ballroom: I will use the decoration of this room to refer to
the lavish parties that happened here. I will touch on women's relationships
with men and what was appropriate, and the role of women in hosting parties and
salons. Women who hosted salons were able to interact with men, which would not
happen in public spaces often, and talk about politics, culture, modern
philosophy, and literature.
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| Elizabeth Willing Powel Photo Courtesy of JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20020407?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents |
Withdrawing Room: This room is going to be the most important
room of the tour, in my opinion. In spite of the fun and important
conversations that were had in this room by the Powels and their friends, I
will use this room to talk about more upsetting facts of life for eighteenth
century women. This is the room that will relate Elizabeth the most to ordinary
Philadelphia women. I will largely shy away from the decoration in the room,
and rather draw the visitors' attention to the painting of Elizabeth,
attributed to Matthew Pratt. This is a mourning portrait of Elizabeth, wearing what
is speculated to be a nursing gown, to signify the deaths of her children, and
her husband. I will use this painting as a transition to talk about "Republican
Motherhood", widowhood, and public vs. private spheres for women.
I have visited the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to
view Elizabeth's letters, but I didn't find anything useful to me right away. I
will need to go back again to look for more specific papers; I might look
into Samuel's papers there as well. So far, some of my favorite books I have used in my
research are listed below:
- Carol Berkin, "Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence," (New York: Knopf, 2005).
- François Furstenberg, "When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation," (New York: Penguin Group, 2014).
- Karin A. Wulf, "Not All Wives: Women of Colonial Philadelphia," (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2000).
- Susan Branson, "These Fiery Frenchified Dames: Women and Political Culture in Early National Philadelphia," (Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania, 2001).
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| Sampling eighteenth-century desserts after filming Photo Courtesy of Sarah Sutton |
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| Photo Courtesy of Sarah Sutton |
In other news, today my classmate Alaina and I were able to
visit the Powel House for a special occasion! The PBS series A Taste of History
was filming another episode featuring the parties at the Powel House. This
episode featured the spread of foods made famous through a letter written by
John Adams. Check out part of his description of a dinner party at the Powel's house HERE. Alaina and I were able to observe the filming of an Emmy
Award-winning show, and we were also able to taste desserts created from
authentic eighteenth century recipes! City Tavern's pastry chef baked the
wonderful desserts, and aligned the table exactly as John Adams described in
his letter. There was even beer made using George Washington's recipe! This was
an unforgettable experience that I am so thankful to have!
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| Pink Macarons & Sugared Cranberries! Photo Courtesy of Sarah Sutton |
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