The History of Conservation: Mrs. Beeton, Household Conservator
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CCI Newsletter, No. 28, December 2001
The History of Conservation: Mrs. Beeton, Household Conservator
by Robert L. Barclay, Senior Conservator, Treatment and Development Division - Objects
Beeton's Book of Household Management1 is the pre-eminent 19th-century source of recipes for all seasons, for all foods (even guinea pigs!). Much more than a simple cookbook, it has provided generations of readers with delightful insights into the preparation of food for the well-to-do Victorian household. Take for example the section on rabbits. Each species is introduced with an engraving of the bunny in its natural state (fuzzy evocations of Beatrix Potter) along with a brief description of its habitat and habits. This is followed by directions for preparation, and concludes with an engraving of the finished product laid out on a plate ready to eat. And within this very thorough compendium of methods for preparing and serving food, Isabella Beeton also provided many tips on preserving and maintaining the tools of the household.
Note the insight she brought to the care of copper utensils, warning that they could be potentially hazardous if they had lost their tinning: "Neither soup nor gravy should be suffered to remain in them longer than is absolutely necessary, as any fat or acid that is in them, may affect the metal, so as to impregnate with poison what is intended to be eaten." To clean marble she recommended mixing soap lees, turpentine, pipe clay, and bullock's gall into an abrasive paste. Or soda, pumice stone, and powdered chalk would do the job (these materials may have been very efficient but they were not exactly 'conservation friendly'). Floorcloth (linoleum) could be brought to a fine gloss by the application of milk. Gilt frames could be cleaned with flour of sulphur added to water in which onions or garlic had been boiled (pity the housemaid who had to use this). Mrs. Beeton also included one of the most enduring of household nostrums which is still used in many a museum and private home: German furniture gloss. Composed of yellow wax, black rosin, and oil of turpentine, this stuff is the bane of furniture conservators and illustrates well the difference between looking after the household and caring for museum collections.
Mrs. Beeton, as readers have known the book for nearly a century and a half, contains 1112 pages of dense text, and one can dip again and again into this massive work and still find snippets of interest. Use it regularly for an inside look at the 'lived culture' of the period in which it was written — just don't trust all those cleaning recipes when caring for your precious artifacts!
- Beeton, I. Beeton's Book of Household Management. London:
Chancellor Press, 1982 (facsimile reproduction of 1861 publication).
