America’s Kitchens
2 p.m. Sunday, Feburary 16, 2014
Dorchester Historical Society
Nancy Carlisle
Senior Curator of Collections
Historic New England
From the colonial period to the present, the kitchen has been a source of nourishment and comfort. As the place where parents nurture children and families gather at breakfast and dinner, share chores, and discuss the world outside, the kitchen gives meaning to family life. Historic New England curator Nancy Carlisle will discuss how the American kitchen has evolved from the seventeenth-century to the present. Drawing on her book America’s Kitchens, co-authored with Melinda Narardinov, Ms. Carlisle will tell the story of the nation’s kitchens from New England hearths, to Victorian kitchens isolated at the back of the house, to open plan kitchens of 1950s suburbs.
Curator Nancy Carlisle will give an illustrated talk on how the American Kitchen has evolved from the seventeenth-century to the present. Drawing on her book America’s Kitchens, co-authored with Malinda Narardinov, Ms. Carlisle will tell the story of the nation’s kitchens from New England hearths, to Victorian kitchens isolated at the back of the house, to open plan kitchens of 1950s suburbs, providing new insights into the technological and social changes that have taken place in this room and suggesting how these innovations have transformed kitchen work and changed women’s lives. There is no Chocolate Cook-off, as at the last few February programs, but here will most definitely be chocolate refreshments. From the colonial period to the present, the kitchen has been a source of nourishment and comfort. As the place where parents nurture children and families gather at breakfast and dinner, share chores, and discuss the world outside, the kitchen gives meaning to family life. Historic New England curator Nancy Carlisle will discuss how the American kitchen has evolved from the seventeenth-century to the present. Drawing on her book America’s Kitchens, co-authored with Melinda Narardinov, Ms. Carlisle will tell the story of the nation’s kitchens from New England hearths, to Victorian kitchens isolated at the back of the house, to open plan kitchens of 1950s suburbs.