Privacy, please
Outhouses were a part of daily lives in centuries past
By Corbin Crable
We all take indoor plumbing for granted, and that includes in the bathroom. But before the advent of this technology, the outhouse gave us a place to “do our business,” as it were.
Toiletology.com, a blog that includes professional research, studies and reviews of toilets, also includes a history of outhouses, those small structures that include a hole in the floor that emptied into “a small tin or bucket that caught the waste; it had to be emptied daily by one lucky winner.”…
In this issue…
Features
Mid-America News
Books for Collectors
Vintage Discoveries
Feature Articles
A Message From Our Editor
If you sprinkle when you tinkle…
by Corbin Crable
This month’s cover story relays the history of outhouses, those quiet but stinky outdoor private places where everyone did their business in the 19th century.
First, however, I’d like to fast-forward through time to the mid-20th century, a time when tackiness could be found in every room of one’s house, from aspic in the refrigerator to shag carpet in the living room. The bathroom wasn’t spared from trends on which we now can look back and laugh, either.
Photo by adobe firefly