Tuesday, January 26, 2010

the hoosier

While thumbing through Catherine Seiberling Pond's lovely book, The Pantry, its History and Modern Uses, I noticed a little section on the Hoosier cabinet. Well, I am nutty about the word "Hoosier", not only because I happen to be born Indiana, but I love its quirky sound, and use it often in my poetry.

"Hoosier" is a term used to describe those of us who hail from the state of Indiana. The word is derived from a pioneer days greeting. When approaching a home, you shouted,"Hello, the cabin!" to avoid being shot. The inhabitants would then shout back, "Who'sh 'ere?" Hence, over time, the slurring became "hoosier".

Anyway, a Hoosier cabinet (also known as a "Hoosier") is a type of cupboard, hugely popular in the 1910s to the 1930s, before built in kitchen cabinetry was the norm. Named after the Hoosier
Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana, they were also made by several other companies, most also located in Indiana.

The typical Hoosier had three main parts; the base, with a large compartment and drawers, a slide out counter top, and a shallower top section with smaller compartments and drawers. Besides all the nooks and crannies, it was outfitted with all kinds of nifty accessories, like a built-in flour bin/sifter and metal racks holding special sized glass jars for spices and staples.

With ads that told rural housewives that "A kitchen without a cabinet is like a farm without a plow," Indiana firms including the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. and the McDougall Co. sold millions of these cabinets to women all over the country. I remember my dear grandmother had one in her rural Indiana kitchen back in the 1950s.

photo: borrowed from the blog "Apartment 2024"
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~PS~

It was suggested in the comments of my previous post
on Blakeman's Lady Winter, that perhaps she looked
a bit like me. Hmm, perhaps that's why I'm so drawn to her.

Funny, synchronicities.
.

75 comments:

  1. As always, your posts are fascinating. I laughed aloud when I read your bit on the origin of the term, Hoosier.
    What a great and multi functional cabinet, that hoosier is.
    love the photo of it as well.
    Always look forward to your posts.

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  2. Hey, can't believe i was first to comment! :)

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  3. well, I was going to say fascinating, but gary beat me to it!!!!

    kudos to gary for being the first....can't believe I'm number two (well, could be #5) by the time I hit publish.

    think I will have to replace my often voiced cliche "a day without sunshine" to "a farm without a plow"

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  4. Hi, Gary, I don't usually post this early. A serendipitous event!

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  5. Isn't "farm without a plow" great? I love that old ad. Think I'll have to incorporate it into my vocab, too, Ms. Mouse!

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  6. I never knew the origins of the term "Hoosiers" and I wasn't familiar with the cabinet either. I learned alot today...very interesting!
    And I do see the resemblance to Lady Winter. I would be interested to see Lady Fall, since that is your season. It's my favorite, too : )

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  7. My MIL has a Hoosier cabinet, I've always been fascinated with it. It is cool, and even today is still functional.

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  8. Interesting history and word origins. I love that cabinet. It would go really well in my dining room with the Ontario sideboard/buffet from Bells' Furniture.
    I much prefer the unfitted or non built-in kitchen to one with fitted cupboards. I would love to have a country kitchen with individual pieces to house things.
    (We both seem to be prolific today with two posts. Must be the weather!)

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  9. i'm a hoosier, and that's the first time i've heard why we're called that! ok, then.

    ...however, born a buckeye and spent a few years as a Wolverine. grrr.

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  10. I have a lovely old Hoosier in my kitchen...the kitchen was basically designed around it...I have had it since I was in my 20's and bought it from someone selling it on the radio (pre-craig's list days!) Unfortunately the origingal owners removed lots of the wonderful old do-dads to make it more usable for storage...but I still love it. I check out every Hoosier cabinet I see for sale aroud here and I don't think I have ever seen the same cabinet twice...they are all different...

    I knew that the cabinets were named after the company's location but I never knew the origin of the nickname!...What fun!

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  11. I have a hoosier in my dining room and am pleased to know the history of this wonderful piece.

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  12. Willow, I love the little stories you share. I had no idea about the cabinet or the greeting.

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  13. I came here to see the cabinet, it is lovely! As to Lady Winter, wow, she does look like you!

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  14. I love Hoosier cabinets. Come to think of it, one would great in our old kitchen...

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  15. What a great addition to any home. Beat that, IKEA!

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  16. it is the lips...

    hoosiers...grew up watching them play basketball, between throwing chairs. lol. funny the origin of the word as well. neat ad for them as well.

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  17. One of my best friends bought herself a hoosier for her kitchen and absolutely loves it! So many neat little nooks and crannies.

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  18. hi willow - i don't remember thanking you for popping the picture up in the corner so - thankyou my dear!! i am also grateful for your unpacking the term/word hoosier. i've seen it so many times and never known anything about it. now i do. it's got romantic origins. does everything?! steven

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  19. Oh, we have the identical cabinet siting in our kitchen! Well, ours was covered in flaking white paint and my husband took it down to the original oak (decreasing, no doubt, its value as an antique but bringing it in line with our particular idiom.)

    We bought from a neighbor thirty some years ago for twenty dollars and we use it as a liquor cabinet.

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  20. Always wanted a Hoosier. They remind me of the back end of a chuck wagon. Always wanted one of those too. Everything nice and neat and convenient in one little spot. There's simply something wonderful when someone events something that's convenient and looks nice too.

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  21. There is some resemblance in the picture.

    That was very interesting about the origin of the word Hoosier. I have often wondered what it meant, but never bothered to look it up.

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  22. Hi Willow~
    I have often told Sergio (hubby) that I really HAVE to have a Hoosier cabinet since we are Hoosiers and every time I go into an antique store around here I fall in love with them again. Although, he is right. I just don't have room for one!

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  23. I think I've heard those cabinets referred to as "Kitchen Queens," but maybe those were competitors of the Hoosiers!

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  24. Janis, I would love to have one, as well, but the only spot for it is currently taken by a vintage medical cabinet...painted celery green!

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  25. Vicki, it would make a fabulous liquor cabinet. Brilliant idea!

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  26. Steven, it's my pleasure, my friend. It's a gorgeous photo!

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  27. This is soooo interesting. Glad to know these facts.

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  28. Yep, a fascinating post about something of which I have never heard. I love the slogan on the advert!

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  29. Hello Willow,

    A practical kitchen cupboard will always be in demand!

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  30. you learn something new everyday! Thanks for the entertaining lesson!

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  31. After my 5 zillion trips to Head Office in Bloomington IN over the years, the guys there made me an honorary Hoosier. It made this little Aussie chick very proud & I love my dual 'citizenship' status. How good is that Hoosier cabinet Willow - a marvellous piece of clever kitchen ingenuity.
    Millie ^_^

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  32. Millie, I made a ton of trips to Bloomington, IN, as well, when my daughter was an undergrad there!

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  33. I always used to love watching little old ladies who'd get their flour out of those old hoosiers. They're great. I really like that red one, don't you!? Remember in "Out of Africa," Felicity (who I think is supposed to be modeled after Beryl Markham) yells out, "Hello, the house!" when she visits Karen Blixen in one scene. Your notes reminded me of that!

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  34. I thought it was just called a pastry cabinet! I have one, but there is not a door opening to the sifter. The top of the sifter pulls open from the top, and the bottom part of the sifter shows.

    At one time, there was a door at the very bottom, but it's missing, so I put a little curtain there ... forget all this. I may just have to send you a picture. But I LOVE MY HOOSIER!!! ♥

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  35. I've seen many Hoosier cabinets but didn't know that's what they are called. Thanks for the introduction to the pantry book which I've ordered. She has a great blog as well, and I plan to try some of her recipes.

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  36. I've seen many Hoosier cabinets but didn't know that's what they are called. Thanks for the introduction to the pantry book which I've ordered. She has a great blog as well, and I plan to try some of her recipes.

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  37. Giving up Johnny Depp as your twin?

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  38. I always wondered about hoosiers. Thanks for the history lesson, lady winter, erm, Willow. :)

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  39. These Hoosier cabinets look wonderful mixed in with a modern kitchen. Love the flour drawer we had one built into our kitchen cabinets growing up.

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  40. Ellen, nope, I'm still maintaining the Deppster and I are distant cousins!

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  41. Even though I was aware of these cabinets, I didn't know they were called "Hoosier" cabinets. Thanks for the great history behind these cabinets. I have seen several in various homes and antique shops. I'm sure they were used for many purposes in many "Hoosier" homes.
    Thanks! The Bach

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  42. Being forever etched in stained glass. Now where did you go to have this done? :) The Bach

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  43. could use another piece full of nooks and crannies to hold all my collected junk

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  44. Oh, Bach, I didn't have it done! (Although, I wish it WAS mine.) It's a piece of stained glass in a museum in the UK. Read yesterday's post! :^)

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  45. You think alcohol was sometimes involved in that traditional prairie greeting? Just asking. :-)

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  46. JG, yeah, it sounds like they had plenty of moonshine. "Hooossssier?"

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  47. I love the Hoosier style kitchen cabinets, especially when you can find them with the original flour sifter still functional.
    Do you own one ? I can only imagine the kitchen in WM complete with a Hoosier cabinet. hhmmmm.
    Extremely interesting post, as always ;)

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  48. I want one! ..... I also like the sound of the celery green medical cabinet.

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  49. Niiice cabinet! And I'll take all those booooks behind it, heh, heh...and I do see a sort of resemblance there ;)

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  50. Such a nice historic tidbit. I'd love to find one of those cabinets! Looks like it would be a perfect addition to the manor, a conversation piece!! I can't imagine that kitchens didn't have cabinets in the "old" days....gosh, how did women ever survive!!

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  51. When I first moved to chuckanut Village the house I lived in has a glorious Hoosier called The Kitchen Queen- It had a week's menu writen on the inside and a couple of important every day recipes. I always thought that they were called Kichen Queens, no wonder people looked at me like I was silly while looking in antique shops.Oh, wait, I am silly- it could have been a two fold reason...Thanks for the history.

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  52. i love this bit of 'Hoosier' trivia.
    i didn't know about the cupboard.
    i can't believe all the neat gadgets that it came with.
    kinda' makes me want to bake something.

    xxx

    and 'no.'
    i don't think you look like the winter lady.

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  53. I used to have a Hoosier that I loved. It had a flour bin and a potato bin and a drawer for beans and a place to store my rolling pin. The only thing it didn't have was the kitchen sink. :)

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  54. I love the old ad, very cool! And the definition of a hoosier, I had no idea!

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  55. Your blog is always so beautiful. Thanks for all the inspiration.

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  56. I love the style of script they used on the Hoosier logo.

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  57. The Hoosier - called "Kredenz" here - is a piece of furniture found in every farmhouse kitchen in Austria before built-in "American" kitchen became en vogue. The word "Kredenz" evokes magical childhood memories, of a warm kitchen with a wood-burning hearth on whose edge, on top of the warm water basin, one could sit on cold winter afternoons and read the hours away (or until one's bottom became too hot!).

    Look at the images here: I am wondering whether what is known as the Hoosier was originally a cabinet brought to the States from an immigrant of Austrian origin.

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  58. I agree with you about the word hoosier. It is delightfully quirky. Not so sure anout the cabinet, though...

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  59. Willow, I have a Hoosier cabinet that I now use as a potting bench. My grandmother used it her entire life to store many canned goods. It is a treasure.

    I have NEVER known about how the word Hoosier came to be! I will remember that!

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  60. Merisi, thanks for the kredenz pic link! Yes, very similar to what we in America called a "hutch". Yes, I'm sure the Hoosier cabinet was a combination of krenenz and hutch, but the unique thing was all the built in "extras".

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  61. I've just been catching up, so much to enjoy as usual.
    And I've learned a new word!

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  62. My aunt Esther had a farmhouse in Crescent, OK where I used to visit in the summer. In the kitchen was a beautiful Hoosier cabinet. It was green and it had a built in flour sifter. The last time I visited my Aunt she was no longer living there. We went to the house and looked around. I told her how much I admired that cabinet. She wrote me later to say the house had been vandalized and the cabinet was gone. We were both heartbroken.

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  63. Oh, Shari, that's a sad story. At least you have your sweet memories.

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  64. Whose there? Hoosier. Wonder how many other words contracted in this way...hmmmm. Love Country Living magazine and other like ilk mags on the "primitives" or what you Yanks call Americana. Sometimes we get antiques up here from Indiana. Isnt David Letterman from there?

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  65. Lady Winter does look like you! Cool.

    And thanks for the info about Hoosiers. Who knew?

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  66. I grew up with a cabinet like this in the kitchen. I just thought everybody had one. ;)

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  67. Fun! I always thought it would be fun to own one!

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  68. Willow! I grew up with a hoosier in my kitchen. My mom won't give it to me, even though i BEG her to. It stays in storage. I made so many cookies on the enameled surface. This one is beautiful! I've never seen a red one.

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  69. Hoosiser cupboards are the smartest cabinets. I love them...I own a cute wee Sellers brand and co-own 3 others...have restored and sold a few too. You can take a peek at a couple of them on my other blog if you wish. www.reddoorprimitives.blogspot.com
    There is a distinct possibility that I have become a hoosier-aholic.
    Cheers
    Jackie

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  70. Great post! I feel a little bit smarter now. :)

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  71. Yes when you really look at it,she looks like you indeed.Intriguing.

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  72. I love discovering the origins of words. Especially odd words. They always stick with me. One day, I'll hear the word "hoosier" and I'll just have to say, "did you know that..." and relate this information. I'm a sucker for random facts :)

    Happy Weekend,
    Jen

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  73. I always learn something new here! I love my Hoosier and thought I knew all about them. Thanks for sharing so much of what you know here ~ I love your blog! I posted about my hoosier on my blog and (hope you don't mind) linked to your blog :-)

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  74. Thanks so much for the very nice plug--I am soon going to be staying in the house in THE PANTRY that features that Hoosier on the back cover (with the two amazing pantries). My friend who has them is an amazing cook--and schlepped that Hoosier all the way to Boston 25 years ago after paying $100 for it an Indiana auction. We actually bonded over her pantries and Hoosier!

    [As you know, I also am a big James Whitcomb Reilly fan, too.]

    I'm so glad you like THE PANTRY.

    Fondly,

    Catherine

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)