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.
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