28 June – 26 September 2010
Exhibition conception: Tadeusz Fercowicz
What were the glass irons used for? What could be smoothed with heated scissors? What does the notorious “cosmic” washing machine by Elektrolux look like? One would learn the answers by visiting the exhibition whose principal attractions will be a recreated historic kitchen and a tailor’s workshop.
The earliest objects featured at the exhibition come from the Museum’s collection: two 17th-century irons (1665 and 1680), produced in Silesia, most likely in Wrocław, very rare and valuable since only a dozen-or-so similar items have survived in European collections. Initially, irons were not household appliances they are today, but highly specialised commercial tools, like tailor irons. The exhibition will feature a recreated tailor’s shop with its typical equipment, including heavy (7 kg) irons used to press seems and mould the fabric and goffering irons for ruffing, frilling and pleating fabrics. Historic clothes, sewing machines and other implements will also be displayed. The visitors will be able to trace the influence of technological developments on the evolution of the iron and ironing process, from the slug irons to gas and liquid fuel irons to electric irons. The section devoted to laundry bygones will begin with simple pounders used for centuries from the Middle Ages and end with modern washing machines. Specially worthy of attention are interesting wash boards made of glass, marble, or porcelain, an early mechanised cradle-like tub using the rocking movement to agitate the clothes, and a luxury linen press. Early hand-cranked washing machines, the famous Frania from the 1970s and the ultra-modern model by Elektrolux from the 1930s (gas-heated and powered by electricity) will certainly attract attention. The 19th-century kitchen will be reconstructed as the place where washing and ironing were typically done.
The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue of the National Museum in Wrocław’s collection of historic irons and washing equipment: Dawne żelazka i sprzęty do prania ze zbiorów Muzeum Narodowego we Wrocławiu.
