CHICKASHA — As pioneer families began to settle on farms and in towns and cities across what is now Oklahoma more than a century ago, homemakers struggled to cook, wash and sew clothes, and even make quilts while keeping their homes clean.

 Many settled in “soddys,” or sod houses, including the Sod House Museum now preserved by the Oklahoma Historical Society near Cleo Springs. Marshall McCully built that two-room house in 1894 with thick buffalo grass blocks. Some homes were more comfortable, including the ranch house built by Frederick and Adaline Drummond near Hominy in 1895.

The persistence and sheer hard work of homemakers of that era are preserved in a variety of ways across Oklahoma, including workshops for tatting, knitting, and quilting, plus exhibits of the kinds of stoves, washing machines, and other artifacts they used.

 The Chisholm Trail Museum in Kingfisher will host a knitting workshop on Sept. 4, a tatting workshop on Sept. 18, and an art show from Sept. 1-30.  The Pawnee Bill Ranch hosts monthly quilt block workshops, and the Drummond Home exhibits heirloom quilts.

The Sod House Museum also displays the original cast iron stove used by Pearle McCully, and the No Man’s Land Museum in Goodwell has a number of old washing machines.

“These and other exhibits at museums and historic homes provide visitors with dramatic pictures of the remarkable roles played by moms and their families in the domestic history that is so vital in understanding how Oklahoma was settled,” said Dr. Bob Blackburn, OHS executive director.

The Sod House Museum tells the delightful story of how Pearle McCully worked hard to master the duties of a farmer’s wife, said Museum Director Renee Mitchell.

 “She made mistakes,” said Mitchell, “and one of the most amusing pertained to a bread-baking experiment. She mixed some bread dough that failed to rise, so she buried it in a nearby orchard. The sun warmed the earth, and the bread rose to a large mound. When her husband, Marshall, saw the mound, he hit it with a shovel and discovered gooey bread dough, ready to bake.

 “Needless to say, she never lived down her ‘buried dough.’”

 The Sod House Quilters and Friends meet monthly. They have donated 244 hours to make quilts, including the Streak of Lightening, a fundraising contest prize. They are working on a Log Cabin Sampler Quilt and an Oklahoma Centennial Quilt.

The Chisholm Trail Museum has celebrated the 15th anniversary of its tatting workshop, said Director Ginger Murphy of the museum.  The first class was held on Jan. 14, 1995, with 83 women and two men. They still meet at 1 p.m. every third Saturday.

The history of washing clothes and the evolution of the stove has been developed by Sherry Massey, curator of the 1950s Pink Kitchen exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Her findings reveal how homemakers struggled to take care of their families before innovations such as microwave ovens and automatic washers and dryers.

“Stoves were used for heating rooms before being adopted for cooking,” Massey said. “Early cook stoves were made of cast iron and burned wood for fuel.  Coal stoves, also made of cast iron, were invented in 1833.  Gas stoves were common by the 1930s, and Edison Electric Appliance Co. introduced the electric stove in 1920. Microwaves were invented in 1945.”

Washboards were used for washing clothes until 1874, when William Blackstone developed a wooden tub that swished clothes back and forth in the water, said Massey. The wringer was invented in 1861, and metal tubs replaced wooden ones around 1900. Various types of washing machines were developed until automatic machines were sold in 1953.

Clothes dryers were invented in France and England during the early 1800s, and electric dryers appeared in 1915, but most homemakers hung clothes in the sun until electric dryers arrived in the 1950s and became common decade later.

While these and other devices were being developed for kitchens and household chores, the Drummond Home first used a gas generating unit in the basement to provide light, and water from a cistern was distributed by air pressure, said Drummond Home Director Beverly Whitcomb

These and other exhibits at museums in Oklahoma provide the solid reason why the Pioneer Woman Statue in Ponca City was erected in 1930 and the Pioneer Woman Museum was developed in 1958.  The museum preserves the legacy of women from all races, creeds, and nationalities who have contributed to the development of Oklahoma. The same can be said for all museums and historic homes that celebrate the domestic history of Oklahoma.