Collaborative Consumption: Men, Women and Home Decorating in Federal America

In the 18th century, designing and decorating a home was a joint affair between men and women. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons worked together to select the style, look, and feel of their material world. We will see how women and men in the circle of elite Americans in the national society growing around George and Martha Washington in the 1780s and 1790s, shared and divided the responsibilities of commissioning and acquiring goods for their homes. The words and actions of Martha Washington and her peers provide the evidence of the various roles women played in this world of collaborative consumption.