Artifact: Drawing of salesman with brooms and brushes
Materials: Pen, ink & watercolor over graphite
Dimensions: OH: 12 1/2" x OW: 9 3/8"
Date: 1759
Origin: London, England
Collection: Image Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
License: All rights reserved
Ledger Entry: Broom
Department: Household
Customer: Jane North
Ledger Page: 322
Imported From:
Product Description
Brooms still hold the same function today as they did in the eighteenth century: to sweep floors. In many houses, sweeping was the only practical way of cleaning the floor as mopping with water would simply turn the dirt floors to mud. Besoms, or brooms of birch or heather twigs lashed to a handle, were ideal for sweeping dirt floors because of the rigidity of their bristles, but softer brooms of hogs hair were better suited for wood floors.
Citation: Seymour, John. Forgotten Household Crafts. (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.;
Historical Price: 4 shillings, 12 pence; Modern USD: $56
Product Variations
The databases record only two purchases of brooms. One of these was qualified as a hair broom. The prices range from one shilling eight pence for a hair broom to four shillings twelve pence for an unspecified broom.
