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From cards to crazy quilts / Hower House showcases popular Victorian pastimes

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RPC Photo / April K. Helms The Trunk Room in Hower House illustrates two important Victorian activities. One are games, such as the ones on the table near Linda Bussey, assistant director. Children’s books, inexpensive novels, games and toys were widely sold during this era. Another activity was volunteering and civic work. Grace Hower and her niece were “very active” in Red Cross, Bussey said. “Grace was known to crochet yard after yard of a guazelike fabric to be used for binding wounds. The uniforms then were made by those who wore them.”

by April Helms

Special Products Editor

Local schools have closed, releasing thousands of area children for a long summer vacation. Local youths will spend the summer at camps, volunteering, playing with video games, watching movies or going on a family vacation.

Many of today's activities are centered on technology. Cell phones and texting. Computers and the Internet. Wiis. Video games. Which leads to an interesting question: just how did folks while away their hours before the days of Instant Messaging and Xbox?

The latest display at Hower House in Akron, "Victorian Pastimes," provides the answers to that question. In a nutshell, those living in the Victorian era (generally defined as the time period of Queen Victoria's reign, 1837 until her death in 1901) engaged in many varied activities.

The exhibit runs through Aug. 31.

In the earlier years of the Victorian period, particularly in the rural areas, work and leisure activities were often one and the same, said Linda Bussey, the assistant director at Hower House. Sewing bees, barnraising events and maple sugaring parties were a few of the regular pastimes before industrialization entrenched itself.

"The crazy quilt was a Victorian invention," Bussey said. "They used scraps from clothing, they reused what they had, and the quilts were functional. They threw nothing away. The quilts were very beautiful."

With the start of the industrial age and many people flocking to the cities to find factory jobs, the line between work and leisure became more defined, Bussey added.

Participation in leisure activities was highly dependent on ones socio-economic standing during that time, Bussey said. While they may have participated in similar activities, such as eating out and going to the theater, they sat in different sections, and entered from different parts of the building.

By the 1870s, more parks, free libraries and public halls were opened, but activities were dictated depending how respectable people at that time thought they were, Bussey said. For example, while admission to the parks was free, many activities such as dancing, swimming and holding public meetings were forbidden.

Improved transportation towards the end of the Victorian era, coupled with a shorted work day, allowed the pursuit of another leisure activity, even for the working class: day trips for picnics, to the seaside and other travels.

Further information

Hower House is at 60 Fir Hill, on the campus of The University of Akron. Hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon to 3:30 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Hower House was completed in 1871 by John Henry Hower, a leading Akron industrialist who was active in the milling, reaping and cereal industries. The 28-room mansion has three floors, with a ballroom on the third floor. The house was occupied by the Hower family for 100 years before it was deeded to The University of Akron in 1970. In 1973, Hower House was placed on the National Register for Historic Places.

For details, call 330-384-2635 or visit www3.uakron.edu/howerhse online.

E-mail: ahelms@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3153