Exhibit at Clark County Museum highlights 150 years of housework

By Dylan Scott

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 | 5:05 p.m.

A toaster might arguably be the most mundane of everyday items, but in the eyes of Clark County Museum staff, it’s a revealing look into how life has changed for average Americans in the last 150 years.

It’s just one item on display as part of the museum’s “Domestic Technology: Making Housework Easier” exhibit.

The display, which debuted at the end of November, runs through Feb. 26.

Many of “the things we take for granted” in modern living are the result of a long and laborious evolution, said museum administrator Mark Hall-Patton. Microwaves, TV’s and washing machines look much different than they did in the 1950s.

“There’s a reason we can get so much done with the busy lifestyles we have … People have expended a lot of effort toward making it easier to do things,” Hall-Patton said. “It’s a look at how our lives have changed.”

In other cases: “A broom is still a broom,” he added with a laugh.

The presentation, which features a number of “lived-in” settings progressing through the decades and seasons, also examines how marketing strategies have changed and what that says about American culture.

An automatic s’more maker? Hall-Patton acknowledged it was “ridiculous,” but said companies figured out catering to the homemakers, mostly women, by promising to “free up your time” tapped into an often ignored market.

One advertisement shows a woman “literally breaking out of prison,” he added.

“Making Housework Easier” is the brainchild of curator Dawna Joliff, Hall-Patton said. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $1.50 for adults and $1 for children and seniors.

For more information, call 702-455-7955.