Swept Under the Carpet? Servants In London Households, 1600-2000

This special exhibition will explore domestic service and the experiences of servants living and working in middle-class homes over the last four hundred years. It will show the ways in which servants’ work formed the backbone of domestic life, giving a glimpse into a world often overlooked by historians.

New scenarios and subtle interventions in the museum’s period rooms will illustrate the changing nature of the relationship between servants and their employers over time - from the intimacy of a maid checking her master’s hair for nits in the late 17th century, to an ayah caring for the children of an Anglo-Indian family in the late 19th century, to an au-pair picking up after the children she looks after in the middle of the 20th century.

The middle-class parlour, drawing room and living room tend to be thought of as rooms of leisurely retreat where friends and family gathered. However, these spaces were also places of discipline, hard manual labour and domestic skill. Swept Under the Carpet? explores the Geffrye’s archives and collections to confront some of the realities of domestic life: how was table linen cleaned before soap, running water and washing machines were available? What was involved in the lighting of the hearth fire so synonymous with homely warmth? What was involved in a spring clean? And who cared for the children of the house?

These narratives will highlight how the apparent ease and comfort of home has historically been made and maintained by servants – a vital contribution to domestic life which is frequently overlooked in history.

Swept Under the Carpet? is guest curated by Tessa Chynoweth and Laura Humphreys, AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award researchers from the Centre of Studies of Home - a partnership between the Geffrye and Queen Mary, University of London. The exhibition is supported by Queen Mary, University of London.