Parlor Formalities
 The parlor was
used for formal family events and social calls. It reflected the family's
background and economic status.
Weddings sometimes
took place in the parlor. Before burial, the bodies
of the dead were "laid out" there to be viewed. (In many
towns, "funeral parlors"
had begun to take over
that function around 1870.)
Furnishings
might include a mixture of dowry items, wedding gifts, heirlooms and
mass-produced furniture. Almost every
parlor had whatnot—a set of open shelves—where a family displayed
decorative objects and natural items.
Matched sets of parlor furniture usually consisted of a settee, host
chair, and a lady's side chair.
 Walls were
covered thick with pictures—chromos, steel engravings and crayon
family portraits. A what-not in the corner held numerous ornaments:
sea shells, Indian arrowheads, a sandal wood fan from India, a bottle
containing a rainbow of soil in colored layers as it looks in
Yellowstone Park.
Alice Laura
Stevenson
 Men's
chairs were typically higher than lady's side
chairs. The arms and high backs allowed men to lean back and be
comfortable. Lady's side chairs had no arms, in part to accommodate
their large skirts, but also to assert the posture requirements for
women—upright, away from the chair back, with hands folded in the lap.
Shawls or
lambrequins were draped over tables, chairs and sofas to decorate them
or protect their finish or upholstery. Plants
grew from behind prints and in containers on stands. The abundance of
furnishings, the dark colors, and heavily draped objects often created a
dark and very formal—even foreboding—room.
Children—if allowed into the
parlor at all—had to play quietly. The center table was the gathering spot for
the family. A kerosene light fixture hung from the ceiling could be raised or
lowered to make reading or fine handiwork easier to see.
After supper I
read in a new book of Papa's entitled History of the Peninsula of
Michigan . . . nicely bound, well written and a book well worth
its cost.
January 11,
1883
Delevan Brotherton
By the late 1890s, the
parlor with its many furnishings and accessories received criticism as a
closed and cluttered space. People began to associate light and air with
health, and families began to change how their parlors looked. Some homes added
a "second parlor" that could serve as a nursery or
children's playroom.
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