M anaging the chore of laundering the household's wardrobes and linens is a task that has occupied human beings from the dawn of woven fabrics. Through the long centuries this task traditionally fell within the w of "woman's work." Naturally enough, this was also the concern of many a little girl playing house with her dolls. In ancient times laundry duty was carried out by taking the clothes and linens to the nearby stream or other body of water and soaking and pounding with rocks or branches, then laying the washed articles on the ground or on bushes to dry in the sun. In many countries during the 15th through 18th centuries laundry was washed two or three times a year. The labor-intensive nature of the job meant stopping all other household work for days to accomplish the washing, drying, ironing and storing of the freshly cleaned articles. In many instances a "washerwoman" was employed to come in on a seasonal basis to handle the chore. Infrequent laundering eventually became a status symbol, implying that the family washttp://ufdc.org