Paper short abstract:

Though daybook records of work are said to be dry, with mere facts, the aim here is to use one in the pursuit of historical phenomenology, tracing senses and emotions in the notes left by a mother about home-making for a growing family– until the young mother died, and a childhood paradise was lost.

Paper long abstract:

Although daybooks of work are not known to express feelings, there seem to be emotions underneath the words in a series of records of work in the home kept by a wife/mother/grandmother over a span 24 years. By close reading this long period of household work and family life, a possibility for historical phenomenology can be opened up. Emotions are seldom explicit, but the wording can be interpreted. There were reasons why a note was made. A sense of bodies at work may be traced. Sensoriality is less likely to be found with this writer, known to be a chary person, once a professional housekeeper. Affects are rare. Through knowledge of the family history and lore, the notations allows us to follow the processes of moving house from the rural estate to a village adjacent to the local military cantonment, the building of a new house, taking part in the social life of the community, keeping the household ticking over, making notes of each visit and social call. As the parents got on in years, the daughter married and had three children. Disaster hit with the death of the daughter, leaving three young children behind. With the death of their mother, the entire atmosphere of the home changed, as they recalled it. In 1914, the keeper of the record passed on. A stepmother took over the home, the cantonment mobilized as war broke out in the world outside, and the family left for life in the nearby town.