CURRENTS: Sasha Krongos

The Dresher Center’s CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now lunchtime series showcases exciting new work in the humanities in a dynamic and inter-disciplinary setting.

A Woman's House: Gender, Labor, and Home-Design in American Magazines from 1890-1920

Sasha Krongos, M.A. Candidate, Historical Studies; Fall 2024 Graduate Student Fellow

An exploration of evolving middle-class gender dynamics, consumerism, and building practices, this research considers the ways in which the novel and popular ‘shelter magazine’ influenced and impacted women’s participation in domestic home-design and the public discourse that surrounded it, despite the fact that their presence in the professional architectural field would remain limited for decades to come. A hybrid between social, material, and architectural studies, this research aims to offer a better understanding of the promotive editorial contributions and inventive architectural practices that were made by women in their efforts to promote physical solutions to their own needs, including reducing their domestic labor, exerting personal rights, and materially challenging traditional gender roles and the domestic sphere.

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