Western Female Seminary Living History Society

When the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company sets their summer productions of Much Ado About Nothing in 1776, we had just the outfits to wear to the show. 😀

As always, this was a great production.

Here's your myth-busting post of the day. Many of the stories that we hear passed down at small historical sites are myths that have crept into volunteer interpretation. This year, during the 250th, I see many small sites wanting to create more content, and they are making videos that spread these online. If you are a volunteer at a site, double check your stories so you don't pass these things on.
(And if you run a social media page, don't hit share until you so some research.)

Myth-Busting History Moment: Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

We’ve seen this one making the rounds again—and no, it’s still not true.

The phrase “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” did not come from some grim tale of historic bathing habits gone wrong. No murky tubs. No lost infants.
So where did it come from?

The expression actually traces back to a 1512 German satire by Thomas Murner. One of the illustrations shows a woman tossing out bathwater—with a baby still in it. It was meant to be absurd—a visual joke about making foolish decisions, not a reflection of real life.

What about bathing practices?
It is true that in many households, people might share bathwater—especially when hauling and heating water was labor-intensive. But the oft-repeated story that everyone bathed in the same water, in order, until in was so dirty the baby “disappeared” is pure fiction. That tale has been layered onto the phrase much later and has nothing to do with its origin.

While bathing practices varied depending on time and place, people in the past absolutely cared about cleanliness. They washed regularly using basins, changed linens, and made use of the resources available to them. And no one was casually losing—or tossing—babies in the process.

Why it matters
This myth sticks around because it’s vivid—but it also reduces the past to something careless and absurd. In reality, people were practical, attentive, and far more thoughtful than these stories suggest.

So go ahead and use the phrase—but now you can gently correct the story when it comes with it.

Image: 1512 woodcut, Public Domain

We have talked about this before, and this is a great visual. When looking at the outfits and fabrics in 1860s CDV images, it's tempting to assume the lights and darks in the images reflect the way modern black and white film (or a black and white filter in an editing app) would portray colors. But tintypes reflect colors differently--in ways that we can find unexpected. That CDV that shows a "light-colored dress" might actually be of something dark blue. Thanks to Charleston TinTypist for sharing these images.

Another reminder to be careful to not pass on history myths when you are engaged with living history events and the public. One way stories get passed on is when volunteers at small sites hear stories from visitors and decide to include them in their own tours. (Bigger sites are more likely to have someone on staff checking the research of tour information, but it can happen there too.)
Nowadays, it also happens when AI history posts g*y shared. If the post has an AI image, it was created to get clicks, not to educate. Remember that a "large language model" is just looking for what it finds being said online most often. If people post an incorrect "fact" a lot, AI just sees the volume of the posts and assumes that's the correct version.

Instead, look for posts from actual museums that include photos of their actual artifacts. They are more likely to have research on what they have. (That's not infallible, but it will get you closer.) :)

Born on this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln. Pictured here: a detail featuring Lincoln's contribution to a unique and brilliant project begun in 1856 by a 17-year-old girl from Rhode Island named Adeline Harris Sears. Over the next decade or so, Sears gathered autographed pieces of silk from hundreds of celebrities — including such luminaries as Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a total of eight US presidents — and incorporated them into a wonderful trompe l'oeil tumbling block design quilt (now at the ).

According to her grand-daughter the Lincoln signature was, due to a family connection, actually acquired in person, and Adeline was meant to have even danced with Lincoln at his inauguration ball.

More on the stunning work here: https://buff.ly/2VnkM0L