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The Making of the Domestic Occasion: The History of Thanksgiving in the United States

The Making of the Domestic Occasion: The History of Thanksgiving in the United States THE MAKING OF THE DOMESTIC OCCASION: THE HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING IN THE UNITED STATES By Elizabeth Pleck University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana Four historians, Leigh Eric Schmidt, John Gillis, Penne Restad, and Stephen N is­ senbaum, have recently published books about the history of Christmas and sev­ eral other major holidays in nineteenth-century Europe and the United States. Their interpretations provide an organizing framework for understanding the evolution of another holiday, Thanksgiving, between the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century. My aim is to account for the rise of Thanksgiving as a "domestic occasion" among the antebellum middle class, the extent that poor and working-class families adopted the holiday by the early twentieth century, and the addition of new elements to the celebration by the 1930s. Schmidt, Gillis, Restad, and Nissenbaum traced the change in patterns of festivity between colonial days and the mid-nineteenth century. Communal celebration, often raucous, usually outdoors, which involved lower,class males demanding treats from the wealthy gave way gradually to private celebrations of the middle class, sedate but joyful. This historic change in the pattern of celebra­ tion I call the rise of the "domestic occasion."! By a domestic occasion, I mean a family gathering held http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Social History Oxford University Press

The Making of the Domestic Occasion: The History of Thanksgiving in the United States

Pleck, Elizabeth
Journal of Social History , Volume 32 (4) – Jan 1, 1999
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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© Published by Oxford University Press.
Subject
Articles
ISSN
0022-4529
eISSN
1527-1897
DOI
10.1353/jsh/32.4.773
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE MAKING OF THE DOMESTIC OCCASION: THE HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING IN THE UNITED STATES By Elizabeth Pleck University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana Four historians, Leigh Eric Schmidt, John Gillis, Penne Restad, and Stephen N is­ senbaum, have recently published books about the history of Christmas and sev­ eral other major holidays in nineteenth-century Europe and the United States. Their interpretations provide an organizing framework for understanding the evolution of another holiday, Thanksgiving, between the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century. My aim is to account for the rise of Thanksgiving as a "domestic occasion" among the antebellum middle class, the extent that poor and working-class families adopted the holiday by the early twentieth century, and the addition of new elements to the celebration by the 1930s. Schmidt, Gillis, Restad, and Nissenbaum traced the change in patterns of festivity between colonial days and the mid-nineteenth century. Communal celebration, often raucous, usually outdoors, which involved lower,class males demanding treats from the wealthy gave way gradually to private celebrations of the middle class, sedate but joyful. This historic change in the pattern of celebra­ tion I call the rise of the "domestic occasion."! By a domestic occasion, I mean a family gathering held

Journal

Journal of Social History – Oxford University Press

Published: Jan 1, 1999

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