Written in 1898, Home Life in Colonial Days is a remarkably vivid and immediate portrayal of domestic life in the Thirteen Colonies during the period encompassing 1492-1763. Alice Morse Earle was a pioneer both as an early female historian and a popular practitioner of social history before that term was invented. The book is a fascinating study not only of its immediate subject but also of how gender issues through the years, in the Colonial period, and the latter age in which Earle was writing.

A book which throws new light on our early history, "Home Life in Colonial Days" is a charming holiday gift of most unusual value, appealing to everyone who is of colonial blood; to everyone who now lives in the homes so greatly changed; and to every woman, - the homemaker. "The kitchen in all the farmhouses of all the colonies was the most cheerful, homelike, and picturesque room in the house; indeed, it was in town houses as well. The walls were often bare, the rafters dingy; the windows were small, the furniture meager; but the kitchen had a warm, glowing heart that spread light and welcome, and made the poor room a home.... The ears of corn were often piled into the attic until the floor was a foot deep with them. I once entered an ell bedroom in a Massachusetts farmhouse where the walls, rafters, and four-post bedstead were hung solid with ears of yellow corn, which truly "made a sunshine in a shady place." -Alice Morse Earle "Readable and curiously interesting....Mrs. Earle has remarkable zest and skill." -New Outlook "Useful and attractive....A fascinating volume." -The Dial "No other single volume constructs with such completeness, fairness and suggestiveness the atmosphere of colonial homes." -The Herald, Boston "Unique....valuable as well as entertaining." -Mail and Express "Mrs. Earle has already gained distinction as a fascinating chronicler of early American life and manners, and few writers carry the imagination back to the family traditions of olden times with the force and graphic power which she exercises over the minds of her readers." -The Bookman "An exceedingly interesting account....Especially recommended to those who wish aid in reproducing accurately the life and costumes of Colonial times." -University of North Carolina Extension Bulletin "Splendid material....Children will be interested in listing some of our modern furnishings that Pilgrims did not have." -Normal Instructor and Primary Plans

The author reconstructs for us colonial life by describing in great detail manners, customs, dress, homes, and child life.

"Home Life in Colonial Days" from Alice Morse Earle. American historian and author (1851-1911).