This is the way we wash our clothes—with a washer, a dryer, tap water, bottled detergent, dryer sheets… But residents of West Hills Retirement Village tell a different story, historically speaking. They came together for a forum at the Journey Museum in Rapid City, to sit in a room filled with historical laundry implements and storyboards hanging by clothespins on a line strung around the room.
As the exhibit points out, laundry has sociopolitical aspects, but to these sons and daughters of pioneers, wash day was just a lot of work.