Episode #10: Invisible Magicians: Domestic Servants in Gilded Age New York
Join The Gilded Gentleman and Esther Crain, author of The Gilded Age in New York 1870-1914 for a look below stairs! In this show, we’ll take a look at the various roles and responsibilities of domestic staff in grand mansions and even in more modest homes.
The Gilded Gentleman will explore what servants did and most importantly who they really were. This show pays tribute to the vast numbers of “invisible magicians” without whom the dinners, balls and just daily workings of households of the Gilded Age would never have been possible.
Carl is joined by special guest:
— Esther Crain, an author, historian, and native New Yorker. In 2008 she launched the website Ephemeral New York, where she writes and publishes stories every week that chronicle Gotham’s past through old photos, newspaper archives, vintage artwork, and other artifacts.
Her first book, New York City in 3D in the Gilded Age, was published in 2014, and her second book, The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, hit bookstore shelves two years later. Both books have been featured and reviewed in city publications and have made Esther a popular source for information on Gotham during the Gilded Age.
LISTEN NOW: Invisible Magicians: Domestic Servants in Gilded Age New York
Related Podcast:
In the Good Old Summertime Where the Gilded Age Played