Committee:

Harold James
Laura Edwards
Julian Zelizer
Arwen Mohun, University of Delaware

Abstract:

Blue Mondays No More explores the washing machine as a case study in the uneven diffusion of domestic technologies and the infrastructural, institutional, and economic forces that shaped modern consumption. Drawing on internal company records, trade data, and state policy documents, Blue Mondays compares washing machine adoption in three interconnected but distinct national contexts. It shows how factors such as household electrification, consumer credit systems, industrial capacity, and government policy created radically different market conditions across the United States, Canada, and Britain. In the United States, high electrification rates, access to consumer credit, and rural manufacturing networks allowed companies like Maytag to scale production and reduce costs, enabling mass adoption. Canadian firms mirrored this trajectory until the mid-twentieth century, diverging in the postwar era as economies of scale for more technologically complex machines proved harder to sustain. In contrast, British manufacturers faced smaller markets, higher production costs, and state-imposed financing restrictions that dampened consumer demand. This dissertation makes three key interventions. First, it centers production, infrastructure, and trade policy, rather than consumer preference alone, as critical to understanding technological diffusion. Second, it highlights the importance of rural industry in shaping modern consumption, tracing how farm equipment companies in Iowa and Ontario laid the foundation for a new domestic economy. Finally, it argues that the uneven global adoption of washing machines reflects broader patterns of uneven industrial production, infrastructure development, and economic growth.

A copy of the dissertation will be available for review two weeks before the exam. Contact Lee Horinko for a copy of the dissertation and the Zoom meeting link and password.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend.