Spring cleaning changed when heating houses during the winter went from wood and coal fuel to propane and gas, and later, to electricity. Woodsmoke and coal dust settled over everything during the winter when the house was shut up to conserve heat. Getting that residue out of the house was first on every housewife’s agenda when the windows were opened in the spring.
Although she later married, my great-aunt Laverne Harris was a spinster schoolteacher in 1933Dearborn, Mo. Her journal for that year included many references to spring cleaning.
