Industrializing Olfaction: How Soapmakers Changed the Urban American Smellscape in the Late 19th Century & Early 20th Century

This seminar will workshop a work in progress. 
The event is virtual and free of charge.

Please visit here to register.

Dark and toxic soot covered the sky of Chicago in the late-19 century as well as other American cities reshaped by an industrial revolution. Even as factories released smoke with burnt match smells, their owners had set about mass producing perfumed soap. Workers at soap factories suffered from skin burn, injuries, and death due to constant exposure to caustic chemicals. Cunningly dealing with complaints about offensive smells they released into public space, companies made a fortune by selling the prospect of pleasant smells in private space, tying purchase of their products to individual hygiene and beauty. By the early twentieth century, American soap reached Japan and changed the smellscape internationally.