After vacation – the discovery of the home
Subject(s): Bathtubs, Bedrooms, City and town life, Dining rooms, Dwellings, Families, Family, Homes, Living rooms, Showers (Plumbing fixtures)
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Vignettes illustrate the comforts of domestic life at home, with the central scene showing a man bathing in a bathtub.
Comments and Context
“After Vacation” is typical of the non-political genre cartoons, collections of themed gags that by 1905 appeared roughly once a month in Puck magazine. They provide to later readers superb diaries of everyday life that might otherwise be lost to history.
This center-spread by J. S. Pughe is representative of a common theme and predictable commentary of the domestic life of the rising middle class in the United States between the 1880s and the 1920s. Many changes occurred in family life. Among these was the importance of having domestic help, to the diminution of cooks, maids and servants. Mirroring this was the introduction of “labor-saving” appliances and tools, from the garden to the kitchen. Suburban living evolved from an embarrassment to a sign of independence. Summer vacations to the countryside supplanted European travel as desirable targeted respites.
In this category of family vacations, their challenges and difficulties were fodder for humorists and cartoonists. The popular short-story writer Frank R. Stockton wrote several popular books on the theme, among them Rudder Grange; the Editor of Puck, H. C. Bunner, found major success with his book of serialized chapters, The Runaway Browns. Among cartoonists it was Puck‘s F. Opper who specialized in such commentary, and he invented the exurbanite Howson Lott who was featured in many Puck cartoons and then became a character in the eponymous Sunday strip in the Hearst newspapers.
By 1905 Opper had left Puck‘s staff, and Pughe was a cartoonist who carried forth the themes. In this group of cartoons it is evident that summer vacation to rural locations was not always a halcyon period of bliss. In his parodies, even a getaway to farm areas did not guarantee fresh produce; that bathtubs and normal mattresses became forgotten luxuries; and that returning home was almost to experience a new life.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-09-13
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
After vacation – the discovery of the home. [September 13, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278388. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. After vacation – the discovery of the home. [13 Sep. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278388.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1905, September 13]. After vacation – the discovery of the home.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278388.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
