Close message Scootle has stopped supporting resources that use the Adobe Flash plug-in from 18 Dec 2020. Learning paths that include these resources will have alerts to notify teachers and students that one or more of the resources will be unavailable. Click here for more info.
Back to search results
'The order of the bath', 1917

Image 'The order of the bath', 1917

TLF ID R2503

This is a black-and-white photograph showing the photographer's wife, Maud Adkin, bathing their daughter, Nancy, in a washing tub on the veranda of their farm, Woodside, near Levin in the Horowhenua (North Island, New Zealand). A wooden chair with a towel draped over it stands behind them and a bar of soap is on the floor next to the tub. The photograph was taken by Leslie Adkin (1888-1964) in November 1917. The negative measures 11.5 cm x 16.5 cm.

View resource


Educational details

Educational value
  • This asset shows Maud Adkin wearing a simple mid-length day dress covered with a spotted apron - this style of clothing was common day wear for housewives at the time that the photograph was taken.
  • It depicts an aspect of family life in the early 20th century and provides an example of a task performed by women - the role of women as primary caregivers was the norm at this time.
  • It shows that the porch of the Adkin homestead was clad with weatherboards - many New Zealand houses of this era were clad with weatherboards due to the ready availability of wood as a building material.
  • It shows a metal tub, which would have been used for washing clothes as well as children - at this time most bathing occurred in portable tubs and internal plumbing was rare.
  • It is an example of the work of Leslie Adkin, a self-taught scholar and prolific photographer of life in early 20th-century New Zealand whose works include books and papers on geology and Mäori history - his photographs include many of friends and family in a variety of settings, but it was not until the 1970s that the value of Adkin's photographs of people was recognised.
  • It reveals that Leslie Adkin was a very experienced and accomplished photographer (he left behind an archive of at least 4,000 negatives) - the composition and use of light in this photograph clearly show his skill in choosing position of subject and angle.
Topics Families Bathing Gambling New Zealand history

Other details

Contributors
  • Author
  • Person: Leslie Adkin
  • Description: Author
  • Contributor
  • Name: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  • Organization: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  • Description: Content provider
  • URL: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Person: Leslie Adkin
  • Description: Author
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  • Organization: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Colour independence
  • Device independence
  • Hearing independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Image
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2013, except where indicated under Acknowledgements