Thomas Hill began publishing Manual of Social and Business Forms in 1873 and republished it regularly with revisions and additions until 1911. Hill also published companion books such as the Album of Biography and Art. These comprehensive volumes provided advice on everything from letter writing to appropriate inscriptions for tombstones. This image and the next image are from the 1888 edition and provide an annotated illustration of good and bad table manners. Note the differences in the clothing and dining room furnishings. Hill’s images suggested that good manners were something practiced by the middle and upper classes, but unknown to working class people.
Thomas Hill. Hill’s Manual of Social and Business Forms. Chicago: Hill Standards Book Co., 1888, 152-53.
Image courtesy of Internet Archive and the California Digital Library.
Full text – https://archive.org/details/manualofsochills00hillrich
This image is featured in Exploring Vacation and Etiquette Themes in Social Studies by Cynthia Resor
I think this photo would be an excellent primary source for a lesson in the classroom on manners, it would be really neat to incorporate such a historic image in a fun and basic lesson with elementary students!
This would be a great picture to use in a classroom to teach lesson on table etiquette. You could use this image to compare and contrast table manners from the past and present.
This primary source image would be perfect to use in my fifth grade classroom on a lesson about manners. I would also ask students to compare and contrast what they believe is good or bad manners based on the image.