Dirty Linen: online exhibition (UK)

This exhibition ran at The Women's Library from 28 September to 21 December 2002. Here we present edited highlights from the exhibition text and photographs. The Women's Library occupies the site of the old Goulston Street Baths, opened in 1846. Dirty Linen celebrated the building's history and place in the locality. Introduced by Victorian philanthropists to offer local women the means to keep both their clothes and themselves clean, the Wash Houses became a social focus for many women and for the lengthy work of washing. Goulston Street Baths was one of the first Wash Houses in the East End and was set up as a model institution, to be emulated by others