50s women had washing machines (unless they were poor Appalachians, like my grandparents). But really when we're speaking of the 50s we're almost explicitly fo

50s women had washing machines (unless they were poor Appalachians, like my grandparents). But really when we're speaking of the 50s we're almost explicitly formulating it in terms of white suburbia. I am speaking solely of the social situation, the psychology of the times, which in part can be summed up in one word 'conformity' (oh, and not to forget segregation, anti-gay and anti-communist hysteria, etc). Technologically speaking, if I had the New York Library (or equiv) and a typewriter, I wouldn't take it as too much of a step down.