Ironing: the back and forth motion of an iron.

Pressing: an up and down motion of an iron.

NDSU's Iron Collection was initiated by Mildred Hawkins in 1958, while she was Associate Professor in the department of Apparel and Textiles.

The irons presented here depict the change and development of ironing technology and heating sources between 1860's and 1950's.

Donor: Mildred Hawkins

Smoothing Iron

The Norwegian smoothing iron shown here is made entirely of wood. There was no heat used with this type of iron. Flat linens were wrapped on a wooden dowel. When they were to be used, they were removed from the dowel and smoothed with the smoothing iron when the linen was slightly damp.

Fluting Iron

The word fluting means, creating furrows in a column. This is a hand-fluting iron from around 1866. The base was heated on the stove. The ruffles were inserted between the base and the roller, and pressure was applied in this position.

One-Piece Iron

Solid one-piece laundry irons are often referred to as the sad irons. The sad irons were used around the 1850's and after. A sad iron is named because of its weight. Even with this name, many times men gave their wives presents of these irons at this time as a token of their love.

Charcoal Burning Iron

This iron is from Okinawa, Japan. It is made of a metal alloy and is quite shiny in appearance and light in weight. Irons of this kind are designated as box irons or stove-type irons, where coals were placed in the irons' box or stove. The user could blow into the end to accelerate the draft to increase the heat. They were used around the 1860's.

Sleeve Iron

The sleeve iron is very pointed so as to make it easy to use on small details of garments. This iron has a detachable handle. Many irons used to have detachable handles. It made ironing much quicker because it was possible to use one iron base while another was being heated.

Nubbed Nose Iron

This iron was in use around the year 1900. It has curved edges to make it safer to iron around buttons. It also has a detachable handle.

Electric Iron

This is an electric iron from around 1950. Electric irons of this period usually came with a separate steam attachment. The attachment would be fixed to the iron whenever steam ironing garments was necessary. This iron was made by General Mills, the maker of "Cherios" cereal.