"Cottage industries" is a term that was used prevalently during the eighteenth and nineteenth and centuries to describe the home-based system of manufacturing. This term is also used today to refer to goods or services that are produced at home. Sewing, craft production, sales and marketing,

Women working in a cottage industry at the beginning of the twentieth century.

typing, bookkeeping, and auto repair are just a fewexamples of home-based employment.

History

Rural families were some of the first to become involved in the cottage industry. They added to their agricultural income by making products at home. Merchants provided the rawmaterials to the families, collected and marketed the finished product, and then paid the family a percentage of the price charged to the end consumer. Some of the items made by these at-home workers were cloth and clothing, shoes, cigars, and hand-decorated items.

Cottage industries developed...